Cinnamon Rolls with chocolate chips

This recipe was a personal challenge: I bought some cinnamon rolls from a very good bakery and they were (of course..) delicious. The same evening I was in bed searching on my phone on Pinterest the recipe to check if it was extremely difficult to bake them at home 😉 not at all, it didn’t seem difficult, just a bit time consuming considering the waiting times to let the yeast work and the dough raise. I had to try it!

I picked up the recipe that seemed more appealing to me and I changed few things here and there as I always do (we are not big fans of cinnamon, so I reduced the quantity and we are chocolate addicted to I added the chocolate chips). I prepared the recipe in the afternoon, during the kids nap and I baked the rolls right before dinner, in order to try them as an evening dessert. Wow, they were delicious: fluffy, sweet and warm and the chocolate chips almost melted….good!

It has been very difficult to stop the kids from wanting more and more but I didn’t want to chase them around the house up until late due to a sugar shock 😉 They were so happy in the morning when I warmed them again for breakfast!

The quantity I’m giving you will make 18 rolls (regular size)…that is a lot! But do not worry, they will be eaten in no time 😉

That’s what you will need to do:

– Dissolve the instant yeast in half a cup of lukewarm water. Stir it well with a spoon. It is very important that the water is warm. If it is cold the yeast will not dissolve, if it is hot the yeast will decrease its raising power.

– Place all the wet ingredients in a kitchen mixer: the yeast, milk, 3/4 cup sugar, salt, 4 eggs. Let the mixer work at low speed for 1 minute, we want the ingredients to nicely mix together.

– Keeping the mixer at low speed add 8 tablespoons of flour. I deeply suggest to sift the flour before adding it, it will help creating a smooth and not grainy dough. Add 1/2 cup melted butter and the remaining flour. Let the mixer work at medium speed for 3 minutes, an elastic and a bit sticky dough will be formed.

– Stop the mixer and remove the dough. Place it on a flat surface dusted with some flour and sprinkle some additional flour on top. Let the dough rest for 15 minutes.

– Divide the dough in two (the size of the dough will not fit anymore in the mixer…the yeast is starting to work!!!). Place half of the dough back in the mixer and using a hook attachment knead the dough for 4/5 minutes at minimum speed.

– Prepare two big bowls greasing them with some vegetable oil. Place the two doughs in the bowls, cover them with two clean and dry dish cloths and let them rest and rise for at least 1 hour at room temperature (not too close to windows or doors as it might be too cold or too hot pending from the season).

– I let my doughs rest for almost two hours and they doubled their size!!

– Place the dough on a flat surface dusted with some flour and with a kitchen roll flat them down to 1 inch thickness. Try to give a rectangular shape to the dough.

– Melt 2 Tablespoons of butter and spread them on the dough. Sprinkle on top of the butter a mix of sugar and cinnamon. I used a proportion of 1 1/2 cup of cane sugar and 2 tablespoons of cinnamon for the two doughs. Add 1/4 cup of chocolate chips. Gently roll the dough on itself forming a nice and long cylinder. Do the same thing with the other dough: roll, add 2 tbsp butter, the remaining sugar/cinnamon mix and 1/4 cup chocolate chips.

– Cut the long cylinder in thick 2 inches slices and place them in a baking pan already greased with a bit of butter. Place the rolls not too close one to another as they will rise furthermore.

– Let the rolls rest for 20 minutes, they will increase their size for another 20%

– Brush the surface of the rolls with one egg. It will give that nice final golden color to the rolls!

– Bake the rolls in the preheated oven at 375F./190 C. for 25 minutes. Let them rest for 5 minutes before adding the icing.

– In a small cup mix the powdered sugar, the milk and the vanilla extract forming a thick gluey icing. Pour the icing on top of the rolls with a regular back and forward movement.

Enjoy the rolls still warm, they are DELICIOUS!!!!!