Christmas Morning Cinnamon Rolls

Prepare the Dough:

Pour the warm milk in your stand mixer and sprinkle the yeast over the top.

Next, add eggs, melted butter, salt, sugar, and cinnamon.

Mix using beater attachment.

Change to the dough hook and add the flour. Knead together until ingredients are well combined. Make sure to scrape the dough off the bottom of the bowl throughout mixing. Knead for about 5-7 minutes.

While the dough is kneading, preheat the oven to the lowest temperature possible for a few minutes and then turn the oven off. This will give you a warm place for the dough to rise so that it can rise faster.

When your dough is done kneading, spray a glass bowl with cooking spray and place dough into the bowl. Cover with a damp towel.

Make sure the oven is turned off, and place the covered dough in the warm oven to rise for about 30-60 minutes or until doubled.

Prepare the cinnamon sugar filling

Add all ingredients into a measuring cup and mix together thoroughly. Set aside.

Prepare the Cream Cheese Frosting

Soften the cream cheese and butter in a large glass measuring cup.

Beat together very well with the mixer until you can no longer see the chunks from the cream cheese.

Add the powdered sugar. If doubling, you don’t need to measure out how much, just pour the 32 ounce package into the mixture slowly.

Shape the Cinnamon Rolls

When the dough has risen to double, sprinkle a clean counter top with flour and roll the dough out into a rectangle shape. Mine is usually of an elongated oval.

Pour the filling over the dough and use a rubber spatula to spread the filling evenly over the entire piece of dough.

Now, you will start rolling the dough up, from the long end.

Take a sharp knife and cut your roll in half. Then, cut the halves into ½. Keep cutting until you have approximately 12 pieces.

Spray a 9x13 inch pan with butter and place each roll inside.

If cooking right away, allow to rise for another 20-30 minutes, or until doubled and move onto the baking phase.

If waiting until a different day, I skip the second rising. I’ve never woken up early enough to bake this all in the morning. I’d recommend that you make up the recipe in the evening and put the prepared rolls into the refrigerator overnight. Set out while the oven is preheating and they may need to bake for a little bit longer because you aren’t starting from room temperature. You can also allow them to proof, place in the freezer and bake from frozen, again requiring fluctuation in cooking time. One Christmas, a very large group of us all gathered together on Christmas Eve. I prepared individual trays for each family to go home with and we all baked them in our own homes as we enjoyed early Christmas morning with our individual intimate families.

Remove the cinnamon rolls from the refrigerator. They may have risen overnight. If so, allow them to sit on the counter for 30ish minutes and proceed to the next step. If they look like they didn’t rise much, I would recommend allowing them to sit on the counter and come to room temperature for about an hour.

When the dough has risen, preheat the oven to 375℉. Warm up the ½ cup of heavy whipping cream in the microwave for ~20 seconds (until lukewarm) and pour over the rolls.

Place in the oven and bake for about 20-30 minutes or until golden brown.

Spread just the right amount of frosting over the rolls. With this recipe, don’t be afraid to leave some of the frosting out and add it to something else later. Too much = wayyy too rich and that is saying something coming from me.