Unbirthday Cinnamon Rolls - Soul Food!

Before I begin, I must state:  These are probably in NO WAY at all healthy, aside from the nuts. 

This morning, while trying to figure out what to make for breakfast, I could not decide!  We settled on scrambled eggs, but honestly, cinnamon rolls sounded so much tastier.  Now, I can bet sometime in the near future, I will for sure be hunting for a healthy version of these tasty swirly cinnamony goodness, but for now, this recipe by far claims the title of best cinnamon rolls I've had in awhile.

 (Beth, if you ever read this, yours were better.  >_>  I DEMAND THAT RECIPE.)

Anyway.

Without furter rambling, I bring you a tasty, no bread maker needed, cinnamon roll recipe:

Tasty Unbirthday Cinnamon Rolls 

(courtesy of Miss Alex on allrecipes.com with a few adjustments of my own.)


Ingredients:
 
DOUGH:

-1/4 c  warm water

-1/4 cup butter, melted

-1/2ish (3.4 oz) package instant vanilla pudding  (I guesstimated)

-1 c warm milk

-1 egg, room temperature (I'll admit, mine was still cold, and it worked just fine.

-1 tbs white sugar

-4 cups of bread flour

-1 (.25 oz) package of active dry yeast

FILLING MIX:

-1 cup brown sugar

-4 tsp ground cinnamon

-3/4 c chopped nuts. (the original recipe called for pecans.  We used walnuts this time.)

-1/4 c butter, softened

ICING:

-4 oz cream cheese

-1/4 c butter, softened

-1 c confectioner's sugar

-1/2 tsp vanilla extract  (or almond.  Particularly if you used almonds as your nut of choice)

-1 1/2 tsp milk

Side Note:
Might be a bit confusing, so for the record, you will need a total of 3/4 cup of butter.

Instructions:

Step 1:

Dissolve sugar in warm water and melted butter.  (If you really don't feel like melting the butter, boil the water and pour it on top of the water, followed by sugar.)   Add yeast and cover with plastic wrap.  Set aside.

Step 2:

Mix vanilla pudding mix, egg, and milk together until smooth. 

Step 3:

Mix yeast mix (as long as it is foamy, otherwise, you may have a bad batch of yeast) with pudding mix until well combined.  Then add flour.

Step 4:

Knead the dough until smooth and elastic.  Put in oiled bowl and turn dough in bowl until covered with thin layer of oil.  Let rise for one hour or until doubled

Step 5:

Mix brown sugar, cinnamon, and nuts in small bowl until combined for filling.

Step 6:

Next, place dough on lightly floured surface and roll out to a 17 x 10 (ish) rectangle.  Spread 1/4 cup of softened butter on top of dough.  Then, sprinkle to cover with filling.  Once all the filling is evenly distributed, roll dough up hot dog style (rolling with long side).  Slice rolled dough into 1 inch pieces, thus leaving 16-17ish basic cinnamon rols.  (If you want them smaller, just cut smaller rolls.)  Place rolls in a 13 x 9 inch pan (if you don't have that, use what you do have. I ended up with about 24 rolls, and split them between two pans, 12 in each.)  Let rise until doubled, about 45 minutes.

Step 7:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees farenheit.   Once preheated, bake in oven for 15-20 minutes until tops are goldenish.

Step 8:

While rolls are baking, stir together cream cheese, softened butter, confectioner's sugar, extract, and milk until creamy and well combined.  Once rolls come out of the oven, top with this tasty frosting.

While these delicious treats may not be the healthiest thing, or really healthy at all, they make a great unbirthday "cake" on those days where soul food is required. 

HAVE A VERY MERRY UNBIRTHDAY TODAY!