Another Successful Adventure in Baking

Every Christmas morning, my family has some sort of baked good for breakfast. Since I’ve been working on my baking skills, I decided to try out Cinnamon Roll Cupcakes. I made them the night before and let them rise over-night so they would be ready to bake and frost in the morning.

Cinnamon Roll Cupcakes
Adapted from Pink Parsley, from Beantown Baker, originally from La Fuji Mama

Ingredients:
For the Dough:
1 Packet dry active yeast
1/2 Cup granulated sugar, divided
1 Cup warm milk (approximately 110 degrees)
2 Eggs, room temperature
1/3 Cup butter, melted
1 Teaspoon salt
4 1/2 Cups bread flour
For the Cinnamon Inside:
1 Cup brown sugar, packed
2 1/2 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/3 Cup butter softened and spreadable
For the Frosting:
8 Ounce cream cheese, softened
2/3 Cup butter, softened
1 Cup powdered sugar

Directions:
Heat the milk. Dissolve the yeast and 1/4 cup sugar in the warm milk. Let stand for 10 minutes, until foamy.
Mix in the eggs, butter, salt, and the remaining 1/4 cup sugar. Add the flour and mix well, until it forms a ball of dough. Lightly flour a flat surface and knead the dough 5-10 times. Place the dough into an oiled bowl and cover. Let rise in a warm place until the dough doubles in size. This will take anywhere from an hour to 2 hours. Be patient.
After the dough has doubled, turn it out of the bowl, onto a lightly floured surface and let it rest for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, combine the brown sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. Line your cupcake pans with cupcake liners. If you have cooking spray, lightly spray over the top of the liners. My family doesn’t use cooking spray, so I didn't use any and the cupcakes stuck to the cupcake liners a bit but it wasn’t too horrible.
Roll out the dough into a 12x22 inch rectangle. Spread the butter over the dough, making sure it completely covers it. Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar mixture over the entire rectangle. Roll up the dough. Cut the roll into 24 rolls. Do this carefully without smashing the roll.
To put the rolls into the cupcake liners, you may have to unroll them and re-roll them so they fit better. Don’t worry, it doesn’t make a mess because the sugar is already stuck to the butter.
Cover and let rise. The goal is to have them double again, but mine didn’t and they still rose just fine in the oven. I let mine sit in the refrigerator over night and it worked out just fine.
Meanwhile, cream the cream cheese and butter together and then slowly add the powdered sugar. You can add more powdered sugar if you like your frosting sweeter, but I thought that 1 cup was perfect.
When you are ready to bake the rolls, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Bake the rolls until golden brown. This will take 8-12 minutes. Let them cool completely and then frost them.

I was very happy with the outcome of these cupcakes. I’m still very intimidated by baking, but I liked this recipe a lot because the dough was very bread-like and I’m very comfortable with making bread. It was a fairly easy recipe and I definitely recommend it! Enjoy.