The UBC Cinnamon Bun

 Homemade cinnamon buns:  What could be better on Christmas morning? This tasty recipe comes from the kitchens of UBC, where this cinnamon bun was very famous.  You can make these ahead of time, either by rolling them and putting them in the fridge overnight (letting it rise in the fridge overnight) or by freezing them for longer use and then thawing in the fridge.

Ingredients

3 cups milk

6 Tb. butter

 6 Tb. plus 1 tsp. sugar

1 Tb. salt

1/2 cup warm water

2 envelopes active dry yeast 

2 large eggs

9 cups flour

Filling:

3/4 cup melted butter

1 1/4 cups sugar

2 Tb. cinnamon

Scald milk.

Stir in butter, 6 Tb. sugar and salt.  Cool to lukewarm

Dissolve remaining 1 tsp. sugar in warm water.  

Sprinkle yeast over water mixture.  Let stand in a warm place for 10 minutes.

While this is sitting, in large mixing bowl, combine the eggs and the lukewarm milk mixture.
 

Stir yeast mixture and add to egg mixture.

Add four to five cups of the flour and beat well for 10 minutes.  

At this point, you have two options:  if you have a dough hook, you can use this and gradually add more flour, to make a soft dough.  Otherwise, you can use a wooden spoon to mix the dough.

Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, adding additional flour, if necessary.  Remember that this is a soft dough.

Place dough in a well-greased bowl and roll around to grease all sides of the dough.  Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place until dough doubles in size, about one hour.

Punch down and turn out onto a lightly floured surface.  

Divide dough in half.

To fill, roll out each piece of dough into a 9 x 18 inch rectangle.  Spread 1/2 of the butter evenly onto each rectangle.

Combine sugar and cinnamon for filling.  Sprinkle onto the rectangles.  

Roll dough up like a jelly roll, starting from the long side.  Cut into 2-inch slices (or smaller, depending on how many buns you want to make).

Place cinnamon buns in greased pans.  At this point, you can let these rise now and bake.  If so, you will need to let rise until doubled in size, approximately 45-60 minutes.  Bake for 35-40 minutes in a preheated oven (350 degrees F).  You will want to remove from oven and immediately invert onto a serving tray.  If you want to serve these later, they can rise in the fridge overnight or they can be frozen.  Let rise on the counter for approximately 30 minutes.

This photo represents how many cinnamon buns I made with one batch.  I froze them on the porch last Christmas and then thawed one pan for Christmas breakfast.

This is definitely something we enjoy every year :)

 

And of course, they are amazing with cream cheese frosting!