Make-Ahead Cinnamon Rolls

Here is a yummy recipe for cinnamon rolls which you can make a day (or more) in advance to save you time. Thursday was my son's 13th birthday and he requested these for breakfast, so I prepared them on Wednesday afternoon, let them rise in the refrigerator and baked them fresh on Thursday morning. I have made these several times and they are so good!

A friend gave me this recipe and I'm not sure where she got it, so I can't give credit to the original creator of the recipe - it wasn't me however.

The recipe will actually make 2 pans, you could bake a pan on consecutive days if you like (I've done that), or halve the recipe if you only want one pan, which is what I did this time. Remember, they will rise in the refrigerator, you can keep them there for 12-48 hours before baking.

Here's the recipe, followed by a few pictures I took along the way!

Make Ahead Cinnamon Rolls

2 pkgs yeast
1/2 cup lukewarm water
2 cups lukewarm milk
1/2 cup sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup butter (or shortening - I use butter)
2 tsp salt
1 egg
5-6 cups all-purpose flour

4 Tbsp soft butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 Tbsp + 1 tsp cinnamon
2 Tbsp flour

Dissolve yeast in warm water, let sit for a few minutes. Stir in milk, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup butter, baking powder, salt, egg, and 3 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Mix in remaining flour to make dough easy to handle. Turn onto floured board; knead in more flour as necessary. Place in greased bowl and let rise until double.

Mix the other 1/2 cup sugar with cinnamon and 2 Tbsp flour in small bowl and set aside.
Roll out 1/2 of the dough on floured board into a rectangle shape. Spread with 2 Tbsp of the butter and sprinkle with 1/2 the cinnamon mixture. Roll up, pinch to seal. Cut into 12 slices ( I use dental floss for easy cutting), place slices in greased 13" x 9"pan. Repeat with other half of dough. Cover pans tightly and refrigerate for 12 - 48 hours.

Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes.
Top with your choice of glaze or frosting.

An easy powdered sugar glaze recipe:
1 cup powdered sugar, 1/2 tsp vanilla, a few Tbsp milk.
Mix together in medium bowl to desired consistency.

Dough rolled out on the board

Spread with butter and topped with cinnamon mixture

Rolled up

Cut in half using dental floss. I then cut each section in half again, then each of those into 3 slices. That way I get them fairly even in thickness

In the pan.

Baked the next day.

Topped with powdered sugar icing. YUMMY!!!

Hope you enjoy these as much as my family does. They are a wonderful treat and extra nice because you don't need to get up at 5 am to have them ready for breakfast!!