For all my parties and get togethers, I have always cooked everything and spent several days leading up to it prepping. In recent years though, specifically after my 3rd child was born, I have started to delegate different foods to other people that are coming. Of course I will make something, if not several things, but I don't feel that need to make EVERYTHING. It gives other people a chance to make something and it makes my job so much easier! Especially because I tend to make the hardest most time consuming things.

So when I got invited to a recent Instagram get together brunch, I obviously offered to bring something. When thinking of brunch, I thought of making those easy but great pinwheels, my lemon raspberry poundcake (with lemon glaze), or cinnamon rolls. I ended up going with my cinnamon bites that I made around christmas, thinking I could fit them into muffin liners which would make them more portable for the get together. The brunch went awesome and we had tons of great food, how could you not when you’re talking about a bunch of farmers?!

Alot of these pictures are from when I made them as loaves for our neighbors at christmas though, because I was making this batch at night.

I don't know why cinnamon ROLLS have always been a little intimidating to me?! For some reason these bites seem easier. Just pinch off pieces of dough, pinch them into little circles, roll them in melted butter, then in cinnamon sugar, and drop them into the pan. Does that sound easier to everyone else? Well it does to me.

One of the most important things I could tell you, is to make sure your yeast is active. As for rise time, mine is always changing. I think its dependent on the yeast and the temperature in the house. You can also let it rise in the fridge over night, but I feel like once it still rose too fast like that. I generally stick to the rule of letting it double in size, on the counter, and its around 1-2 hours.

Cinnamon Bites

2 1/4 teaspoons or 1 pkg - Active dry yeast

1/4 cup - Warm water

1 1/4 cup - Warm 2% (or more) milk

1/3 cup - Butter, melted

1/4 cup - Granulated sugar

2 large eggs

5 cups - All-purpose flour

In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let it sit 3-5 minutes. Add the milk, melted butter, sugar, eggs, and 3 cups of flour. Using dough hook, mix together and run a few min. Slowly mixing or by hand stirring, add enough remaining flour to form a firm dough. About 4-5 cups total.
Turn out the dough, onto a floured surface. Knead about 5 minutes, until smooth. Dont over knead! Grease a bowl (with your choice of butter, oil, etc). Put the dough into bowl and then flip over so both sides are oiled. Cover and let rise until doubled in size, roughly 1 hour.
Punch down and knead a few times. Pinch off 1 inch pieces, form into balls. (Don’t skimp on butter or cinnamon sugar) Dip the balls into melted butter then roll in cinnamon sugar and place into greased pan (1 Bundt or 2 loaf pans or 24 muffin liners). I preferred a single layer.
Stir together 1/2 cup of remaining cinnamon sugar with 1 tbsp vanilla and 1/2 cup melted butter. Pour over cinnamon balls. Bake at 350 for 30-35 min.
Put cream cheese icing on while still warm. They taste best warm!

Cinnamon sugar

1 cup - Granulated sugar

1 1/2 Tbsp - Ground cinnamon

2/3 cup - Packed brown sugar

Mix together.

Cream cheese icing

8 tbsp (1 stick) - Butter (room temp)

1/2 cup - Cream cheese (room temp)

1 tsp - Vanilla extract

2-3 cups - Powdered sugar

Cream butter, cheese, and vanilla. Add powdered sugar in 1 cup portions and mix until smooth.