Are you looking for a special breakfast treat to make during the holidays?
These freshly baked cinnamon rolls with vanilla glaze are a big hit with my family.
I could actually get my kids to do pretty much anything while they're baking.
The great thing about this recipe is that you can make it from scratch in less time than you think.
Come on, let's get started.
The first thing we're going to do is make the dough.
I'm going to add 2 3/4 cups of all-purpose flour to my mixing bowl.
For this recipe, I'm going to use instant dry yeast.
It's also called rapid rise yeast, and what's really special about it is,
it's going to drop that rise time by half.
I'm going to add 2 1/4 teaspoons of yeast to the flour and 1 teaspoon of kosher salt.
Just whisk that together.
Okay, set the bowl aside.
I'm going to add a 1/4 cup of sugar, it's not only going to provide sweetness to the dough
but it's actually food for the yeast to eat.
Then 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter, 1/2 a cup of water, and 1/4 cup of milk.
Just stir that a little bit to help dissolve those sugar granules.
I'm going to heat this in my microwave on high power
in 20-second intervals until the temperature reaches 120 to 130 degrees.
Any higher than 138 degrees the yeast are going to die
and be inactive and we definitely don't want that to happen.
Now I'm going to take the temperature, 120 degrees, perfect.
Just stir a little bit more to
dissolve all the ingredients together and melt any solidified butter.
Okay, to finish making the dough we're going to add 1 large egg to the flour mixture
and then we're going to gradually add in the liquid mixture.
Now just stir this until a sticky dough forms. Okay, this looks good.
Now you can either lightly flour a surface and
knead the dough by hand for about 5 minutes or so until the dough feels elastic and smooth
but I'm going to add this to my stand mixer and let that do the work.
I'm going to use my dough hook attachment to do the kneading.
Process it on slow speed about setting 2,
we're looking for a smooth elastic ball to form which is going to take about 4 minutes.
Kneading the dough is going to create gluten bonds which are going to give you that
elastic texture and stretch
so that you get that nice tender chew in your cinnamon rolls.
Okay, this looks good.
As you can see, the dough has gotten nice and stretchy.
Now I'm going to cover this with plastic wrap
and let it rest for 10 minutes because the instant dry yeast works very quickly.
You only need a very short fermentation time.
To make a sweet, spiced filling, I'm going to add 1/3 cup
of dark brown sugar, 1/3 cup of granulated sugar,
2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour, 1 tablespoon of ground cinnamon,
and 6 tablespoons of softened butter.
This is going to create a really flavorful paste that we can spread over the surface of the dough.
Okay, everything's mixed together nicely, let's go grab the dough and assemble the cinnamon rolls.
I've lightly floured my work surface and took the dough out of the bowl
and I could already tell that it's starting to create some carbon dioxide bubbles.
Now we're going to roll it into a 16 by 9-inch rectangle.
The dough is nice and elastic and stretchy, it's perfect.
So I just like to roll and then stretch it a little bit
because the dough is going to start fighting you
because it's got those gluten proteins formed and they want to stretch back so just gently pull
Okay, now we're going to add the filling, just use a spatula
or a knife to just spread it on the surface.
You want to leave about a 1/4-inch edge because we're just going to trim that off anyway.
Now if you want to you could add in some chopped nuts like pecans or walnuts in the middle or
little chocolate chips.
I've even done caramelized apples, you can use pumpkin butter or apple butter.
You can definitely switch up the recipe any way you like it.
Now we're going to wrap this up into a tight cigar shape going lengthwise.
Okay, and make sure you have it seam-side down.
Now just trim off the edges because it's just going to be all dough.
Now cut this into 12 even-sized pieces.
I like to start in the middle
and I like to just form them back into
little round spirals so they have a pretty shape as they ferment and bake.
Now I'm going to transfer them into a 13 by 9-inch baking dish that's been lightly greased with spray
or you can do a little bit of vegetable oil or even some butter if you'd like.
And then place these a 1/2- inch apart, 3 in each row.
You want to leave about a 1/2-inch space around the edges of the pan as well,
that's going to allow the cinnamon rolls to expand.
Now we're going to do the last rise step which is going to allow these to ferment,
create alcohol, and carbon dioxide,
so that the rolls get nicely soft and puffy this is going to take about 30 minutes.
The ideal temperature to do that fermentation step is between 75 to 78 degrees Fahrenheit.
And I would say that you should put this in a warm draft-free area
in your home, and there's a lot of places that you could do that.
And for me, because I want this to be a quicker process,
I'm going to actually create my own small proofing box in my microwave.
Heat 1 cup of water in the microwave on high power for 2 minutes.
Leave the cup in the microwave and immediately add the tray of rolls, close the door to proof.
Adjust the oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat to 375 degrees.
The cinnamon rolls look good they've about doubled in size.
Now we're going to bake them until they're lightly golden-brown, about
15 to 17 minutes, and you're going to see
these rolls still grow because the yeast is going to continue to work
to create carbon dioxide and puff up those cinnamon rolls.
Can't wait.
Wow, these look incredible!
The cinnamon rolls have completely filled the pan,
and the sugar and butter have caramelized on the surface.
It's going to be good.
I'm going to let this cool down just for a little bit.
Now we're going to make the icing for the top.
I have 2 cups of powdered sugar, I'm going to add 1/4 cup of warm milk,
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract, and 1 teaspoon of lemon juice
just for a little bit of tang and balance.
Just whisk to get the lumps out of that powdered sugar.
This looks good and it should be thick enough so that you can lift it up and then drizzle on top.
Let's grab the tray of cinnamon rolls and start drizzling.
I like to add a generous amount.
You could also add salted caramel sauce on top,
or cream cheese frosting if you like a thicker more tangy topping.
You're definitely going to want to enjoy these warm and
make sure you save a couple for yourself because they disappear fast.
If you're looking for more sweet treats for the holidays make
sure to check out my chocolate chip cookie recipe right here.
I hope you enjoyed learning the science behind cinnamon rolls and if you did
give it a big thumbs up, it means a lot when you do.
See you in the next video.
Maybe I'll add a little bit more icing.