By: Lily Struble
Recipes for people who can’t cook from someone who also can’t cook!
Second semester hitting hard? Want a delicious treat to take your mind off your missing assignments? Do you hate recipe websites? Here’s a delicious recipe that I’ve made several times whilst completely disregarding the original recipe. I like to think of it like salt or garlic; measure with your heart.
Total Time
2 hours
Prep Time
30 min
Cook Time
30 min
Ingredients
(for 14 servings)
DOUGH
- ½ cup unsalted butter, melted (salted works great!)
- 2 cups whole milk, warm to the touch (2 % works perfectly fine)
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2 ¼ teaspoons active dry yeast
- 5 cups flour, divided
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 teaspoons salt
FILLING
- ¾ cup butter, softened (ie; microwaved)
- ¾ cup light brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
Measure the filling with your soul. If you think there should be more sugar and cinnamon, add more! Who cares. Live your life.
FROSTING
- 4 oz cream cheese, softened
- 2 tablespoons butter, melted
- 2 tablespoons whole milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup powdered sugar
I personally like to 1.5-2x the frosting ingredients, but I just love a great cream cheese frosting.
Preparation
- Play Hozier or whatever music feels like home/happiness to you! Maybe set a candle, open a window, and imagine yourself in a little woodland cottage. It’s about the journey, not the destination.
- Generously butter two disposable foil pie/cake pans, or even a glass casserole dish. Whatever you have works!. I like to use a flour non-stick spray to make less of a mess.
- In a large bowl, whisk together warm milk, melted butter, and granulated sugar. The mixture should be just warm, registering between 100-110˚F (37-43˚C). If it is hotter, allow to cool slightly. If you’re like me and hate measuring exactly, take the temperature by placing a finger in. It should feel warm without burning you.
- Sprinkle the yeast evenly over the warm mixture and let sit for 1 minute.
- Add 4 cups of all-purpose flour to the milk mixture and mix with a wooden spoon until just combined.
- Cover the bowl with a towel or plastic wrap and set in a warm place to rise for 1 hour. After 1 hour, the dough should have nearly doubled in size.
- Remove the towel and add an additional ¾ cup of flour, the baking powder, and salt. Stir well, then turn out onto a well-floured surface, such as a large cutting board or your counter.
- Knead the dough lightly, adding additional flour as necessary, until the dough just loses its stickiness and does not stick to the surface.
- Roll the dough out into a large rectangle, about ½-inch (1 cm) thick. I like to measure it out to the size of my cutting board to keep the counter clean.
- Spread the softened butter evenly over the dough.
- Sprinkle evenly with brown sugar and a generous sprinkling of cinnamon. Measure with your heart!
- Press the mixture into the butter. Like a slime video cut over a clip of Young Sheldon on TikTok. Poke poke poke!
- Roll up the dough, forming a log, and pinch the seam closed. Place seam-side down.
- Cut the log in half, then divide each half into 7 evenly sized pieces. About 1½ inches (8cm) thick each.
- Preheat oven to 350˚F (180˚C).
- Place 7 cinnamon rolls in each cake pan, one in the center, six around the sides. Cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm place to rise for 30 minutes.
- To prepare the frosting. In a medium-size mixing bowl, whisk together cream cheese, butter, whole milk, vanilla, and powdered sugar, until smooth.
- Remove plastic wrap. Bake the cinnamon rolls in a preheated oven for 25-30 minutes, until golden brown.
- While still warm, drizzle evenly with frosting.
- Enjoy!
