Christmas Cinnamon Rolls

Our new favorite tradition in our home on Christmas morning is making homemade cinnamon rolls. If your plans have changed this holiday season or you’re just looking for something to make we can’t recommend making these cinnamon rolls enough! Make sure to make some extra frosting… you will thank us later!

Merry Merry and lots of love (and good eats!), Jordan & Barry

adapted from ambitious kitchen

Ingredients

For the Dough:

¾ cup warm milk (whole milk or 2% preferred) (110 degrees F)
2 ¼ teaspoons quick rise or active yeast (1/4-ounce package yeast)
¼ cup granulated sugar
1 egg plus 1 egg yolk, at room temperature
¼ cup butter, melted (salted or unsalted…. whatever your preference is!)
3 cups bread flour, plus more for dusting
3/4 teaspoon salt

For the Filling:

2/3 cup dark brown sugar
1 ½ tablespoons ground cinnamon
¼ cup butter, softened

For the Cream Cheese Frosting:

4 oz cream cheese, softened
3 tablespoons butter, softened
¾ cup powdered sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

Warm milk to around 110 degrees F. You can do this by simply warming some milk in a microwave-safe bowl. Transfer warm milk to the bowl of an electric mixer and sprinkle yeast on top. Add in sugar, egg, egg yolk and melted butter. Mix until well combined. Next stir in flour and salt with a wooden spoon until the dough begins to form.
Place dough hook on stand mixer and knead dough on medium speed for 8 minutes. Dough should form into a nice ball and be slightly sticky. If it’s TOO sticky (meaning it’s sticking to the bottom of the mixer, add in 2 tablespoons more bread flour.) If you don’t want to use an electric mixer, you can use your hands to knead the dough for 8-10 minutes on a well-floured surface
Transfer dough ball to a well-oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and a warm towel. Allow dough to rise for 1 hour to 1 ½ hours, or until doubled in size. This may more or less time depending the humidity and temperature in your home.
After dough has doubled in size, transfer dough to a well-floured surface and roll out into a 14×9 inch rectangle. Spread softened butter over dough, leaving a ¼ inch margin at the far side of the dough.
In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar and cinnamon. Use your hands to sprinkle mixture over the buttered dough, then rub the brown sugar mixture into the butter.
Tightly roll dough up, starting from the 9-inch side and place seam side down making sure to seal the edges of the dough as best you can. You will probably need to cut off about an inch off the ends of the dough as the ends won’t be as full of cinnamon sugar as we’d want it to be.
Cut into 1 inch sections with a serrated knife or floss. You should get 9 large pieces. YUMMMM!
Place cinnamon rolls in a greased 9×9 inch baking pan or round 9 inch cake pan. (We lined our sheet pan with parchment paper as well, in case any of the filling ends up leaking out.) Cover with plastic wrap and a warm towel and let rise again for 30-45 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Remove plastic wrap and towel and bake cinnamon rolls for 20-25 minutes or until just slightly golden brown on the edges. You want to underbake them a little so they stay soft in the middle. Allow them to cool for 5-10 minutes before frosting. Makes 9 beautiful and delicious cinnamon rolls.
To make the frosting: In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar and vanilla extract. Beat until smooth and fluffy. Spread over cinnamon rolls and serve immediately. you might want to double this part… just saying Enjoy!