Cinnabon Clone - A love at first taste recipe

Need a recipe that will instantly make someone fall in love with you? Or ensure that someone you're already with will love you forever? Well, this is it.

I saw a recipe on http://www.allrecipes.com/ recently for a "clone of a Cinnabon." Allrecipes can be a hit or miss site since anyone can upload recipes, but I like that it has a ton of traffic, so you can sort the good recipes from the bad by the ratings and reviews from other people. This recipe had a perfect 5 star rating from over 2,500 people. That's usually a good sign.

These are definitely a weekend kind of project, there are a few steps, a bunch of dishes, and a few hours involved in the whole process. But I've made cinnamon buns from scratch before and some from a King Arthur Flour kit, but this recipe takes the cake. If you click through to the allrecipes site, please, whatever you do, do not click on the nutrition information button. These are worth the calories.

Clone of a Cinnabon
Recipe from: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Clone-of-a-Cinnabon/Detail.aspx

For the dough:
1 cup warm milk (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
2 eggs, room temperature
1/3 cup butter or margarine, melted
4 1/2 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup white sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons yeast

1. Combine all ingredients in stand mixer bowl fitted with the dough hook attachment. Turn on low to medium speed and let the dough hook do its thing. The dough hook is wonderful, no messy kneading by hand, it does all the work for you. Just remember, don't lock the mixer down since it will jump a little while kneading.

2. Once combined into a smooth dough, transfer dough to a mixing bowl that's been sprayed with oil. Cover tight with plastic wrap and put in a warm place to rise for about an hour. I usually put the bowl on the back burner of our gas stove where it gets some heat from the pilot light. But any other warm spot will do: top of your dryer while you're doing laundry, the top of your fridge. Or leave just out at room temperature for a little longer.

3. Wait until dough has doubled in size. It should go from this:

To this:
4. Lightly flour a spot on your counter, flip the dough out, then take a rolling pin and roll out to about a 16x21" rectangle. Cut off any uneven edges.

For the filling:
1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1/3 cup butter, softened
5. Combine brown sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. A trick I learned today: if you have some brown sugar that's rock hard, put it in a microwave safe bowl, cover the hard pieces with a damp paper towel and microwave for about 30 seconds. Don't microwave too long or the sugar will melt.

6. Spread 1/3 cup butter on dough evenly with a butter knife. Then sprinkle the cinnamon sugar mixture evenly. Make sure your dough is not too close to the edge of the counter, otherwise, when you go to roll it all up, the brown sugar/cinnamon will fall out the end all over the floor. Yes, I learned this the hard way. I am a very messy cook.

7. Start at one end and roll up the dough. Cut into 12 rolls. Place rolls in a lightly greased (Pam spray, not butter) 13x9 pan and place back in your favorite rising spot for another half hour until rolls have almost doubled and fill the pan.

8. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

9. Bake rolls at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes until just golden brown on top.

For the glaze:
3 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt

10. While the rolls are baking, beat together all glaze ingredients until smooth in a mixer with a whisk attachment. The consistency will resemble cake frosting more than glaze.

11. Spread the glaze evenly on warm cinnamon buns. Then, enjoy!