Cinnamon Rolls

My mom made these for us growing up - and my kids LOVE them now. They're pretty easy too. They take about an hour start to finish. This is how I make them...

You'll need:

2 pkts yeast (or 4 1/2 tsp)

1/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 cup warm milk (I warm it for about 2 minutes in the microwave in the bowl)

4 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp salt

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, melted

Later for the filling:

2 Tbsp butter, melted

brown sugar & cinnamon (I don't measure these)

Later for the icing:

powdered sugar, milk, and (optional) vanilla extract (I kind of measure these)

Measure milk into a medium/large microwave safe bowl (like my favorite pampered chef glass measure pitcher) - my microwave takes about 2 minutes - sometimes 1 1/2.

Mix the yeast and sugar into the warm milk, stir and let sit for a few minutes (about 5) - it should get nice and foamy as the yeast reacts.

Add flour, salt, and melted butter - stir. (There's no need to knead, but sometimes I do anyways just a few times - I think it helps with the texture and I just like to knead. My mom never did and everyone still loves them.)

Leave the dough in the bowl to rise for about 25 minutes.

Once it is finished rising, 

roll it out - long rectangle.

 (I should have taken a new picture with my awesome new rolling pin I use now...) :)

Pour (2 Tbsp) melted butter over the dough and spread around (with your hand or a brush, etc)

Spread brown sugar (as much or as little as you like)...

Then, sprinkle on cinnamon (the pictures should give you an idea of how much of these two I use)...

Then, roll it up. (Lazy method - grab one end of the foil and lift - it's not as tight a roll, but it works.)
I don't do this anymore b/c I'm obsessive about how my breads look, so I ended up re-rolling every roll as I put it on the pan. :)

Then I slice it into 24 evenish slices (even with my 'math' going on - they still aren't perfectly even)

Good time to teach some math skills...(8 x 3, array of 4 x 6, etc)...just saying. :)

Sometimes they fill up the pan and sometimes they don't

 At this point, you can also cover and refrigerate until ready to bake (if, for example, you want cinnamon rolls hot and fresh in the morning but don't have the hour to make them)

 They always come out perfect though - just bake (I've done different temperatures and times) - my favorite is 400 (degrees F) for about 13 minutes.

 (Every oven has been slightly different - you can go anywhere from 350 to 400, just watch them until you know how long your oven takes at that temp.)

Mix about 2 cups powdered sugar with a little milk (or water) until it's the consistency you like for drizzling, spreading, etc.

(My mom's recipe has vanilla extract in it, but I don't like vanilla extract in anything that doesn't get baked - all I can taste is the alcohol in it...yuk, so I leave it out and it's just as good (better, to me). :)

You can also color the icing with a little food coloring (pink - valentine's day, green - st. patrick's day or Christmas, etc)

Pour, drizzle, spread...however thick your icing is, put it on and stand back...you don't want to get trampled in the stampede of children waiting on you to finish icing these. :)