Rollin' in the Dough, Cinnamon Style (AKA: 1 hr Cinnamon Rolls)

Now with more Courtney and weirdness!
As requested, here's the recipe for cinnamon rolls!
I found this online here and those people found it online somewhere else.
While I'm very much into creating my own recipes, I haven't made cinnamon rolls before and since the process is pretty basic (dough, cinnamon-sugary syrup, frosting) I figured, meh, why not use a tried and true recipe and share it and whatnot?
I did change the filling a little, Courtney and I could not really entirely bring ourselves to create a 1/2 cup butter, 1 cup sugar filling and we halved it...while putting the filling in. If you want to do the whole everything, just double the filling except for the cinnamon.
Speaking of halving things...we didn't, but should have, halved the frosting. It's a healla'lot of frosting. But again, this is just our opinion! So, if you want the "real" frosting recipe, double everything for that minus the vanilla extract which we left the same.
So...maybe our cinnamon rolls turned out to be more like sweet rolls, we enjoyed them that way. But, if you want the full blown super buttery, sugary bombs cinnamon rolls are known for, then by all means, go big or go home. Really. I have a sweet tooth, but I have always found cinnamon rolls to be too much for me to handle both physically and emotionally, and since Courtney felt the same way, we toned it down.
We weren't hardcore enough.
I decided to try to find a "quick" recipe since I didn't want to spend 3-4 hours waiting for bread to rise and this recipe still used yeast (so the dough is nice and fluffy) instead of baking soda (might make them more like biscuits than rolls). However, the yeast used is quick rising yeast, which, well, makes your dough rise faster than traditional yeast.
If you multitask and work fast, these puppies can be done in about an hour. I timed Courtney and I and with photo taking/posing and everything, we had them rolled up, in and out of the oven in an hour and 22 minutes.
The "real" recipe for filling and frosting is in parentheses.
So,
Ready to give it a go?
Alright.

1 Hr Cinnamon Rolls!

Dough:

1 cup milk

¼ cup butter

3.5 cup flour divided

¼ sugar

½ tsp salt

1 envelope instant or “rapid rise” yeast

1 egg

Cinnamon-Sugar Filling: 

1/4 cup white sugar (1/2 cup)
1/4 cup brown sugar (1/2 cup)

3 ½ tbl cinnamon (3.5 tbl)
1/4 softened butter (1/2 cup)

Cream Cheese Icing:

1/4 cup softened butter (1/2 cup)

1/8 cup cream cheese, softened (1/4 cup)

3/4 cup powdered sugar (1.5 cup)

1-2 tbl milk if needed

¼ tsp vanilla

Makinz':

Start with making the dough first. Combine the sugar, 3 cups of flour, yeast and salt. Stir to mix up. 

Next, pour the milk in a heat proof container. Add the butter in there. Melt the butter and warm the milk in the microwave in 20-30 second intervals. Our microwave is janky and it took us about 3 minutes to melt the butter and warm the milk, but it takes us about 3 minutes to make just hot enough water for tea to give you an idea of its um, jankiness.

After the milk is warmed and butter melted and they're living together very happily in their heat proof container, pour it in the flour mix and crack the egg in there, too. 

If you're doing this by hand, mix up, add remaining flour, mix again until well combined and then knead for 5-8 minutes. It's finished once the dough is stretchy and stays in a nice doughy ball.

Dough attachment on the mighty mixer, Darth. Oh, and Courtney.

If you're mixing this by mixer, use the dough attachment and beat on medium while slowly adding the last 1/2 of flour. It's finished when the dough starts to form a large ball and pull away from the bowl. 

Place your dough in a bowl with a damp cloth over it and let it rise for 10-15 minutes in a warm area. Sticking it in the oven with the light on works well.

Courtney and cinnamon...

Now, start to make your filling. Mix the sugars and cinnamon together. Soften the butter in the microwave. 

After the dough has sat long enough, roll it out on a floured surface until it is about 9x14 inches.

measurin'

Using a fancy pastry knife or a good ole' college student accessible "dose this count as a knife?" 

implement, spread the softened butter over the dough. 

Then, evenly coat the dough with the cinnamon sugar mixture.

Here's the really fun part: Using knife implement or pizza cutter, cut about 10-12 strips from your 9x14 oval--I mean square.

 Roll up the strips cinnamon roll style and place them in a cake tin or pie dish to bake. 

It's ok if they're all touching. They like that.

Bake these suckers in the oven for 20-30 minutes at 350 F or until the edges just start to brown. Take them out of the oven and let them cool for 15 minutes. 

While they're gettin' all good and baked, make the frosting. Soften your butter and cream cheese. Cream the cream cheese, butter and vanilla, then, slowly add in the powdered sugar. If it's too thick, add a few tablespoons of milk.

Pour the frosting over the rolls after you take em' out of the oven and they've cooled.

Then eat them.

Eat them, you greedy little piglet.


Love,

          Neffie