Cinnamon Rolls = Comfort Food

This past weekend, our parish/school community lost a beautiful young soul.
Tyler Jeck was Drew's age, just finished his first year of college and was home for the summer. Tyler was our neighbor when the boys were younger. His older brother and he would come over to play with Drew and Caleb and Jonah. We carpooled with them for the first few years of school. Tyler was a parents dream. He was an easy going kid, always nice to everyone, a good example to others as a student and an athlete, but more importantly as a person. Tyler drowned in an accident at the lake this weekend. He dove in to cool off and never resurfaced. To make this story even more heartbreaking, the authorities are still searching for him, 3 days later.  His parents are as good as gold, and I wish they didn't have to endure this.
When Dave, Debbie, Stuart and Tyler were our neighbors, we would exchange a little Christmas gift to each other.  I always made them a big pan of cinnamon rolls and some homemade hot chocolate mix. Dave in particular loved it. So today as I wondered what I could do to try to lessen the pain, I thought of the rolls. I  made them and have them ready to deliver. I hope they can find some comfort in knowing they are loved and their Tyler was loved as well by so many others. So I wanted to share this story and the recipe...maybe you know someone who could use a little comfort.

1 tablespoon dry yeast

1 cup warm milk

1/2 cup white sugar

2 tablespoons melted butter

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs, beaten

4 cups flour

Dissolve yeast in warm milk.

Add the rest of the ingredients in order and mix well until a nice dough ball forms.

Cover and let rise in a warm place until double in size.

When dough is ready cover your surface with flour and roll dough to about a 1/4 inch thick, in a rectangle.

Spread with filling:

1/4 cup softened butter

1 cup brown sugar

3 tablespoons cinnamon

I spread the butter on the entire surface,  then sprinkle on the brown sugar and cinnamon.

Roll dough into a long log.

Slice in 1 inch slices.

Place on greased pan.

Let rise.

Bake in 400* oven for 10 minutes.

Frost when rolls are hot:

1/2 cup butter

1 1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 oz cream cheese

1 teaspoon vanilla

pinch of salt

Beat until fluffy, spread on hot rolls.

Rest in peace Tyler...

Copy Cat!

I love looking for new recipes, whether it is surfing the web, checking out cookbooks from the library or scouring my own collection of books and magazines. So when I saw Kristen at Three in the Nest had a new recipe on her blog, I just had to give it a try. (go ahead, call me a Copy Cat!) Her pictures are beautiful and she is much more creative in her post than I am. We had it for our main dish as a dip with tortilla chips. And I have  leftovers to make wraps for lunch in a day or two. I wish I would have picked up some fresh corn on the cob from the truck parked up town, I think that would have been a great summer accompaniment.

Here's how it looked after I got put together....my house already smells good and I haven't even baked it!

And here's how it looked right before I devoured it!

You can find her easy recipe here .

Hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

Thanks to Kristen for sharing!