I love Cinnabon cinnamon rolls…so much so that I long ago decided to pretend like Cinnabon didn’t exist anywhere but in airports and I only allow myself to eat one of their delicious cinnamon rolls when I’m flying somewhere (but yes, I have definitely run across airports to find a Cinnabon and raced back to frantically catch my connecting flight – Cinnabon in hand). A week or so ago, I was really wanting one…so since they don’t exist except in airports and I’m not heading to an airport anytime soon….I decided to see if I could find a good clone recipe. I tried the one below and it was pretty good. Not perfect – I need to work on rolling the dough out thinner I think….but it was pretty close to the real thing and the frosting was amazing! I would double frosting amount next time though so that there is plenty of cream cheese frosting goodness. I also decided that I shouldn’t probably make these much, since Andy didn’t help me eat any. I’ll make them for my family sometime when we visit – my mom taught me to love Cinnabon – I have fond memories of my sister and I splitting one with her at the mall when we were kids.
1 cup warm milk (110 degrees F/45 degrees C) (I used skim)
2 eggs, room temperature
1/3 cup butter, melted
4 1/2 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup white sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons bread machine yeast (also known as fast rising, rapid rising, or instant yeast)
1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1/3 cup butter, softened
1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese, softened (I used 1/3 less fat Neufchatel cheese)
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
Using KitchenAid mixer: dissolve the yeast in the warmed milk, along with 1 tsp sugar from the 1/2 cup white sugar. Let stand, covered, about 10 minutes, until foamy.
In the bowl of your KitchenAid mixer, add the yeast/milk mixture, eggs, melted butter, 3 cups bread flour, salt, and remaining sugar; mix on medium speed with the flat beater until combined. Switch to the dough hook and start kneading the dough on speed 2. Add 1/2 cup of bread flour at a time, until the dough becomes soft and elastic and no longer sticks to the bowl (approximately 4-1/2 total cups bread flour according to the recipe). This will vary depending on the humidity of your kitchen, but you can definitely start to see when the dough stops sticking to the sides. It will start to follow the dough hook around as it spins and will start flopping around the bowl in a large ball. After you reach a total of 4-1/2 cups, start adding the flour a tablespoon at a time so you don’t risk adding too much flour. Transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl and cover with a damp towel for approximately 1 hour, or until the dough has doubled in size.
After the dough has doubled in size turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, cover and let rest for 10 minutes. In a small bowl, combine brown sugar and cinnamon.
Roll dough into a 16×21 inch rectangle. Spread dough with 1/3 cup butter and sprinkle evenly with sugar/cinnamon mixture. Roll up dough (lengthwise so you end up with a 21″ roll) and cut with a bread knife into 12 rolls (approximately 1-3/4″ each, or three finger widths). Place rolls in a lightly greased 9×13 inch baking pan. (If you want to make these the night before, follow the instructions up to this step but then cover and refrigerate your rolls before the second rise. In the morning, take them out of the refrigerate and allow them to rise before baking.) Cover and let rise until nearly doubled, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees F. (I baked mine at 350F for 20-25 minutes.)
Bake rolls in preheated oven until golden brown, about 15 minutes. While rolls are baking, beat together cream cheese, 1/4 cup butter, confectioners’ sugar, vanilla extract and salt. Spread frosting on warm rolls before serving.
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