cinnamon buns (of the frosted and naked variety)

note: this recipe, is in no way, low fat. Just sayin...

oh ms. paula deen...my friends and i like to laugh at your 'sticka buttuh wrapped in baykun' methods, but i gotta hand it to you--your cinnamon roll recipe was rad, and pretty easy to make. i would have liked the method to have included more of a "wet" cinnamon filling, but nonetheless, very flavorful. Plus, it gave me an excuse to slather on more cream cheese frosting in the end = )

After tinkering around with yeast doughs in previous baking projects, I finally grew a pair, and decided to go for cinnamon rolls--a baked treat that I kept shying away from...forever. Now that I know the basics, I'll definitely go back and modify this one to suit my cravings.

So without further ado, Paula Deen's cinnamon bun recipe (slightly altered), and cream cheese frosting (which again, has been "ish"'d to perfection)


::gathering my raw materials::

Dough:
1/4-ounce package yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter or shortening
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg
3 1/2 to 4 cups all-purpose flour

Filling:
1/2 cup melted butter, plus more for pan
3/4 brown and white sugar
3-5 tablespoons ground cinnamon
3/4 cup raisins, walnuts, or pecans, (optional)


Directions

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water and set aside. In a large bowl mix milk, sugar, melted butter, salt and egg.




Add 2 cups of flour and mix until smooth. Add yeast mixture. Mix in remaining flour until dough is easy to handle. Knead dough on lightly floured surface for 5 to 10 minutes.




Place in well-greased bowl, cover and let rise until doubled in size, usually 1 to 1 1/2 hours. I heated my oven to 300 degrees, turned it off, and when it was nice and warm, put in my covered bowl. Easiest way to get dough to rise and stay warm. I made my "filling" which consisted of the cinnamon, ground walnuts, and brown sugar.




(At this point, I left the house, got some coffee, and saw a huge truck with a snorkel. But I digress...)

So fast forward an hour and a half-ish. When doubled in size, punch down dough. Roll out on a floured surface into a 15 by 9-inch rectangle.


Spread melted butter all over dough. Mix sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over buttered dough. Sprinkle with walnuts, pecans, or raisins if desired.



Beginning at the 15-inch side, role up dough and pinch edge together to seal. Cut into 8-10 slices...thinner, or thicker if you'd like.



So if you're a newbie like me, you know it takes time to accumulate pans and various other kitchen gadgets. I don't have huge baking pans like my mama, so I went the ghetto route and used my pie tin for half of my cinnamon buns. It worked out fine, though! Coat the bottom of baking pan with butter and sprinkle with sugar. Place cinnamon roll slices close together in the pan.


Bake for about 30 minutes or until nicely browned.


While you're waiting for the cinnamon buns to bake...

Frosting:

4 oz cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup confectioner's sugar (powdered)
1-2 tbsp milk

Beat with a mixer 'til smooth.



Generously slather cream cheese frosting over warm cinnamon rolls.


Store remainder frosting in the fridge. When ready to use, warm up a bun, and spread it on cold. The heat of your cinnamon bun will soften the frosting.

And that's pretty much it. Although a long process (waiting for the dough to rise), it's definitely worth the wait. Enjoy!