The junk food fairy is here again! And this time she brought her cinnamon roll recipe. Sure to bring smiles to all faces, young and old, this holiday season.

Of course you can’t make cinnamon rolls everyday (for health reasons), but on special occasions you can whip up a batch the night before and all will be impressed with your baking brilliance.   My children can’t get enough of these warm, gooey, sugary- sweet cinnamon rolls and I’m sure yours will enjoy them as well.

Start with:

4 cups flour

pinch of salt

1/3 cup sugar

set aside

In a separate large bowl mix:

3  1/2 teaspoons yeast

1 tablespoon sugar

1 egg

1/3 cup oil

1 1/2 cup water

Mix together and let stand for ten minutes

add the dry mix to the wet mixture- a little at a time ( 1 cup at a time).

If you are mixing this by hand, right around 3 cups the mixture should be

too thick to continue. This is when you turn the dough onto your kitchen counter and knead in the remaining flour.

Tip* cover counter with plastic wrap and knead away. Or, you can use a lunch tray. I have a lunch tray that I use exclusively for kneading, and when I’m done, I just wash it off for easy cleanup. However for this cinnamon roll recipe, I have decided to use plastic wrap for a change.

Once your dough is smooth and elastic, place it in an oiled bowl, cover it with a towl, then put it in a warm dark place(like the microwave) to let it rise for one hour or until it has doubled in size.

I actually left mine LONGER than an hour because I simply forgot about it.

Punch it down, and knead once more.

Roll the dough out to a rectangular shape- 15 x 8.

Sprinkle your filling on top, then roll baby roll!!

Filling

You can put whatever you’d like into the middle of your cinnamon rolls- nuts, raisins. I omit the nuts because of allergies.

5 tablesoons butter

1 cup light brown sugar

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon flour

There are different ways to coat the middle. Personally, I like to cut the cold butter into the sugar, cinn mixture and then sprinkle it.

You can also melt the butter and add in the cinnamon mixture. As you can see by the picture, I missed a step and had to fix it.

No worries.

Remember to pinch the sides together.

Cut the cinnamon rolls about one inch apart.

place them in a large pan. Hey, I’m not the neatest

but at least they’re in there.

let them rise overnight in the fridge and in the morning bake

on 375 for 25-30 minutes.

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YUM!!!!

Icing

2 cups confectioners sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 tablespoon half and half

2 tablespoons melted butter

You can add more liquid until you get the consistency you like.

If you want thicker icing, start with 1 tablespoon half and half until you get the

consistency you desire.