Old Fashioned Cinnamon Rolls Recipe

Prepare The Dough

• Wet Ingredients. Pour milk into a microwave safe liquid measuring cup. Add vegetable oil and sugar to the milk. Scald the milk by heating the mixture in the microwave oven until it is just under a boil (2 minutes). Stirring to dissolve the sugar. Set it aside to cool to about 105°F. Check temperature with an instant read thermometer.
  1 cup milk, ¼ cup vegetable oil, ¼ cup sugar
• Dry Ingredients. While you’re waiting, measure out flour, yeast, and salt into a large bowl or the stand mixer bowl and set it aside.
  2¼ teaspoons instant yeast, 2¼ cups all purpose flour, 1½ teaspoon salt
• Combine Wet And Dry Ingredients. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Mix the wet and dry ingredients together until they are well combined.

  For best results, use a stand mixer with the dough hook attachment.
• Knead The Dough. And then knead it by hand or in a stand mixer until it is smooth, and elastic. It will be a somewhat sticky dough.

  If Kneading By Hand. Transfer the dough to a floured surface and knead by hand for approximately 10 minutes.

  If Kneading In Stand Mixer. Using the dough hook, knead it for 5 minutes on low speed.

First Rise (60 Minutes)

• The First Rise. Cover bowl with a damp towel and place dough in a draft-free, warm place. The inside of an unheated oven with the light on is ideal. Let it rise for about an 1 hour or until the dough has risen and doubled in size.

  Overnight Cinnamon Rolls - The dough can be refrigerated at this point for 1-3 days. When you are ready to use it, just remove it from the refrigerator and set it on the counter for about an hour.

Preheat the oven to 375°F.

Prep baking dish by coating the inside with melted butter or cooking spray.

Make Filling

• Melt Butter. Melt butter in a microwave safe bowl (30 seconds).
  4 tablespoons butter
• Make Brown Sugar Mixture. Put the brown sugar and cinnamon into a small bowl. Mix together with a fork until combined.
  ½ cup brown sugar, 1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon

Form The Rolls

• Roll Out Dough.Turn the whole lump of dough out of the pot onto a lightly floured surface. Using a rolling pin, roll it out into a 12 x 18 inch rectangle.
• Spread Butter. Pour and spread out the melted butter onto the rectangular surface of dough.
• Spread Filling. Sprinkle and spread the brown sugar mixture out evenly on top of the butter.
• Roll Up Log. Using your fingers, gently roll the dough toward you, going back and forth along the long side as you roll it up to make one long log.
• Cut Cinnamon Rolls. Using a sharp knife or some dental floss, divide dough into individual rolls. For best results, cut top of the roll in half, then in quarters, then keep cutting until you cut the all of them into equal size.
• Transfer Rolls. Melt butter in the bottom of a baking dish and use it to grease the bottom and sides of the baking dish. Place rolls in the dish, laying each down on its side so you can see the swirl of cinnamon face up.
  4 tablespoons butter

Second Rise (30-60 Minutes)

• Second Rise. Cover the baking dish with a kitchen towel and let rise for another 30-60 minutes.

Bake

• Bake. Bake them at 375°F for 15-18 minutes, until lightly golden brown.

Make The Icing

• Combine and mix Ingredients. Put room temperature icing ingredients in a bowl and beat together with an electric mixer until smooth.
  4 tablespoons butter, 4 ounces cream cheese, 1½ cups confectioner's sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, ½ cup milk

Finish

• Brush With Butter. Brush a little butter on top of the hot rolls as soon as they come out of the oven.
  2 tablespoons butter
• Frost Cinnamon Rolls. Then brush on a thin layer of icing on top of the butter. This will make for extra soft and gooey cinnamon rolls.

  Use the extra frosting to frost the rolls once they have cooled so that this layer of frosting doesn't melt into the rolls but remains nicely on top.