Preheat  the oven to 375F/190C

Butter a 9×9/22×22 baking tin. If you don’t have one this size, 9×13/22×33 will work, too.

Make the dough:

Put the butter in the freezer. If this isn’t possible, refrigerate it. You want the butter to be as cold as possible.

Put the flour, salt, and baking powder in a large bowl and blend with a wooden spoon or large fork.

Take part of the butter from the freezer and slice into small pieces with a sharp knife. I cut the butter on a piece of wax paper, which makes clean-up easier. Put the butter bits into the flour bowl. Keep going until all the butter is sliced.

Using two knives, your clean hands, a pastry cutter, or mechanized implements, blend the flour and butter until you have a mixture resembling lumpy oatmeal.

Add the dairy to the buttery flour. Mix with a wooden spoon or your clean hands. At this point you will have a floury mess.

Rinse your hands. Prepare a countertop or other work area.  Have a cup of water and extra flour handy in case either are needed. Grab your favorite rolling pin. You’ll need it in a few minutes. No rolling pin? Your hands will work.

Dump the floury mass on to the work surface. Knead gently until a dough begins forming. Additional flour and/or water may be needed. Trust your instincts. Don’t worry about adding too much water or flour, just knead. The dough will find itself.

Once you have a dough, roll it into a rough ball. Leave it sitting while you wash up. Trust me, better to wash up now than try and scrape encrusted dough off your bowl later.

Mix the dry filling ingredients into a small bowl. Set it near the dough, along with the softened butter.

Scatter the work surface with a little flour.

Using your hands and the rolling pin, press and roll the dough until you have a oblong/square measuring roughly14x14in/38x38cm. If the dough fights you, let it rest for a few minutes. If the edges crack, pinch off bits of dough and patch the cracks.

Add the filling:

Using a knife or your clean fingers, smear the butter over the dough, leaving a 1/2 inch/1.25 cm border.

Using a spoon, or, again, your clean fingers, spread the cinnamon mixture evenly over the surface of the dough, up the buttery edge.

Starting at the long end closest to you, roll the dough up tightly, as if rolling a carpet or jelly roll. Once the dough is rolled up, press the edge against the completed roll. It will stick easily.

Using a ruler, or your best eyeball measurement, cut twelve individual cinnamon rolls. Place each roll down flat in the baking pan until all twelve are done.

Bake the cinnamon rolls for 20-25 minutes. A tester will come out clean.

Allow rolls to cool completely on a rack before pouring glaze over them.

To make the glaze:

To sift lumpy confectioner’s sugar, tip spoonfuls of sugar into a sieve set over a bowl.

Mix the lemon juice with the sifted sugar. I did this in a Pyrex measuring cup with a lip, which made pouring easy.

Easy cinnamon rolls may be frozen in their baking pan, unbaked and unglazed. Bake from frozen. Allow additional baking time, and glaze once they’re fully cooled.

Baked cinnamon rolls keep at room temperature for two days. After that, it is best to refrigerate them. Reheat cinnamon rolls in a toaster oven or low oven. Cinnamon rolls also freeze well, though the glaze suffers a bit.

Notes:

For detailed baking notes, please see the blog post.

The cinnamon rolls may be baked with any kind of dairy, but I had the best results with heavy cream.

Do not glaze the rolls until they’re completely cooled: the glaze can aerolsolize, sending sugar drifting all over the kitchen and making a huge mess. Learn from my mistake.

The cinnamon filling can be tampered with to good effect: scatter some currants or raisins over the dough before rolling it up. A tablespoon of finely chopped nuts is nice, provided nobody is allergic. Or consider adding quarter teaspoon of ground cloves, a grating of nutmeg, or a tiny pinch of allspice.