Homemade Overnight Cinnamon Rolls

I'm super proud of these. I don't work with yeast very often- it scares the tar out of me. I mean, it's alive, people. ALIVE. If that's not scary, I don't know what is. But, as some of you know, every Tuesday Dave has a morning meeting at work and I make breakfast for them. So far it's been mainly muffins, with biscotti and scones tossed in. But when we were up at Dave's mom's, she gave us a big thing of yeast. So, after an intense stare down with the yeast, I decided to tackle the most popular breakfast food out there- The cinnamon roll.

In the effort of full disclosure, I adapted the recipe from here ( http://www.pinkofperfection.com/2009/03/overnight-cinnamon-rolls/ ). These were super delicious, and I'm pretty -shall we say- iffy when it comes to pastry, and these were pretty simple for me. Recipe!

Dough:  1/3 cup butter
2 1/4 teaspoons yeast
1/2 cup white sugar
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
1 cup milk

Filling: 1 1/3 cups brown sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons freshly ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons unbleached all purpose flour
1/3 cup butter

Icing: 1 cup (ish) powdered sugar
2 Tbsp. Flour
1 Tbsp. Vanilla
2 tsp. salt

To make your dough, heat the milk (btw, I used soy- it made the dough kind of sweet, which was yummy) in a saucepan over medium heat until it lightly bubbles. Remove from heat and add butter. (Full disclosure- you could probably do this just as easily in the microwave.) Let cool til lukewarm (I do this by sticking my finger in it- it shouldn't feel more than slightly warm to you-Remember, heat kills yeast.) Meanwhile, mix 2 1/2 cups of the flour, sugar, salt, and yeast. When milk has cooled, add it to the flour mixture, along with the eggs. Once combined, add an additional 1/2 cup of flour until it is all incorporated (When I was making this it seemed like waaaay too much flour to me- but it worked out, so stir!) Turn out on floured cutting board and knead (I did this in the bowl. Just as easy.) Cover with damp cloth, and let rest 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, Mix together all your ingredients (except the butter) for your filling in a bowl. Then Roll out dough to a big fat rectangle. The original recipe said 9x12. I don't know if that's what mine was or not. Scatter your filling, then dot with butter. Roll up your dough lengthwise, and seal your seam. Cut your dough into equal portions. (I find the easiest way to do that is to cut it in half first-takes some of the guess work away. I ended up with 13 cinnamon rolls.)  Place in greased 9x13 pan (or if you're me and haven't cleaned it yet, 2 9 inch pie pans.) Cover and refrigerate overnight.

In the morning, pull out the rolls, and let them get to room temperature, about 30 minutes. Then pop them in the oven at 375 for 20 minutes, or until lightly browned. While they bake, whisk together your glaze (and, if you live in my house, make coffee for your husband.) Pour your glaze over the rolls, and serve warm!

The best part of these is that the filling (butter and cinnamon) melt a little in the oven, and drip to the bottom of the pan, so you have this slightly crunchy, sugary almost crust on the bottom of your rolls. These are great for Sunday mornings, you can just pop them in the oven while you get ready for church, but you still have a nice family breakfast waiting on you. Or for any night owl, to be frank. I really enjoyed these, and they're going in my personal recipe book. Wanted to say hello to Lauren, my brand new soon-to-be sister-in-law! I'm really excited to have her be part of my family soon. These are easier than they look, and I know Bryan would like them! :) Enjoy, all!