Hi Joe

This recipe makes Cinnamon Rolls how I think they should be. Soft and pillowy, swirled with a slightly-salty, sugary cinnamon filling, covered in a not-too-thick vanilla cream cheese icing that gets all over your face when you eat it. Out the oven, these buns are sticky and soft from all angles, with the icing on the top and a buttery caramel that bakes itself into the bottom of the buns as they bake.

Joe, I know sweet buns ain’t really your ting but Sue wanted Cinnamon Rolls a couple months back, so I made her a cakeonmyface version. Since then, I’ve noticed lots of friends and family seem to be LOVING living the Cinnamon Roll life (Shannon, Emma, Shabri, Jess and Jerry, I’m looking at you).

Ingredients

For 6 Cinnamon Rolls

Dough

• 250g strong white bread flour
• 25g caster sugar
• 20g unsalted butter, softened
• 1 egg
• 7g sachet instant yeast
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 80ml warm milk
• 60ml water

Filling

• 90g light brown soft sugar
• 1 generous teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 40g unsalted butter, very softened

Icing

• 70g icing sugar
• 30g cream cheese
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Pinch of salt
• 2 teaspoons milk

Method

The night before you want the Cinnamon Rolls. In a bowl add all the ingredients for the dough apart from the 60ml of water. Mix everything together with one hand, squeezing the dough through your fingers to incorporate the milk. Add the 60ml of water and give it another mix and squeeze.

Tip out the dough from the bowl onto a floured surface, you can be generous with the amount of flour you use. Don’t worry if the dough looks shaggy at this stage. Knead the dough for about 10 mins until it feels smooth, elastic and not too sticky. There is no right way to knead just repeatably squash, fold and roll the dough however you like. The quicker you knead the less time you will have to knead for.

Put the dough in a lightly oiled mixing bowl. Cover the bowl with cling film. Leave for about 20 mins before putting it in the fridge over night.

The morning. Grease and line a small rectangle baking dish (I use a 25 cm x 18cm one). In a small bowl, mix together all the ingredients for the filling apart from the butter. Set the sugar filling aside.

Take the dough out the fridge, tip it onto a lightly floured work surface and squash it into a fat rectangle. Roll out the dough to a 9 x 13 inch rectangle. As you roll, gently pull the corners of the dough to keep as best a rectangle shape as you can, it will make the rolling and cutting easier.

To fill and roll the dough position the 13inch edge towards you. Leaving a centimetre around the edge of the dough free from filling, spread the butter evenly over the dough rectangle. Sprinkle over the sugar mixture and pat down.

Roll up the dough tightly so you end with a sausage of dough 13 inches long, seam side down on your work surface. Use a sharp knife to cut the dough into 2 inch pieces. You should get 6. If you like maths you’ll notice I’ve given you an extra inch to play with in case something goes wrong. Put these buns evenly spaced apart in the baking dish. If you want the central swirl of each bun to rise up a little, like mine in the pictures, hold a bun in one hand like you would a glass, gently push your thumb of the other hand up, into the centre swirl of what will be the underside of the bun.

Cover with a tea towel and leave somewhere warm (on a chair next to the radiator) until doubled in size. The temperature of your home will depend on how long this takes, but it will be roughly and hour and a half. You can tell they are ready for the oven by lightly pressing a finger into the dough, if it springs back to its original position, the yeast is happy and it’s ready for the oven.

Pre heat the oven to 180 (170 for a fan oven). Bake the cinnamon rolls for 25-30 mins, until golden brown on top.

Mix together the icing sugar, cream cheese, vanilla and salt. stir in a teaspoon of milk, if you want a looser icing add the other teaspoon. Let the buns sit out of the oven for 10 mins before pouring and spreading over the icing.

Have a good cinnamon roll, love Caitlin xxxx