Cinnamon Rolls- from Karisa's Dinner Rolls

Above cinnamon rolls are topped with a cream cheese frosting, below just a sugar frosting without cream cheese. Both are great! (Some people say it is life-changing to pour cream over your cinnamon rolls before baking-  basically, speeding up death by heart attack).

Everyone has the best cinnamon rolls out there, and that's how I feel about these. Like I can't believe I ever ate a Cinnabon or store cinnamon roll. These are so much better. Pat likes it when I really load up the frosting so they're white on top with the cream cheese frosting. This is my regular dinner roll recipe, but instead of shaping dough into rolls, you roll it out into a rectangle and cover it with butter, cinnamon, and sugar.  Then roll up from the longest side and slice into 12 cinnamon rolls.  Start about 5 hours before you need them done.

1 pkg regular yeast (or 2 ¼ tsp)
2 c. warm water
½ c. mostly melted butter, stir and let sit 5 minutes to cool
1/2 c. sugar
2 tsp salt
2 eggs
5 ½ c. (give or take) flour plus much more for rolling

½ c. melted butter (3 uses: 1. use to brush the bottom of the pan, 2. to cover the dough, and 3. use leftover butter to brush tops before they rise the last time)

1/2 c. sugar 

2 tsp cinnamon (this is approximate)

Cream Cheese Frosting:
8 oz cream cheese (one package), room temp
1/4 cup butter, room temp
2 cups powdered sugar
pinch salt
1/4 tsp vanilla
water or cream to thin

In a large bowl, sprinkle the yeast onto the warm water.  Let sit 5 minutes and then stir to dissolve.  (Make sure you see the yeast starting to bloom up during the 5 minute wait).  In a separate medium sized bowl mix together the ½ c. of melted butter, sugar and salt.  When cool enough, add the eggs and whisk in.  Pour this mixture into the larger bowl with the yeast and stir together.  Add in 5 ½ cups of flour and stir just until combined.  Cover with clean towel and let rise in a warm place for 2 hours or until about doubled in size. 

Melt ½ cup of butter in a microwave safe bowl and use some of this to butter a 12 x 18 pan (with at least 2 inch high sides).  If you don’t have a pan this size you can cram it all into a 9x13, or bake a small amount on the side. 

Now get a very clean counter, and lots of flour for the dough not to stick.  Dump the dough out on the floured counter, and use the flour, as needed, to lightly knead and roll out dough into a large rectangle between ½-1 inch thick .  This is just something you have to get a feel for over the years.  Cover the rectangle of dough evenly with the remaining butter, the 1/4 c. sugar and cinnamon, making sure the entire rectangle is covered. Use a little  more cinnamon than pictured above. (I throw out the sugar from my hand evenly- just takes practice). 

Roll from the long side up, and slice into 12 rolls. (I find this recipe actually makes more like 15-18 cinnamon rolls, so you may need to use other pans, or bigger than a 9x13.)Lay rolls in the pan almost touching.  Let rise for 1 hour.  Preheat oven to 375 and bake cinnamon rolls for 15-20 minutes, or until browned on the tops.  Remove and let cool 10 minutes.

For the frosting, whip all ingredients together. Use a brush or spatula to scoop out the frosting and coat all the tops of the cinnamon rolls.  They are ready to serve! Taste best hot or warm.

If you want to have these fresh and hot for breakfast, freeze the individual rolls before you let them rise the second time.  They should be frozen in the buttered pan you plan to cook them in (again rolls should be almost touching, but not), and covered well.  The night before you want them, remove from fridge and cover lightly with plastic wrap (sprayed with oil).  They will defrost and rise overnight.  In the morning, preheat the oven to 375 degrees and bake as usual.