Cinnamon Rolls

For the last several years, our Mother's Day tradition has been a ladies weekend somewhere (usually San Luis Obispo) with the twins and Kristie. This year, we had it in Newport and Nat and I decided to cook most of the meals at home...great food blog opportunities...right? This is a very easy family recipe that usually makes an appearance around the holidays. We broke it out a little early this year with the mimosas for mom!

Ingredients:
1/2 stick salted butter, melted, plus 2 T
2 T cinnamon
1 t nutmeg
1/4 c brown sugar
1 package premade dough- such as Bridgeford ready dough or Trader Joe's white pizza dough
2 T flour

1 package low fat cream cheese, softened
zest of 1 lemon
1/2 c powdered sugar
3 T milk

Directions:
Roll out the dough onto a large flourer surface into a rectangle. Mix cinnamon, nutmeg, and brown sugar together in a bowl with a fork. Pour melted butter over the surface of the dough and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar mixture. Tightly roll the dough into a long tube. Now, this is a trick I did not know, but having mom in town this weekend, she shared the best way to cut cinnamon rolls EVER! Take a piece of unwaxed dental floss (about a foot long) and lay the tube of dough on top of it. Slowly bring the two ends together like you are going to tie a knot and it slices the dough into perfect little pieces without mushing the ends together. (See pic below).


Place slices into a greased baking pan about 1 inch apart and spoon remaining melted butter over the tops. Bake on 325 for 20 minutes until golden brown.

While the rolls are baking, mix the remaining ingredients in a bowl with a mixer to create frosting. Generously top each roll as they come out of the oven.