cinnamon rolls

I've tried making cinnamon rolls a couple times in the past, but they've never turned out all that well. I decided to give it a try again and WOW these puppies turned out amazing! Of course they would, they were my mother-in-law's recipe! They are super soft, moist, and light. Now we better give some away fast or else I'm in big trouble!

A funny story about this recipe: one thing I love about Chef Jeff is that he always has recipes written on random scraps of paper. Most of the time he has called his mom for a recipe and jotted it down on whatever paper he could find. The recipe I used today came from a random paper tucked away in one of our cookbooks. It was on a piece of junk mail from our college days. It also didn't have any instructions, just a list of ingredients. Here is the actual recipe I used:


Here is a version for you:

Ingredients

Dough

• 1 cup milk
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1 egg
• 3 1/4 cups white flour (not whole wheat!)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons yeast

Filling

• 1 tablespoon butter, soft and spreadable
• 1 cup sugar (I used more like 3/4 cup or even less)
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon

Glaze

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1-2 tablespoons milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
  

Directions

1. Microwave milk for 1 minute
2. Pour in mixing bowl, add melted butter
3. Add yeast, sugar, salt, egg and mix well
4. Add flour and mix until doughy
5. Knead dough in bowl until it is no longer sticky, but still flexible. You may need to add a little more flour as you knead.
6. Grease a larger mixing bowl and place dough in the bowl
7. Cover dough and let rise in a warm place until the dough has doubled in size
8. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough into a 9x15 inch rectangle
9. Spread butter on dough
10. Mix sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl, then sprinkle on the buttered dough
11. Roll the dough and cut into 12 parts
12. Grease a 9x13 inch baking pan
13. Add cinnamon rolls to pan leaving space between each roll
14. Cover and let rise in a warm place until they are big and fluffy
15. Bake at 375 degrees for 12-15 minutes
16. Glaze: mix powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla in a bowl until smooth, drizzle over warm rolls