Bacon Cinnamon Rolls with Maple Bourbon Cream Cheese Frosting

After a lot of planning and coordination, my friend Drew and I were finally able to have a UW brunch! Our friend Kelcey was in town, and a large group of us were able to get together this Sunday and catch up. My roommate Sarah and I decided to make cinnamon rolls and a spicy egg bake. I chose to try out a few cinnamon roll variations, and used my favorite cinnamon roll recipe as a base. I stuffed half of them with bacon, and filled the rest with a pumpkin pie filling. The ingredients included:

Dough:
3/4 cup warm water
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast {use the fast acting kind!}
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
1 egg
1/3 cup canola or vegetable oil
4 1/2-5 cups all purpose unbleached flour

Filling:
1/2 cup softened margarine
1 1/4杯轻装上阵红糖
2 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons cornstarch

Frosting:
2 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
1/4 cup softened margarine
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 tablespoon corn syrup
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
3 teaspoons smoked maple bourbon

Add ins:

1 lb bacon, partially cooked (7 minutes at 425 degrees F)

1/2 can pureed pumpkin, combined with 2 tablespoons pumpkin pie spice

在a large bowl, combine water, yeast and 1 tablespoon of the granulated sugar. Stir, and let proof for about 5 minutes. Once mixture looks bubbly and frothy, stir in the remaining sugar and salt. In a separate bowl, I added the buttermilk, oil and egg. Whisk ingredients together until the egg is incorporated with the other ingredients. Pour the contents into the yeast mixture, and stir until combined. Pour in two cups of flour, and stir together with a spoon until the ingredients are combined. Add in the rest of the flour gradually, and mix until the dough cleans the sides of the bowl. On a lightly floured surface, knead the dough by hand for about 10 minutes. Grease the large bowl used to proof the dough, and cover with a dish towel. Let the dough rise for about an hour (until dough had doubled in size).

面团打样时,使灌装。在a medium size bowl, stir together the brown sugar, cinnamon and cornstarch until combined. Flour the surface where you intend to roll the dough out, and lightly floured dough as well. Roll the dough out into a 20×30 rectangle. If it’s a little short or uneven, you can cut off the edges to even it out. Spread the softened butter over the dough, leaving a 1-inch strip untouched on one of the longer sides of dough.

Dump the brown sugar mixture in the middle of the dough and spread it out with your hands, creating an even layer over top of the butter, but leaving a 1-inch strip of dough untouched. Lightly press the sugar mixture into the butter using a rolling pin, and then added the pre-cooked bacon and pumpkin pie filling.

A friend of mine eats kosher, so I made the pumpkin pie rolls separately, before adding the bacon.

Roll the dough into a tight log, finishing with the plain dough on the bottom to seal the log together. Score the log every 1.5 inches and then sliced the rolls using those marks. Make sure to use a sharp knife. Put the rolls into a pan lined with greased parchment paper or foil, leaving about an inch between each roll. I let the cut rolls rise for another hour, until they had risen again.

Make the frosting while the rolls are rising, by using a hand mixer to combine the cream cheese and butter together. Stir in the vanilla, corn syrup and lemon juice, and maple bourbon. combine, then add in the powdered sugar in two installments.

Bake for about 30 minutes at 350 degrees, until they start to brown. Frost them immediately once out of the oven. I tried the pumpkin pie variation, since it was a new recipe. What really made these cinnamon rolls was the smoked maple bourbon. It took the frosting to a whole new level, and was such a wonderful combination with both cinnamon roll variations. YUM! I’m still drooling just thinking about these.