Crystal's Cinnamon Rolls

These are some of the best cinnamon rolls I've ever had/made. You can also make them into dinner rolls just by leaving out the cinnamon and sugar. Plus the girl I got the recipe from gave some extra baking hints that I've included as well! ENJOY!

Cinnamon Rolls

½ cup sugar
2 eggs
1 Tbsp dry yeast
6 cups flour
2 cups warm milk
2 tsp salt
½ cup oil

Warm up milk in microwave (approximately 1 ½ minutes on high). Place
sugar and yeast in bowl and mix slightly. Pour warmed milk over the top
and allow to sit until yeast bubbles to top. Add eggs, oil, ½ of the
flour (3 cups) and salt. Turn mixer onto low speed until flour is mixed
in, then turn mixer onto a high speed and allow mixer to run for 10 to
12 minutes. Turn off and add remaining 3 cups of flour. Turn mixer onto
low speed and mix additional flour into the dough. Remove the dough and place in large bowl sprayed with Pam. Place a dish towel over the top and let rise until double in size (one to two hours).

Spray counter with Pam (or put flour on counter if dough seems too
sticky) and use a rolling pin to roll dough into a rectangle shape.
Butter the top, sprinkle on brown sugar and cinnamon. Starting at the
narrow end of the dough, gently tuck the end in and begin rolling the
dough. When you have a complete roll, pinch the loose end into the
dough. Using a piece of thread, cut off sections of the dough and place
them on a cookie sheet sprayed with Pam. Let cinnamon rolls rise until
double in size.

Bake at 350 for 13 to 15 minutes, or until golden brown. Drizzle hot
cinnamon rolls with Butter Cream Icing.

Butter Cream Icing

2 cups powdered sugar
½ cube butter
2 tsp vanilla
Whipping Cream

Mix butter into about half of the powered sugar. Add vanilla and 2 Tbsp
of cream. Add the other half of the powdered sugar and 2 to 3 more Tbsp
cream. Continue to add Tbsp of cream until icing is of the desired
consistency. If it becomes too thin, just add a little more powdered
sugar.

Baking Hints

1. Do NOT use too much flour. It is easier to add a little bit of flour
to sticky dough than to make a light cinnamon roll out of dough that
has too much flour (even though it isn’t sticky at all). Dough with too
much flour makes heavy cinnamon rolls – they won’t be light and airy.

2. Beating the dough in the mixer on high for 10 to 12 minutes works up
the gluten in the flour. This makes the dough stretchy, airy and light.
Adding this step to your cinnamon rolls creates a very noticeable
difference in the way your rolls will turn out.

3. If your house seems rather cool, (as it often will in the winter
time), your dough will take much longer to rise. One way to speed up
the process is to heat your oven up to 150. Then turn the oven off. After a
few minutes, place your metal bowl of dough (covered with a dish towel)
in the oven and let it rise.

4. Bake your rolls on a THIN cookie sheet. I use a heavier sheet for
making cookies (which keeps them from burning). However, if you use a
heavy sheet to make cinnamon rolls, the tops will be done and the
bottoms will still be doughy.

5. This same recipe makes wonderful dinner rolls. Simply roll balls of
dough in your hand, place on light weight cookie sheet, let rise till
double in size and bake at 350 for approximately 13-15 minutes (or
until golden brown). Lightly coat tops with spray on butter when they come out of the oven.