Cinnamon Rolls

(Had I thought I would be taking their picture, I would have made them prettier!)

I kind of combined ideas from a few different recipes, so I will attempt to make sense of it.

Dough
(From a Swedish sweet roll recipe that involves cardamom and really ends in an egg wash sprinkled with pearl sugar. Just ask if you want the sweet roll recipe. Here I just eliminate the cardamom and dress it up like cinnamon rolls.)

1 stick butter
2 1/2 cups milk
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 tablespoon yeast--the fast rise kind (1 envelope)
5-6 cups flour (6-7 at a higher altitude)

Melt butter and add milk. Heat until lukewarm (I say a little warmer). Add yeast, sugar, and salt. Add flour until walls of bowl come clean (dough still may be a wee bit sticky).
Let the soft dough rise.

(This is where my directions were sketchy, so I let mine rise until it was about double in size. I had to set it on the stove top of my warm oven. Then I punched it down and let it rise back up again.)

Cinnamon Filling
(by Cinnabun)
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
1/3 cup soft margarine
(I use butter instead, and it has been my experience that recipes never make enough filling or frosting/glaze, so I always double both--I like those parts to be generous.)

Separate dough into 4 parts.
Roll out first part into a rectangle. Paint generously with butter (with basting brush).
Plop some filling on and spread like you would peanut butter on bread--evenly and edge to edge. (Not so thick that you can't see the dough underneath.)

Roll entire rectangle into a longways log. Cut into pieces about 1 inch thick (more if you want them bigger/taller). Place on a generously greased sheet and let rise until double in size. (I sprayed Pam over the top of the rolls, put saran wrap over it, and again, set them on the stovetop of the oven.)

Glaze
Sorry to be vague, but I just melted a stick of butter and added powdered sugar until it was smooth and creamy-looking. Then I added a pinch of vanilla extract and a splash of milk. You basically just want it drippy enough to drizzle or spoon over the top of the hot rolls, but so that it will dry enough to not be drippy forever. Does that make sense? Just make it look like a glaze. (I had to make more glaze before the ordeal was over, so go ahead and double all that, if your conscience will let you. It was less painful one batch at a time.)

Bake at 425 for about 8 minutes (or until golden brown on the edges). Drizzle or spoon glaze on the hot rolls--but not on the cookie sheet if you want to use it again!

It made a LOT of cinnamon rolls (smaller-ish ones). I did not double the dough recipe, just the filling and glaze.

FYI
Cinnabon's cream cheese frosting (if that's the way you roll...)
4 tablespoons margarine
3 oz cream cheese
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt