Good grief! Must I do everything myself? wink. wink.
These are our favorite oh-so-easy, overnight bread machine cinnamon rolls:
Dough:
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup water
2 T. butter
1 egg
3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 T. active dry yeast
1/4 cup white sugar
3/4 tsp. salt
Filling:
2 T. melted butter
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/3 cup chopped walnuts-optional (My family doesn't like nuts in rolls.)
Frosting:
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
2 T. butter, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
Heat the milk, water, and butter in the microwave. It needs to be very warm, not boiling, and the butter doesn't need to be completely melted. Pour into the bread machine pan and add the remaining ingredients in the order listed. Set the bread machine to the dough setting and let it do it's thing. If you don't have a bread machine, you could do all this the regular way- I'm just not so great at it, so good luck with that.
When it's done, remove the dough, knead it down a few times and roll it out on a floured surface to a large rectangular shape. Brush the melted butter on the dough. Mix the other filling ingredients together and sprinkle evenly over the buttered dough. Roll up and seal the edge with a little water and pinching if necessary. Cut them (I use dental floss- slide it under the rolls, "tie" through the roll to cut them) and place them evenly into a greased 9" x 13" pan. I've found that depending on how thinly you've rolled your dough, 12 or 20 rolls will fit nicely into the pan.
Here's where the overnight part comes in. You can cover them with a towel and let them rise for 30 minutes or so then bake. I'm sure they're even yummier this way, BUT we just don't have the patience in the morning to wait for all of this. I usually make them the night before, cover them with plastic wrap and put them in the refrigerator until morning. Covering with the wrap in the fridge sometimes makes them sweat a little, but it doesn't seem matter.
In the morning remove them from the fridge, uncover and let them rise a little more (for about 20 minutes). They'll puff up in the oven too- don't worry if they look a little pitiful. Bake at 375º F for 20-25 minutes. While they're baking blend frosting ingredients with a hand mixer until smooth- you want it thick. Add a little more powdered sugar if it's too thin. Frost rolls and serve while warm.
Yum Yum! Obviously they're not super healthy, so moderation, people. please. : )
