The BEST Cinnamon Buns

When I was just a li'l gal, I fell in love with the doughy ass goodness that is Cinnabon and their little buns of heaven! Along with espresso, mac 'n' cheese and spongebob, they're the love of my life.

That being said, there's absolutely FECK ALL we Scots can do about our undying love for Cinnabon (it can't just be me right?) as the nearest store to Edinburgh is a gargantuan 305.1 miles away... in Leicester, believe me, I've checked! So, reluctantly admitting defeat, I decided it was time I learned how to make these bad boys and finally put the cravings to bed. The road to creating the perfect cinnamon bun was far from trouble free and by absolutely no means am I proclaiming to have perfected the art, but these buns, which I've baked time and time again, are my very own labour of love.

INGREDIENTS

For the rolls

350g Plain Flour
3 Tablespoons Caster Sugar
1 Teaspoon Salt
7g (packet) Fast Action Dried Yeast
100ml Water
40ml Milk
40g Unsalted Butter
1 Large egg

For the Filling

50g Unsalted butter (softened)
2 Tablespoons ground cinnamon
50g Granulated sugar

For the Cream Cheese Glaze

100g Softened butter
300g Cream cheese
1tsp Vanilla extract
150g Icing sugar

METHOD

First of all make the dough, in a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, salt and yeast together and mix thoroughly until evenly dispersed, set this aside til later. Next heat up the water, milk and butter in a pan or microwave until the butter is completely melted and it feels hot to the touch. In a seperate bowl whisk the egg, then combine the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients and knead together to form a soft, slightly sticky dough (you may have to add a little more flour if the dough feels too sticky)

Flour your work surface and knead the dough for about 5 minutes, once ready it should feel soft, springy and elastic. Place the dough in a floured bowl and leave to rest for 10 minutes while you make the filling. Once the dough has rested roll it out into a rectangle around 15x10 inches, the dough shouldn't be thicker than a pound coin. Spread the softened butter onto the dough followed by the sugar and then sprinkle the cinnamon all over, making sure not to miss out any of the edges. Be generous gurrrrrl!

The next step is to roll up your dough lengthways, try to keep it nice and tight but don't push down when rolling, you don't want any of that filling escaping!

Once rolled, using a very sharp knife, slice your dough into ten equal pieces and place them into your well oiled baking tin, the tin will look sparsely filled at this stage but fear not my little bakers, these buns are growers! Next loosely cover your baking tin with cling film and a warm dish towel and leave to rise in a warm place for at least an hour, I usually set my oven on it's lowest setting for 5 minutes, turn it off, pop the buns in and let them do their thang!

After an hour check on the progress of your cinnamon buns, they should have at least doubled in size, and already look and smell amazing!

Next put the risen buns into your preheated oven (190 degrees c) and bake for 25 minutes! I usually cover my buns with a little tin foil after about 15 minutes to avoid them being heavily browned. Once ready just set the little beauties to the side to cool and try to avoid pinching any! Meanwhile make your cream cheese glaze, in a bowl whisk together (using a hand mixer) your cream cheese, icing sugar, vanilla extract and softened butter until smooth, you can add a little milk or water to thin it if it's too thick.

Now all that's left to do is smother your freshly baked cinnamon buns with oozy cream cheese glaze and watch your family and friends battle over who gets the last one!