Cinnamon Rolls

After he pushed himself away from the brunch table yesterday and sighed audibly, I asked my husband if they were worth it, these rolls. 

They take a while.  A long while.  About three hours start to finish.

His answer was a resounding yes.

Be prepared to be patient with these.  He was right though, they were totally worth it.  The kids even got up early this morning to grab the leftovers.

Cinnamon Rolls
Rolls
- 1 cup warm milk
- 2 1/2 tsp yeast
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup butter, melted
- 1/2 cup sugar
- dash salt
- 4 1/4 cups flour

Filling
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 2 tbsp cinnamon

Frosting
- 4 oz cream cheese (1/2 8oz. package), room temperature
- 1/4 cup butter, room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 cups powdered sugar

To make rolls:
Dissolve yeast in milk for about 5 minutes.  Add eggs, butter, sugar and salt and mix thoroughly.  Add flour a cup at a time.  Ideally, you can use a dough setting on a bread maker or a dough hook in a stand mixer for this process.  It takes a while and the dough gets hard to mix at the end.  Mix until dough forms into a ball.  Cover and let rise one hour.

Roll dough out into jelly roll pan.  If you don't have one, you want a large rectangle (16x21).  Spread softened butter on entire surface of dough.  Mix brown sugar and cinnamon in a bowl, then sprinkle mixture evenly over buttered dough.

Tightly roll dough lengthwise, sealing the end by pinching the dough together.  Cut into 12 equal width rolls.  Place in greased 9x13 baking dish.  Cover with a towel and let rise an hour.  Take butter and cream cheese for frosting out to bring to room temperature.

Bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for 15 minutes. 

To make frosting:
While rolls are baking, beat butter and cream cheese together, then add vanilla.  Add powdered sugar half a cup at a time.  Frost rolls after they have cooled a bit, but are still warm.