homemade cinnamon rolls

i don't know why i hadn't thought of this sooner. believe it or not, i've never made cinnamon rolls from scratch. which is weird, since they always seem to be popping up.

ever since i left home for college, it's always a big deal when i come home to my parent's house, especially for an overnight visit. for the longest time, we all woke up to the smell of cinnamon from my mom's homemade cinnamon rolls. she'd get up early and make them so they were ready at the perfect moment when we woke up. that must be another secret mom trick.

when jason and i first got together, i used to make cinnamon rolls on weekend mornings. he loved them and would devour half the pan in one sitting. but i always made them from a can. it was just easier. and it wasn't until last saturday morning - marking six months since we rocked out to shimi all night (aka got hitched) - when i remembered the weekend ritual.

so i decided to tackle them. and tackle them i did. and man oh man were they good.

i used the "clone of a cinnabon" recipe - google it, you'll find it. the only replacement i made was all purpose flour for bread flour. i googled the difference - essentially the bread flour makes the rolls a bit chewier, but honestly, i didn't notice it. and i didn't have to go out to the store for bread flour.

and i rolled out my dough really thin, so i could roll up the log a bunch of times. there's nothing worse than a cinnamon roll with an uneven distribution of cinnamon.

oh yea, and next time i make these, i'm going to make the dough, roll it out, fill it, and slice the rolls and store them in the fridge overnight. then when i decide to make them at 9am, i can eat them before noon.