Perfect cinnamon rolls

My family loves cinnamon roll, I love it too especially while its cooking in the oven and the aroma of cinnamon fills the air. It is best for breakfast with coffee and for mirienda too.

I've baked cinnamon roll many times and I have almost perfected it by now.  I used to get disappointed when I burned it or it gets under-cooked and in one time I even forgot to add the baking powder in the dough. I smiled at myself when I look back as I try to learn this basic recipe. I am a mother trying hard to learn baking and it is an achievement, small it maybe but it's very fulfilling to look at my family savoring what I have prepared for them. So now that I am confident about this recipe, I am ready to share it with you.

For the dough:

3 cups all purpose flour
1 packet yeast
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup milk-scalded
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup vegetable oil
flour for dusting

For the filling:
1/ cup butter - allow to soften in room temperature to be spreadable
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon powder
1/3 cup crushed roasted peanuts or cashew nuts
1/3 cup raisins

Dough:

Mix all the dry ingredients before adding water, scalded milk and oil. Mix to form a dough and then add little water if its too dry. Kneed the dough and set aside for an hour to allow it to rise, you may wrap it with cling film or cover it with cloth.

Mix brown sugar and cinnamon powder and set aside.

After an hour, take the dough and kneed it in clean surface with a little flour for dusting. Form the dough into a rectangle shape, spread the butter atop the dough, then the sugar-cinnamon mixture, spread crushed nuts and raisins. Carefully roll the dough one side first then the next until you have a log. Cut the dough evenly and place in a baking dish/tray covered with wet parchment paper making sure there is space between each roll to allow the rolls to rise further. set it aside and leave for half to an hour before baking in a preheated oven set at 175 degrees Celsius for 30-45 minutes or until its cooked.

The cinnamon roll fresh from the oven is already a treat but if you like to make it extra special then you can top it with some caramel sauce. For the caramel sauce, I used butter, condensed milk, nestle cream and granulated sugar. Mixed together in a pan medium heat until its thick.

This method works for me. I went into trial and error before I had the perfect cinnamon rolls. It does needs practice and patience.