2tablespoonhoney(option to replace with equal portion white sugar)
½teaspoonsea salt
2largeeggs
½cupsunsalted butter
¼cupsfull fat plain Greek yogurt
2teaspoonvanilla extract
For the Filling
6tablespoonbutter
⅔cupswhite sugar
3tablespoonblackstrap molasses
3 ½tablespoonground cinnamon
¼teaspoonground nutmeg
¼teaspoonground cloves
For the Frosting
3tablespoonunsalted butter
¾cup+ 3 tablespoon white sugarblended white sugar or powdered sugar
7.5ozcream cheese
2 ¼teaspoonvanilla extract
3teaspoonalmond extract
4-6tablespoonwhole milkdepending on how thick you want your frosting
Instructions
Make the Dough
In a small saucepan, heat milk on low heat for a few minutes until warm. If you dip your finger in it shouldn't be hot at all, only warm.
In a medium or large mixing bowl combine flour, sugar, and salt.
Once the milk is warm, transfer it to another container so that milk doesn't to heat up. Add the yeast and let sit for at least 5 minutes for the yeast to activate. Once activated, add milk + yeast to the flour mixture. Combine with a fork and your hands. Knead dough for about 5 minutes until no longer sticky. Form into a ball and cover with a lid or clean cheese cloth/towel and let rise for about 45 minutes until double in size.
Make the Filling
In a medium bowl cream together room temp butter and sugar. Add molasses, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves and mix with a fork. You can put the mixture in the fridge until you're ready to use it, but make sure that it's out at room temp beforehand to make sure you can spread it easily.
Make the Frosting
Blend white sugar until a fine powder similar to powdered sugar (or use powdered sugar). In a medium-sized bowl cream together the butter and sugar. Add the cream cheese and mix. Don't overly whip or the cream cheese could thin out more than you want. Add vanilla and almond extracts, and start with 4 tablespoon milk. Add 1 tablespoon milk to thin to a preferred consistency. I usually do 5-6 tablespoon total and no more.
Forming the Cinnamon Rolls
Preheat oven to 375℉ with rack in the middle of oven.
Once the dough has risen, transfer it to a lightly floured work surface. Pat dough ball into a slightly rectangle shape, which will help you maintain the rectangle shape as you stretch out the dough. I prefer to work out the dough using my hands to avoid loosing air, but you can use a rolling pin if you prefer.
Roll out dough into a rectangle approximately 12" x 17." Spread filling over dough. I like to go right to the edges but leaving about a ½" space on the long side furthest from you for when rolling the dough.
Starting at the long edge closest to you, roll dough into a log. Cut log in half, then each piece in half again. Cut each of those sections into equal thirds. Make sure your knife is sharp so you're not squishing the dough too much. *Option to use floss (plain, not flavored) to tie around log and pull tight to cut into sections.
Lightly grease a cake pan (11" x 7"). Place rolls in cake pan making 4 rows of 3. Try to space them out so they're not touching the sides of the pan or each other if possible. Cover with a cheesecloth or towel and let rise for about 10-15 minutes.
Bake
Bake rolls at 375℉ for 25 minutes. Remove and set on a cooling rack. Option to frost while warm, wait until about 15 minutes before frosting, or wait until rolls are completely cool. I like to wait a bit so they're still a little warm but not as fragile. There is quite a bit of frosting for this recipe. Above in the narrative I've included the portions for a smaller batch of frosting. You can use all the frosting to cover the rolls, or cover the rolls with the amount of your choosing and save the remaining frosting for people to individually add more if they want.
Store in your fridge.
Reheating
Reheat rolls at 300℉ for about 8 minutes or use microwave for just a few seconds. Rolls will be fairly firm when cold but soften up quickly once warmed.
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