Cinnamon Rolls

 I’m off to America soon and one of the things I’m most looking forward to is the food, I mean, most of the food you can get in America you can buy here too, but in America, its always bigger and better (and has way more calories), isn’t it?

So one of the things I really want, is to get a cinnamon roll for breakfast (and lunch and tea), I mean, just the words “Cinnamon roll” make your mouth water! The light and airy bread filled with gorgeous, sweet, cinnamonny goodness and then topped with silky icing… I knew I couldn’t wait and had to try them NOW!

Because I had never made them, I looked at a few recipes and kind of winged it…They were fairly simple to make if you have the right equipment, and they do take a long time, but in the end its just so worth it!

You will need:
For the rolls:
7g dry yeast
180ml milk
30g granulated sugar
60ml warmwater (must be approx 45 degrees celcius)
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
520g plain flour

For the filling:
75g unsalted butter
350g sugar of your choice (I used a mixture of granulated and demerara)
1 1/2 tablespoon ground cinnamon

For the topping:
1 cup icing sugar
3-4 tablespoons milk

Method:

1. Firstly, combine the warmed water and 1 teaspoon of sugar into a bowl and sprinkle the dried yeast on top, let this sit for a few minutes until it starts to bubble.
2. Then in the bowl of your stand mixer, mix the egg, milk, vanilla, salt, sugar and melted butter. Mix with the dough hook attachment for 1 minute.
3. Then add in half of the flour along with the yeast mixture and mix again slowly before adding in the rest of flour.
4. Turn the speed up to medium and let it mix for about 7 minutes, you should be left with a smooth but sticky dough. Turn this out onto a floured surface and bring together with your hands until you have a smooth ball.
5. Oil a large bowl and place the dough in and cover the dough with oil also, cover with cling film and leave in a warm place to rise for about 2 hours.   
6. While your dough is rising, you can prepare the filling, to do this, combine all of the sugar, cinnamon and butter until you have a paste.   
7. When your dough has been rising for 2 hours, it should have doubled in size, turn the dough out onto a floured surface and roll out into a rectangle.  
8. Spread your cinnamon filling over the top evenly, being careful as the dough is quite fragile at this stage.
9. Once evenly distributed, start to roll the entire rectangle starting from the long edge and work your way up.                                       
10. Cut the roll in half, then each of them in half, then again until you have 16 identical rolls.
11. Place each rolls into a well greased pan, make sure your pan has enough room for your rolls to rise again so when you place them in, leave a little bit of room between each roll.
12. Cover the pan with plastic wrap and again put in a warm place to rise for a further 1 1/2 hours.         
13. When the rolls have been rising for 1 hour, you can then preheat your oven to Gas mark 4 or 170 degrees celcius.
14. Once risen, bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown.
15. When they are baked, let them cool for a few minutes while you make the glaze, just simply add your icing sugar and milk together until you have a runny icing and pour this over the warm cinnamon rolls.
16. Enjoy!

These are best enjoyed straight away while they are still warm, I did make a batch to take into work but they had obviously cooled down, but they still got a thumbs up!  Thanks for reading!Kate X