Cinnamon Rolls

"Cinnabon" Cinnamon Rolls
I sort of have a thing for cinnamon, like i do for Oreo. Oreo is my life, the fact that it looks exactly like my life too, with black part for my sad sad life and white layer of cream for the happiness i can't be more thankful for. Cinnamon is my next favorite flavor, okay maybe blueberry is my second favorite and then comes Cinnamon, let's just say i'm a big fat sweet tooth and i crave for every desert in the world, except the ones with fruit in it. I am not a big fan of fruit. (except for blueberries)
These pillowy cinnamon rolls are like clouds in your mouth, totally to die for. And the cream cheese frosting is sweet and light and cloudy. The thing is, to keep these rolls soft and fluffy you'll have to be very patient with the dough and careful with the preheated oven and temperature. The first time i made these, i ended up with not-so-soft rolls, turned out i added a little more flour and my oven was too hot, my dough developed a crust too quick and therefore it discouraged a full rise and it got harder. But they weren't hard as concrete, they tasted exactly like the one's i made today, today's rolls were, i-just-can't-put-them-in-words, i want more of them. Yeah. They were, delicious! simple as that.

Ingredients:

For the dough:

3/4 cup warm water

2 and 1/4 teaspoon dry active yeast

half cup granulated or caster sugar

half teaspoon salt

1/4 cup buttermilk (to make your own buttermilk, see the end of the recipe)

1 egg

1/3 cup oil

4 and 1/2 to 5 cups all-purpose flour (self rising will work too)

For the filling:

1 and 1/4 cups light brown sugar

2 and half tablespoons ground cinnamon

2 tablespoons cornstarch (cornflour)

half cup unsalted butter

For the cream cheese frosting:

half cup cream cheese

4 tablespoons butter

vanilla extract

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1 and 1/4 cups powdered/icing sugar.

Directions:

In a bowl, add water, yeast and 1 tablespoon caster sugar. Stir together , then let the yeast rise for about 5 to 10 minutes. In a small bowl, whisk together buttermilk, egg, and oil until well mixed. After 10 minutes pour buttermilk mixture to the yeast mixture and stir together for 10 to 15 minutes, add the rest of the sugar and mix again.
Pour in 2 cups of flour and stir with a dough hook blender on low speed. Keep adding flour and blend on low until the dough is thick and a little sticky. Your dough reaches its perfect thickness when you touch it with your fingers and it does not stick to them.

Transfer dough to a greased bowl and cover it with plastic food wrap. Let it set for about 1 to 2 hours or until it doubles in size.

Prepare the filling: In a small bowl, mix together the sugar, cinnamon and cornstarch. Put it aside.

Butter a baking tray and line it with butter paper and grease it with butter again

Once dough has risen, flour a large area and roll the dough, try to make it as rectangular as possible. Roll until the dough is half inch thick. Spread the butter on the dough leaving 1 inch area on the edges. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar mixture over the butter. Then start to roll the dough over the mixture and slightly press it into butter. Roll up the dough into a tight log, cut off any uneven ends. Use a sharp knife to cut the dough into small equal rolls. Put the rolls in greased baking tray and leave for 2 more hours in a warm place, to let the dough rise a little more.

Bake the rolls in preheated 180 to 200 degree oven for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown. DO NOT OVER BAKE! Or they turn hard. 

When rolls are baking, make the frosting: In a bowl add the cream cheese and butter and whisk with a hand electric mixer. Add vanilla and lemon juice and mix again. Pour in powdered sugar and whisk again. Then increase speed of mixer to full and mix for 5 minutes.

Take out the baked rolls and use a fork to take them off the tray. Pour the frost over the rolls, not to cover them completely though, use a spoon to make a lines of frosting on top of rolls like shown in the pictures. 

And there you have your rolls!

Buttermilk Recipe:
Things you need:
One cup Milk
4 tablespoons white vinegar or fresh lemon juice

Directions:
In a cup of milk, add vinegar or lemon juice, mix. (i prefer adding vinegar instead of lemon juice) Leave the mixture for 10 to 15 minutes before you can use it! This is buttermilk, if it's not available anywhere in the market where you live, you can make it at home this way.

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