Cinnamon Roll Recipe From A Farmer's Wife

These are the cinnamon rolls I sell out of on my farm every weekend. They're pillowy soft but stable enough to hold the cinnamon sugar mixture. There is a simple trick I have to making the BEST cinnamon rolls, and the answer is one secret ingredient.....

          I know you came here for a recipe, so I will keep this short! These cinnamon rolls are simply the best I have come up with. They're soft but stable, chewy but melt in your mouth. I swear my husband gleams with joy every weekend when I make these. Cinnamon rolls are such a classic, and while I love classics, I felt obligated to make it my own to sell on my farm. Voila! After a few, okay maybe many, failed attempts I mastered my own take on cinnamon rolls. Check out the recipe below to find out the combination of extracts and flavors I use to make these the BEST cinnamon rolls EVER. 

Cinnamon Roll Recipe From A Farmer's Wife

Bread:

• 1 Cup Buttermilk
• 1 TBSP Instant Yeast (if using Active Dry See Notes)
• 2 Eggs, preferably farm fresh
• 1/2 White Sugar
• 1 TSP Salt
• 1/2 TBSP Vanilla
• Juice and Zest of 1 Orange
• 1 stick of melted butter (1/2 cup)
• 3 1/2+ Cups of Bread or AP Flour

Filling:

• 1 stick of very soft butter
• 1 Cup Brown Sugar, use whatever type moves you
• 3 Heaping TBSP of Culinary Cinnamon
• A Dusting of Orange Zest

Icing:

• 1 Stick softened Butter (1/2 Cup)
• 6 oz Room Temp Cream Cheese (sometimes if I have no use for the other 2 oz I will throw in the whole bar)
• 1 TBSP Lakes Region Farm Maple Syrup, or any high quality syrup you can find
• 1/2 TBSP Vanilla Extract, preferably double fold
• 1 1/2 Cups Powdered Sugar
• Enough Orange Juice to make frosting silky smooth for easy melting, don't worry we will go over this. 

Directions:

Step 1:

Prepare your KitchenAid with a paddle attachment. Add instant yeast.

Combine Buttermilk, warmed to 110°, with melted butter. Pour into bowl. 

Whisk eggs together then add to mixture.

Add into bowl white sugar, salt, vanilla, orange zest and juice, and 2 cups of flour.

Mix until uniform. 

Step 2:

Remove the paddle attachment from your mixer, and install the dough hook. Soak the paddle attachment before going on, you'll thank me later.

Add another 1 and a half cups of flour and knead until the dough comes together. You may have to use a spatula to scrape the sticky dough off the walls of the bowl. 

You will knead the dough on KitchenAid 2 for 2 minutes. If the dough comes together perfectly and is a little stickier than tacky, you're golden and can knead for an additional 5-7 minutes. If the dough is a hot mess looking more like The Blob, add more flour 1/4c at a time. The thing about bread dough is the amount of flour to add is dependent on the kitchen environment, you might not need any more flour, you might need 2 more cups. Once you have achieved the correct consistency, you'll knead for 5-7 minutes on KitchenAid Speed 2. 

Once you get the dough ball looking like a ball, and it is pulling away from the sides of the bowl yet still sticking to the bottom and you've kneaded for at least 5 minutes, flour your fingers and tear off a small piece, about 1" in diameter. Fold that piece over itself and turn it into a ball. You'll carefully, slowly and gently stretch that dough ball until it either breaks or you see light shining through. If it breaks, knead an additional 2 minutes and check again. If it does not break and you see light, you're ready to move on.

Butter a large bowl to rest your dough in. Use your fingers, a clean rag or paper towel. You want a good healthy coating. Take your dough ball and stretch it over itself until you form a ball with the seam on top. Grab ahold of that seam with your floured hands and twist to seal. Flop the ball of dough seam side down into your bowl and cover with plastic wrap. The dough will rise until doubled, or until you poke your finger gently into it and the dough does not spring back. This will take about an hour. If your kitchen is cold it just may take 2, so this is where the patience comes in.

Step 3:

While the dough is finishing up rising, mix your filling together using a fork, whisk or hands. Prepare a 13x9 metal pan with parchment paper.

Now that your dough has doubled, and when gently poked leaves an indent, turn it out onto a floured countertop. use your fingers to mash it down into a rough 16x12 rectangle. The more defined the corners the better the end results. 

Spread your butter with your fingertips all over the dough stopping 1/4" shy of each edge. 

Take your mixed filling and sprinkle it heavily all over the dough, starting in the center and ensuring to stop 1/2" shy of the widest side farthest from you. You'll need this clean edge to pinch closed your rolls. Smush the filling mixture into the butter until you see some absorption of the butter into the filling. All of your filling will not hydrate, you just want to see it adhering. 

Step 4:

Take a pizza cutter and slice a long 1" or 2" strip on the widest edge. 1" will give you a standard sized roll, a 2" will give you a jumbo roll. Do this until all the dough is cut. You'll have 12" long strips. 

You'll now take your first strip and tightly roll the dough. You will do tucking motions while you roll, paying attention to how much filling is falling out, if it is coming out excessively back down on the pressure. A little bit will fall out so don't stress. Once you finish rolling the dough, you'll grasp with your thumb and pointer the edge and wherever on the roll the edge is parallel. Give it a squeeze to seal. Place your finished roll onto your 13x9 metal pan, repeat with the rest. You'll have about an inch between each roll. This will ensure they get tall and not wide. The more space you leave the wider they get. The less space, the taller. 

Cover your beautiful creation with plastic wrap and allow to rise for approximately 30 minutes. Remember, this may take up to 2 hours. You are going by appearance, and if you don't have the eye for doubled just yet, do a small poke test. You got this!

Step 5:

Place your oven rack 2 or 3 down from the top, using judgement based on knowing how your oven behaves. Preheat your oven to 375 convection or 400 standard about 10 minutes before you believe the rolls will have finished rising. 

Take your puffy rolls that passed the test and stick 'em in the preheated oven.

Step 6:

With a fresh clean mixer bowl and whisk attachment, place your room temp cream cheese and butter in your bowl. Beat them together until no chunks remain. Don't focus on time, focus on results. Add maple syrup and vanilla, beat until combined. Add powdered sugar on the lowest speed, allow the sugar to hydrate then whip it, whip it real good, for about 2 minutes. Add OJ to thin into a consistency that is similar to soft peak when whipping egg whites. If you're not familiar with soft peak, whip it until the shape remains when scooped, but relaxes back into itself slightly.

Step 7:

Cook approximately 18-22 minutes. Checking for doneness at 18. I check the internal temperature before pulling as I like to have the same result every time. If you want to do this, your internal temp will be 190-195 for perfection. If you are not crazy like me, and you prefer to eyeball it, check for doneness by looking for a nice golden brown, not burnt, color on top and give it a tap. If they sound hollow, you're done! If you tap them and they don't return or it sounds dense, keep cooking. 

Step 8:

Put your super awesome puffy masterpieces in their pan onto a cooling rack. Go get an ice cream scoop and your frosting. Wait a minute and plop an ice cream scoop's worth of frosting onto the top of each roll. Allow the frosting to melt into the nooks and crannies. Let the rolls cool for another 10 minutes before digging in. Prepare to fall back in your seat! 

You can store these in an airtight container or plastic wrap for about a week. Reheat in microwave if desired.