Raise your hand if you hate to bake!

My father, even though I never really knew him....was a baker by trade. My brother, Chris, and his daughters (and even a son-in-law) are bakers (by hobby). I don't know what happened with me, but I loathe baking. From what I have gathered, you are either a cook...or a baker. I am a cook. I will bake if forced or if the mood grabs me but baking is a stressful experience. You mix ingredients together and put them in the oven and just hope for the best. With cooking, you can add...taste...adjust and potentially save a dish from being wrecked along the way.

You all know how I hate it when dinner is wrecked. See previous blog on ziti.

Tonight, I felt like making cinnamon rolls. Not for me, silly. How do you think I fit into jeans? Not by eating cinnamon rolls, that's for sure. But Chris likes them and the kids will eat them all up so I don't have to stare at them for too long.

The reason I am blogging about these particular cinnamon rolls is that they are the best batch to date. Beats me how that happened - so don't even ask. It won't happen again I'm sure of that. So here you go.... and yes, they are just as good as they look. It's the recipe, not me.


Cinnamon Rolls

INGREDIENTS
• 1 cup warm milk (110 degrees F)
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 1/3 cup butter, melted
• 4 1/2 cups bread flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 1/2 teaspoons bread machine yeast

• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• tablespoons ground cinnamon
• 1/3 cup butter, softened

• Frosting
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Pinch of salt

DIRECTIONS
1. Place ingredients in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select dough cycle; press Start. If you don't have a bread machine..(I have one because, again, I hate to bake) you can make dough the way you would if you know what you are doing and let it rise until it is double in size. You know who you are if you understand that :)
2. After the dough cycle is finished. Turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, cover and let rest for 20 minutes. In a small bowl, combine brown sugar and cinnamon.
3. Roll dough into a 16x21 inch rectangle. Spread dough with 1/3 cup butter and sprinkle evenly with sugar/cinnamon mixture. Roll up dough and cut into 12 rolls. Place rolls in a lightly greased 9x13 inch baking pan. Cover and let rise until nearly doubled, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees and bake for 25 minutes
4. While rolls are baking, beat together cream cheese, 1/4 cup butter, confectioners' sugar, vanilla extract and salt. Spread frosting on warm rolls before serving.