Better than Cinnabon's Cinnamon Rolls!

I never like the heavy frosting and greasy cinnamon rolls from Cinnabon, although they smell quite good. After trying cinnamon rolls from local bakeries and feeling heavy and uneasy from the high content of sugar, I simply decided that cinnamon rolls were not for me until I stubbled upon this recipe. I had a nice reason to bake these sweet treat for breakfast since a good friend came to visit me and Eric. ^_^ Thank you Daiji for visiting us!

This recipe was adapted from Pioneer Women. This recipe caught my eye because the reviews for it were amazing. After reading the recipe, I wanted to give cinnamon rolls another chance and I am glad I did. I did make modifications to the original recipe because of the high sugar and fat content and because of the great yield. After cutting the recipe in half to make 12-15 rolls, the sugar and oil was reduced further. 

If you've had difficulty making breads or baked goods with yeast, don't be discouraged. I've always had trouble making breads with yeast so I was a bit nervous when making these. I'm glad I didn't let past discouragement keep me from making these because they came out beautifully and delicious. Here is my review for these rolls. 

Taste: It is simply sweet from the brown sugar and flavorful because of the cinnamon and butter. The dough is lightly sweet and nutty so the bold flavors from the filling isn't overwhelming.  

Texture: Frosting for these nice rolls is totally unnecessary because they are moist and tender. It is super easy to unravel each later to enjoy them slowly. 

Ingredients for dough:

1 cup of milk (any kind)

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup of vegetable oil (I used sunflower)

1 teaspoon Active Dry Yeast

2 ¼ cup of Whole White Wheat Flour

¼ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

Ingredients for filling:

1 tablespoon cinnamon 

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup of unsalted butter (soften)

Method 

1. Set your bread machine for the dough cycle since we will let the dough rise in the machine.
2. Heat milk on stovetop or in microwave until warm. Melt butter and sugar into milk and mix. Mixture should be warm. Pour it into your bread machine. 
3. Mix flour, yeast, salt, baking powder, baking soda together. Then put it into the bread machine and start the dough cycle. The machine will knead it then let it rest. This took my machine an hour. 
4. Once the cycle is completed, the dough should have risen. With a spatula, knead the dough to deflate it. I was lazy and didn't want to take the dough out because it was already 2am in the morning. Once the dough has deflated, the dough is ready to be used but I placed it back into my bread machine and went to bed. 
5. When I was ready to make fresh rolls in the morning, I took the dough out. It has doubled in sized again. I lightly flour a working surface and place the semi-sticky dough on it. I then lightly floured the dough so I could roll it out into a rectangular shape with a rolling pin. 
6. I rolled the dough as thinly as I could. It was about 1/4 inch thick and the size of the dough was about 10"x15"
7. Instead of melting the butter, I creamed it with the cinnamon and sugar. I then used a large spoon and spread it thinly onto my dough until it was covered. 
8. I chose to roll the dough with the long side of the dough to make a log that was about 15" long. I rolled the dough as tightly as I could. 
9. Cut one inch thick slices with a knife and set it on a baking pan. 
10. Arrange the slices onto a baking pan and space them about one inch apart. I used a nonstick light colored baking pan. You can use parchment paper to line your pan or grease it lightly if you wish to do so. I then covered my dough with syran wrap let it rest since I flatten them out to shape them. I waited an hour before baking them. After an hour, the gap between each slice has disappeared because they have risen. 
11. Preheat your oven to 330F. Then bake the rolls for 20minutes until golden brown.