Cinnamon rolls (buns)

I was never that big a fan of Cinnabon when we were in the US. In fact I used to hate anything with cinnamon till we came to the UK. The apple pies served in the pubs here all had a generous amount of cinnamon and I began to absolutely love it. Sadly, my husband doesn't share the same excitement when it comes to cinnamon, making me stay away from desserts with cinnamon as the hero (heroine???).

That was until I picked up a couple of Cinnabons from the only outlet here in Piccadilly Circus (after paying a bomb for it that too) and brought it home. Since it was one of those lovey dovey days, I kept one aside for Ro, 100 percent sure he would say, 'so bloody overrated Cinnabon is' and let me have it. I guess it was one of those lovey dovey days for Ro as well, cos he said he would eat it since his wife lovingly kept aside one for him (bummer!!! is what I actually thought, but lets just let it pass shall we?)

So anyways, he loved the cinnamon roll to the extent he asked me why I don't make it at home. And so that's what I did, make cinnamon rolls. The first time I didn't take pics nor did I bookmark the recipe and so had to search around a bit this time. No luck still and so I had to make do with a new one. It wasn't as perfect as the first time, but we loved it nonetheless. I have bookmarked another recipe as well, and if it turns out better than this one, it shall be replaced. For now here are the details:

Recipe adapted from here

Dough:

Milk- 1/4 cup

Water- 1/4 cup

Butter- 1 tbsp

Active dry yeast- 1 1/8 tsp

Salt- 1/4 tsp

Plain flour- 1 1/2 cups

Granulated sugar- 1/4 cup

Egg- 1 small

Filling:

Butter- 1 1/2 tbsp, melted

Brown sugar- 4 tbsp

Cinnamon powder- 1 tbsp

Glaze:

Powdered sugar- 1/2 cup

Butter- 3/4 tbsp, melted

Milk- 3/4 tbsp

Vanilla essence- 1/4 tsp

Heat together the milk, butter and water in a saucepan until just about warm.

Stir in the yeast till it is diluted. Keep aside for 5 to 6 minutes.

Into a large mixing bowl add the flour, salt, sugar and egg. Mix well.

Pour the yeasted mixture into the flour mix and using the dough hook attachment on your mixer, knead till the entire thing comes together. 

Alternatively, dust your work top with enough flour and knead till the dough becomes pliable and is not sticky any more.

Place in a lightly greased bowl and leave in a warm place to rise for about 2 hours.

Once the dough has risen well, punch it down and place on a floured surface.

Roll it out into a rectangle shape, about half an inch in thickness, using as little flour as possible.

Brush the melted butter generously on to the rolled out dough. 

Mix the brown sugar and cinnamon together and sprinkle this mix on top of the butter, as evenly as possible.

Then carefully start rolling the dough from the longer side. Pinch the edges once you reach the end to seal it in.

Using a serrated knife, cut the log into 8 to 10 slices.

Place the dough, cut side down on to a greased baking pan and leave aside to rise for another hour or so.

Once it has doubled in size place in the middle shelf of an oven pre heated at 190C and bake for 18 to 20 minutes.

Once done, remove and let it cool for 10 minutes

In the mean time make the glaze by mixing together all the ingredients under that section till you get a thick frosting. 

Pour over the warm cinnamon rolls and enjoy with a cuppa.

Notes: The dough ended up being pretty loose and sticky and I kinda struggled with it. So had to use quite a bit of extra flour for kneading.

I preheated the oven at 100C for about 5 minutes and placed the dough inside for it to rise the first time.

I knew it would be a problem while rolling it out so I placed a baking paper under and started rolling. Although it wasn't easy, I was sill able to manage without the dough sticking too much to the paper.

The second rising time exceeded quite a bit because we suddenly decided to catch a movie and so it stayed that way for about 3 hours. I don't know if it made any difference though.

Replace the brown sugar with granulated sugar if you don't have the latter.

Sending this to the Monthly Mingle event hosted over at Kulsum's Journey Kitchen where this month the theme is Yeasted Doughs. The event is the brainchild of the ever talented Meeta of What's for Lunch Honey.