Cinnamon Rolls

More About This Recipe

• I remember the first time I had a cinnamon roll. It was not a good experience. Straight from a package, it was the store-bought kind, and therefore incessantly sticky and gooey and flat. The cream cheese glaze was more of an overly sugary vanilla frosting, and the dough was chewy instead of light and airy. I was not impressed.
  
  Needless to say, the first time I had a homemade cinnamon roll, I had quite a different experience.
  
  There's really nothing like homemade cinnamon rolls -- though they often aren't as pretty as the store-bought kind, they taste loads better, and don't even need that sugary glaze atop them to make them delicious (though it doesn't hurt, I'm sure).
  
  What I especially loved about these cinnamon rolls was the smell they diffused throughout my kitchen. A warm, Snickerdoodle swirl of brown sugar and cinnamon flavor wafting from my oven made our whole home smell like it should on a special occasion. And it wasn't a special occasion, apart from the fact that I made cinnamon rolls. That was a pretty big deal.
  
  A note of caution on these rolls (OK, two, actually): Make sure they are spread far apart on the baking sheet(s) before letting them rise the second time. I made the mistake of squeezing all 12 rolls on one small baking stone with no lip and, while they were baking, I started to smell burning sugar and watched smoke coming from the top of the oven. They had expanded even further in the oven and began to melt over the edges of the baking stone. With some quick thinking I managed to save most of them, but they could have turned out much prettier if I had given them some breathing room.
  
  Note of caution number two: These are dang good. So be prepared to eat more than one at a time.
  
  Stephanie (aka Girl versus Dough) has joined Tablespoon to share her adventures in the kitchen. Check out Stephanie's Tablespoon member profile and keep checking back for her own personal recipes on Tablespoon!