Cinnamon Rolls from Scratch

Makes about 8 large cinnamon rolls.

For the cinnamon roll dough:

1. In a small saucepan, add your milk, butter, vanilla sugar and salt. Gently heat over medium low until warm to the touch (or temperature reaches 110°F on a thermometer). While heating up, whisk eggs in a medium-large bowl. Once milk mix is heated up, remove pan from heat and slowly pour the hot milk into the whisked eggs, whisking the entire time. Set aside.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer (with a paddle attachment), add your flour and yeast. While mixer is on low speed, slowly pour in your milk/egg mix. Continue to mix on low until the dough is completely incorporated and starts to pull away from the bowl, about 5 minutes. Stop and scrape down sides of bowl as needed.

3. Next, remove the paddle attachment, switch to the dough hook and knead the dough in the mixer on low speed for about 5-6 minutes. Sprinkle dough with more flour (tablespoon at a time) if necessary, to keep dough from sticking to the sides. Knead until dough stops sticking to the sides of bowl, is smooth, and springs back when pressed with your finger.

4. Remove dough from mixer bowl and add it into another lightly greased bowl. Cover top with a hand towel and allow to rest and proof in a warm area for about 45 minutes to an hour. It will have almost doubled in size!

For the pan sauce:

1. In an 8″x8″ glass or metal baking dish, spread the butter along the bottom and up the sides. Keep butter heavy along the bottom and lighter up the sides. Combine cinnamon and vanilla bean sugar, and sprinkle over the bottom of the dish, over the butter. Set aside.

For the cinnamon rolls and filling:

1. Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface and roll out into a rectangle that is about 1’x2′.

2. In another bowl, combine your brown sugar and 3 tablespoons of ground cinnamon. Spread your 6 tablespoons of softened butter over the surface of your rolled out dough and then top with your brown sugar/cinnamon mix. Smooth sugar out so it is covering the butter evenly and press gently so sugar mix is really adhered.

3. Roll up the dough as tightly as you can, starting from one of the shorter ends, and form into a fat foot-long cylinder. With a serrated knife, cut your log into 8 slices. If your log’s length is shorter than a foot, cut into less slices. Arrange each piece, spiral side up, in your buttered/sugared pan and then cover the top with your hand towel. Place pan back in a warm area and again, allow to rise for about 45 minutes to an hour more.

4. Once rolls have risen and puffed, preheat oven to 350°F. When oven is preheated put the dish into the oven and bake, uncovered, for about 25 minutes or until risen and golden brown.

For cinnamon roll frosting:

1. For the frosting, simply whisk together your powdered sugar (unsifted is fine), butter, salt, Greek yogurt, and vanilla extract until totally combined. Pour and spread over the hot, fresh out of the oven rolls.

Let them sit 5 minutes to cool just slightly.

Recipe adapted from I Love Cinnamon Rolls! by Judith Fertig.