Cinnamon Rolls

Iv had a love for cinnamon swirl Danish pastries for a while now, but recently I found a branch of 'Cinnabon' http://www.cinnabon.co.uk/ in my home city Leicester, and it was like stepping onto a whole new level! Instead of pastry, a Cinnabon is made of a beautiful cakey, sweet, bread dough, it's still rolled with butter, sugar and cinnamon, but then after it's baked it's smothered with a delicious cream cheese frosting which melts over the top! I'm drooling again just writing about it! So of course, after consuming (several of) them in Cinnabon, I went on a hunt for the perfect recipe to create the same at home. And I think I have found it!... 

Ingredients 
For the dough:
250ml warm milk (around body temperature)
2 eggs (room temperature)
75g butter, melted
600g white bread flour
1 teaspoon salt
100g caster sugar
7g sachet quick action yeast

For the filling:
225g dark brown soft sugar
2 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
75g butter, softened at room temperature

For the icing:
100g full fat cream cheese
50g butter, softened at room temperature
200g icing sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt

Begin by making the dough...

1. Dissolve caster sugar and the yeast in the warm milk in a jug, set aside for a couple of minutes until bubbles begin to appear on the surface- this is the yeast beginning to work! 
2. Put the flour and salt in a large bowl, mix briefly then create a well in the middle of the bowl.
3. Add the melted butter and eggs to the milk jug, then beat together.
4. Slowly, bit by bit add the contents of the jug to the contents of the bowl, mixing in the dry ingredients in the centre first then working your way to the edge of the bowl so all is incorporated as you add more liquid.
5. Bring the dough together into a ball with floured hands. Knead for 5 minutes on a lightly floured work surface until the dough is smooth and stretchy.
6. Flour the edge of the bowl and return the dough to it, cover with cling film, then put in a warm place and leave to prove for 1 hour, it should double in size.




7. Flour a large surface and roll out the dough to a rectangle approx 40x50cm
8. Spread the dough with the softened butter and evenly sprinkle over the brown sugar and cinnamon.
9. Begin to roll it up from the longest side, keep the roll nice and tight as you work along until you have one long roll.



10. Slice off the ends and set aside (we will still bake these as they still taste good, they're just not as pretty!) then using a sharp bread knife and a sawing action, slice the roll into 12 even slices. 
Holly's Hint... First do halves, then half the two halves to form quarters, then divide each quarter into 3, this will help you get 12 nice even rolls.




11. Place the rolls in a large greased baking tray (the ends in a small one) and leave in a warm place for another 30 minutes to rest and rise a little again. Preheat the oven to 180 fan



12. Bake in the centre of the oven for 15 minutes, cover with foil for the last 5 if  the rolls on the edge begin to burn a little on top.

13. Whilst the buns are baking, beat together the cream cheese, butter, icing sugar and salt. 

Serve warm with a tablespoon of frosting on top, the frosting should melt down the sides. To serve later, store the frosting in the fridge but remove half an hour before serving, and microwave the buns for 15-20 seconds each before topping.

Enjoy!!!