My Honey's Buns: Overnight Cinnamon Rolls

The husband and I have been on a stay-at-home vacation for the past several days, and that translates to lots of cooking for me. Last night while the hubby was bowling, I decided to take on making one of his favorite breakfast foods: cinnamon rolls. I have thought many times about making homemade cinnamon rolls in the past, but there have been many hang-ups. For one thing, making yeast bread takes time. And who really wants to get up three hours early to make breakfast?! I would love to try Pioneer Woman's recipe, but her recipe makes dozens of cinnamon rolls, and I do not have that kind of freezer space. After a little research I found a recipe that sounded delicious, and adapted it to suit my needs. Thus my overnight cinnamon rolls were born.

Overnight Cinnamon Rolls

Adapted From: All Recipes

Rolls:

• 1/2 cup lukewarm milk (approximately 110 degrees)
  
• 1 egg, room temperature
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted
  
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/4 teaspoons yeast

Filling:

• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
  
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
  
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Icing:

• 1 1/2 ounces cream cheese, softened
  
• 2 tablespoons butter, softened
• 3/4 cup powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

The night before:

Preheat oven to 200. Once oven reaches 200, TURN OFF and close the door.

Dissolve yeast in warm milk in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar, butter, salt, and egg. Add flour and mix well; turn the dough onto well-floured surface and knead until it forms a large ball (if your mixer has a dough hook, you can use it in this step rather than hand-kneading). Cover dough with a damp paper towel and place in warm oven for 1 hour.

Combine the ground cinnamon and brown sugar for the filling; set aside.

Roll dough into an 8x10 rectangle. Spread dough with melted butter and sprinkle edge-to-edge with cinnamon/brown sugar mixture. Roll dough up into an 8 inch log and cut into 6 rolls. Place rolls in a lightly greased pie plate. Cover with plastic wrap and place rolls in fridge overnight.

When ready to serve, preheat the oven to 400. Remove plastic wrap from rolls and bake until light golden brown, 20-25 minutes.

While rolls are baking, beat together cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, vanilla extract, milk, and salt. Spread icing over warm rolls.

Serve immediately and enjoy!