CHEWY, GOOEY CINNAMON ROLLS

I don’t think words exist to properly describe to you how perfect these cinnamon rolls are, but I did my best in the title. They are everything you want your favorite special occasion breakfast to be—fluffy, impossibly chewy, and perfectly sweet, with gobs of cinnamon-spiced filling and not-too-heavy cream cheese glaze dripping over the edges and into the swirled layers. Have I sold you yet? You have to try them! In our house growing up, we would eat cinnamon rolls every Christmas morning. They were always yummy, but this past Christmas, we finally reached perfection! They’re way better than any cinnabon you’ve ever had, I can promise you that.

The key to this recipe is taking care of your yeast. The second time we made these rolls, we were a little careless and ended up kind of killing our yeast—the resulting rolls were not nearly as amazing as we had remembered. So we tried again and focused on making that yeast as happy as possible, and wow. Make sure that your yeast is nice and fresh, and give the dough plenty of time to rise in a nice warm environment! It is so worth it.

We like to make our cinnamon rolls the night before we want to eat them so that we can enjoy them at breakfast time, but we’ll provide directions for whichever way you want to do it.

Chewy, Gooey Cinnamon Rolls
yield 12 rolls

Dough Ingredients:

• 3 large eggs at room temperature

• 3/4 c whole milk, heated to 110ºF (needs to be very warm but not hot)

• 1 envelope (2 1/4 tsp) instant or rapid-rise yeast

• 4 1/4 c all-purpose flour

• 1/2 c cornstarch

• 1/2 c sugar

• 1 1/2 tsp salt

• 12 tbsp (1 1/2 sticks) salted butter, softened and cut into 12 pieces

Filling Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 c packed light brown sugar

• 1 1/2 tbsp ground cinnamon

• 1/4 tsp nutmeg

• 1/4 tsp salt

• 4 tbsp salted butter, softened (don’t mix this with the above ingredients!)

Glaze:

• 4 oz cream cheese, softened

• 2 tbsp milk

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 1 1/2 c powdered sugar, sifted

Method:

1. Crack eggs into small bowl and lightly whisk. Leave on counter to warm up a bit (eggs cannot be cold or they will ruin your yeast!).

2. Heat oven to 200º. When oven reaches 200º, shut off. Line glass 9×13 pan with foil, allowing excess to hang over edges a bit. Spray with oil and set aside. Grease a medium bowl.

3. Whisk warmed milk and yeast in a large liquid measuring cup until yeast dissolves, and set aside.

4. In a stand mixer fitted with dough hook, mix flour, cornstarch, sugar, and salt until combined. Whisk eggs into milk-yeast mixture. With mixture on low add milk mixture in a steady stream and mix until it dough begins to come together, about 1-2 minutes. Increase speed to medium and add butter, dropping in one piece at a time and waiting until each piece is incorporated to add the next. Continue to mix until dough is very smooth and comes away from the sides of the bowl, about 7 minutes.

5. Shape dough into a smooth, round ball and place in greased bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and place in warm oven (make sure the oven isn’t on anymore, just warm!). Let rise until doubled in size, about 2 hours.

6. While dough is rising make filling. Combine brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in a small bowl and set aside.

7. Once dough is risen, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll dough into a 12×24-inch rectangle, spread with softened butter, and sprinkle evenly with brown sugar mixture, leaving a 1/2-inch border on one of the long edges.

8. Starting with the long edge that has filling (not the one you left a border on), roll dough into a tight cylinder, stretching slightly as you go to ensure a tight roll. Pinch lightly to seal seam (you can wet your finger slightly to seal it if need be). Using a very sharp knife or unflavored dental floss, cut cylinder in half, then cut each half in half again, then cut each section into equal thirds to obtain 12 pieces. Transfer pieces, cut-side up, to prepared foil-lined pan. Cover tightly with plastic wrap, and if baking the next day, place in refrigerator. If baking right away, place in a warm spot to rise until the thickness of each layer has doubled in size, 1-2 hours (you may want to put it in the warm oven again). Skip step 9 if baking right away.

9. After refrigerating overnight (up to 24 hours) remove rolls from fridge and place in warmed oven (once again, make sure the oven isn’t on, just warm!) to rise until each layer looks twice as thick, about 2 hours (I hesitate to say “until the rolls have doubled in size” here, because they don’t grow to double their original size…the individual layers do need to grow though!).

10. To bake, heat oven to 350º. Whisk cream cheese, milk, vanilla, and powdered sugar in medium bowl until smooth. You may need to use a hand mixer to get it really smooth. Set aside. Discard plastic wrap and bake rolls until golden brown and filling is melted, about 25-30 minutes.

11. Place pan on wire rack and allow to cool for 10 minutes, then top cinnamon rolls with glaze. Cool 20 more minutes and serve.