Recipe- Kids Special Cinnamon Rolls

I love overnight cinnamon rolls simply because you do all the work a night before and in the morning you just have to bake them. It makes life so much easier! So for Valentine’s Day I thought of making these for our special brunch. I prepared the dough around 7 in the evening, let it rise for around 2 hours and then filled and rolled the dough, covered and kept it in the refrigerator and baked them in the morning. It was really that simple and allowed me to relax and spend some quality time with my husband in the morning and not run around the kitchen thinking of what to make for breakfast.

And you know what’s the best part about making cinnamon rolls at home? The aroma in your home when the rolls are baking – HEAVEN!

Ingredients

3.5 cups all purpose flour
2¼ teaspoons dry active yeast [1 packet]
¾ cup whole milk warm [around 120 f degrees]
¼ cup + 1.5 teaspoons granulated sugar 1.5 teaspoons to be added in the yeast mixture
5 tablespoons unsalted butter melted
¼ teaspoon salt
1 egg
2 tablespoons warm water
1/3 cup brown sugar you may increase to ½ cup to increase sweetness
6 tablespoons unsalted butter softened
1/3 cup pecans chopped finely
1.5 tablespoons cinnamon powder
2 oz cream cheese softened
1.25 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
1/8 teaspoon orange extract
orange zest for garnishing

Method

* Start by mixing together flour and salt in a bowl. Set aside.

* Heat milk in microwave for 30-45 seconds, it should be warm but not boiling hot. [temperature around 120 F degrees, use a kitchen thermometer in case you have one]

* To the warm milk, add yeast and 1.5 teaspoons of sugar.
* Give a quick stir with a spoon and leave the mixture for 5-10 minutes. This is called proofing of the yeast.

* While the yeast is proofing, in the steel bowl of your stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment or using a hand mixer whisk together melted butter, sugar, water and egg till well combined.

* After 5-10 minutes the yeast will get activated and you will see it all bubbling up.

* Add the yeast mixture to the the egg-butter-sugar mixture and mix till well combined.

* Start adding the flour mix in parts, add 1/2 of it first and run the mixer on low speed till it's all incorporated.

* Using a spatula scrap down the sides to mix in all the flour together.

* Now add the remaining flour and mix at low speed.

* Once it's all mixed, increase the speed to medium [fitted with dough hook] and let it knead for 5-7 minutes or till the dough is totally smooth. Alternatively you can use your hands to knead the dough.

* Take a bowl and and coat it will canola or vegetable oil.

* Place the dough ball in the bowl, cover with a cling sheet and let it rise at a warm place for around 90 minutes to up to 2 hours or till it's more than double it's size.

* After 90 minutes, the dough will more than double in size.