Spooky Cinnamon Rolls

If you’re looking for a fun dessert for Halloween, this recipe is perfect for you! When October comes around, everybody will be putting up spooky decorations and making Halloween-themed crafts. So, what’s better than a Halloween-inspired cinnamon roll? Cinnamon rolls are delicious all year round, but their versatility allows for the perfect Halloween treat. This recipe goes over a general cinnamon roll recipe but with many different decorations: intestines, pumpkins, spiders, and a mummy. 

Ingredients

Materials:

• 9×13 inch baking dish
• 1 piping bag
• 1 large bowl

For the dough: 

• 1 cup warm milk (any milk is fine)
• 1 packet instant dry yeast (~7 grams/ 2¼ tsp)
• 2 eggs – room temperature
• ⅓ cup melted butter –  it should be warm to the touch, but not burning hot
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4½ cups all-purpose flour or bread flour
• Vegetable oil – to grease the bowl during proofing)

For the cinnamon mixture:

• ½ cup softened butter
• 1 cup medium brown sugar
• 2 tablespoon cinnamon 
• ½ cup heavy cream

For the frosting:

• 6 oz cream cheese
• ⅓ cup softened butter
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla 

For other decoration:

• Black food dye
• Orange food dye
• Red food dye
• Candy eyeballs
• Orange, black, and purple sprinkles

Steps

1. Heat the milk in the microwave until warm to the touch, around 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Add in the packet of yeast and let sit for around 5 minutes.
2. Add eggs, melted butter, and sugar. Mix until combined. The mixture won’t be homogenous, so keep mixing until the egg has been fully mixed and the sugar has dissolved. 
3. Add in the salt and flour in 1-cup intervals. Knead with your hands until a dough forms. If the dough forms well in only 4 cups, save the ½ cup for the later stages of kneading.
4. There are two ways to knead the dough: by hand and using a mixer. To knead by hand, knead the dough for around 10 minutes on a well-floured work surface. A large cutting board works really well. When kneading, use your hands to push out the dough away from you, then turn it 180 degrees and push it out again. Using a machine, attach the dough hook and let knead on medium speed for 5-7 minutes, adding in extra flour if kneaded. 
5. Oil up a large bowl and place the kneaded dough in it. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm area for 30-45 minutes. Let the dough proof until it has doubled in size.
6. While the dough rises, add all the ingredients for the filling except the heavy cream into a bowl and mix until a paste forms. 
7. Sprinkle a large work surface with flour. Take out the dough and roll it into a 24×15 inch rectangle.
8. Spread the filling over the dough in an even layer, making sure to leave a 1-inch gap on the longer sides of the dough. This will make rolling the dough easier.
9. Roll the dough tightly starting from one of the longer sides. 
10. Cut the dough into around 1½ inch rounds using a sharp knife, making sure not to push the filling out the edges.
11. Place the rolls in the baking dish around 1 inch away from each other. Put a warm, wet cloth or towel over the dough. Let rise in a warm area for an additional 30 minutes.
12. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees oF (190 degrees oC).
13. Place the cinnamon rolls in the baking dish and pour the heavy cream over all the rolls. Put them into the oven and bake for around 25 minutes. 
14. While it bakes, prepare the frosting. Beat the cream cheese and softened butter with an electronic mixer and beat until soft peaks, adding the powdered sugar and vanilla in intervals. Separate into 4 portions. Dye 1 portion red, 1 portion black, 1 portion orange, and keep the last portion white. Fill the piping bag with the plain frosting.
15. Once the cinnamon rolls are done baking, let rest for 5-10 minutes.
16. Frost the cinnamon rolls with the red frosting. Due to the winding shape of cinnamon roles, the lines created when you roll the dough together resembles blood small intestines, after being frosted red. To make the pumpkin decoration, frost the cinnamon rolls with the orange frosting. To make the spider decoration, frost the cinnamon rolls with black frosting and decorate with the candy eyeballs. To make the mummy decoration, pipe the white frosting in ribbons, making it look like the bandages of a mummy, and decorate with candy eyeballs.