Perfect Little Cinnamon Rolls

I'm a huge fan of cinnamon rolls, and I've been dying to try my hand at making them at home (grocery store cans of pop-them-in-the-oven rolls don't count). With my boyfriend, a fellow cinnamon roll lover, back home from his European vacation, what better time than now to test them out?

I found a recipe for cinnamon pinwheels with maple-coffee icing on one of my favorite blogs, Bakergirl, that seemed simple enough for a first-time cinnamon roll baker. All of the ingredients are pantry staples (Bisquisk serves as a quick and easy dough), which is ideal for a lazy morning brunch. Even though I love maple and coffee, I made a plain icing instead, just to make the recipe even easier. With a few adjustments here and there, these cinnamon rolls are a perfect little treat along with your morning cup of 

coffee. 

Ingredients

2 cups Bisquick

2/3 cup milk

2 tablespoons melted butter

1/2 to 3/4 cup packed brown sugar**

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

**The original recipe called for 1 cup brown sugar, which I followed, but found that it was way too sweet, to the point where all you could taste was sugar. I think cutting down to 3/4 cup or even 1/2 would make the cinnamon rolls tastier and better balanced.

for the icing

1/2 cup powdered sugar

2 teaspoons milk

(Depending on desired consistency, these measurements could be more or less. You may also want to make more for dipping.)

Preheat oven to 400 deg F. Grease a 12 cup muffin pan and set aside. 

In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar and cinnamon. Set aside. 

In a medium bowl, mix Bisquick and milk together with a wooden spoon until dough comes together. Turn out onto a well floured surface, and knead for a few minutes.

Roll dough into a large rectangle, 1/4 inch thick, and brush with melted butter. Sprinkle brown sugar cinnamon mixture evenly over dough, leaving enough sugar left to sprinkle in the bottom of each muffin cup. If desired, you could sprinkle some chopped nuts along with the sugar in the bottom of the cups for a crunchy, pecan sticky bun like treat, or even in the rolls themselves, after the sugar mixture and before you roll them up. 

Roll dough like a jelly roll, and cut into 12 pieces. Place cut side down in muffin cups, on top of the brown sugar layer. Bake 10-12 minutes, until nicely puffed and slightly golden. Place finished rolls immediately on a sheet of parchment paper. 

Mix together powdered sugar and milk, and drizzle over cinnamon rolls. These cool fast, so tell everyone to get 'em while they're hot! Although you probably won't need to tell anyone to come and eat, the smell of cinnamon sugar baking in the oven will draw an immediate crowd.