Cinnamon Roll Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Yeast. ::Shudders:: Yeast used to be a huge fear of mine in the kitchen. I am not sure why but it seems so easy to mess up. For a long, long...LONG... time I would just skip over any recipe that called for yeast. I am slowly working on this fear. It's irrational. It's silly. I teach first grade- I can follow directions. Heck, I spend my whole life teaching others to follow directions. And using yeast involves a lot of directions. So I decided to face my fear again and make these cupcakes. Seriously they were so delicious looking that I had to.

I did have a few blunders... and I might have muttered a few unpleasant comments.. but they came out excellent! I had trouble with the initial rise. Looking back my milk wasn't warm enough but I allowed them to rise in the oven (preheated to 175- then turned off- make sure you turn it off) and it worked perfectly.

These are so delicious that even if you fear yeast you need to saddle up and get over it. It's not scary, I promise. I will tell you that I only like them warm though. I tried one cool and it just wasn't the same. Warm though these are the best!


Source: Beantown Baker

Ingredients:

2 1/4 tsp. or 1 packet (1/4 oz./7 g) dry active yeast
1/2 cup granulated sugar, divided
1 cup warm milk (approximately 110 degrees Fahrenheit)
2 eggs, room temperature
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 tsp. salt
4 1/2 cups bread flour

1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 1/2 Tbsp. ground cinnamon
1/3 cup butter, softened

Directions:

Dissolve the yeast and 1/4 cup of the granulated sugar in the warm milk in a large bowl and let stand for about 10 minutes until foamy.

Mix in the eggs, butter, salt, and other 1/4 cup of granulated sugar. Add flour and mix until well blended and the dough forms a ball. Put in a bowl, cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size (about one hour).

After the dough has doubled in size, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, cover and let rest for 10 minutes. In a small bowl, combine brown sugar and cinnamon. Line cupcake pan with cupcake liners (I like to double them up because these cinnamon rolls are so moist), and lightly spray over the top of them with cooking spray.

Roll dough into a 12x22 inch rectangle. Spread dough with 1/3 cup butter and sprinkle evenly with sugar/cinnamon mixture. Roll up dough and cut into 24 rolls (I use my pastry cutter - thanks Dad!).

Place each roll in a cupcake liner. Cover and let rise until nearly doubled, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Bake rolls in preheated oven until golden brown, about 10-12 minutes. Let rolls cool completely before frosting.

Frosting:

Ingredients:

4 oz cream cheese at room temp
1/2 stick butter at room temp
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
powdered sugar

Directions:

Cream butter and cream cheese until fluffy.

Add vanilla extract.

Slowly add powdered sugar until desired consistency is reached.