oh brother...

John 15:13 NLT

"There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends."

Nick, my not-so-little brother, you can give him one look and understand that the man loves food. From eating three bowls of cereal at midnight, smashing six Krispy Kreme donuts within a block and a half in New York City, to ringing in his twenty-first birthday with a bone in Ribeye. With that being said, he's always been a sweets kinda guy. I remember when we were younger we always had PopTarts, Eggos, and some sort of sugary cereal in the house, but Nick's go-to desserts were mushy cookies as we called them. Mushy cookies were just Nestle chocolate chip cookies baked for half the time the package suggests, ergo mushy cookies.  I've made chocolate chip cookies on a whim and they're great and all, but this past Christmas I attempted cinnamon rolls and they changed the game.

Nick is a dedicated, hard-working athlete, a caring and protective brother, and has a firm foundation in God that has encouraged my faith to grow to where it is now. When he's home from college one thing for certain is that we are going to the ten am service with our friends. It's just so fitting that I'm finishing writing this on a rainy Sunday after getting home from church. So, with that being said, here is one of the best Sunday comfort foods, Mocha Cinnamon Rolls.

Mocha Cinnamon Rolls have now become a treat I try to make whenever he comes in for the weekend. They are pretty simple, just a bit time-consuming, but on a Sunday morning, they work perfectly with our schedule. I carved out an extra hour in the morning before church to prepare the dough for its one to two-hour rest and took the butter out to soften, then finished preparing and baking them as soon as we got home. I will admit I had one bad batch (I may have forgotten to put white sugar in the filling mixture, whoops!). But, after that, I made sure to double-check all of my ingredients for the most perfect cinnamon rolls, so take notes!

Mocha Cinnamon Rolls:

Dough:

• 1 cup of warm milk

• 1 packet of Fleishman's Instant Yeast

• 1 tablespoon brown sugar

• 4 tablespoons melted butter

• 3 large eggs

• 4 cups of flour plus 1 extra tablespoon if needed

• 1 teaspoon of salt

Filling:

• 1 stick of unsalted butter, softened

• 1 cup of white sugar

• 1/4 cup of light brown sugar

• 3 tablespoons of cinnamon

• 1 tablespoon of cocoa powder

• 1 tablespoon of vanilla paste or extract

Icing:

• 2 cups of powdered sugar

• 1 tablespoon of maple syrup

• 1/2 cup of water

Putting it all together:

1. Fit your Kitchen-Aid Mixer with the dough hook attachment.

2. Warm the milk in the microwave until it is warm, almost hot to the touch, and add it into the mixing bowl.

3. Add the yeast and brown sugar to the milk and whisk until it bubbles slightly and then leave it to bubble for 7 minutes.

4. Add in the flour and mix on low speed until fully combined. The dough should be firm to the touch and slightly stick to the dough hook. If the dough is not firm to the touch and still a bit wet, add the additional tablespoon of flour or more if needed.

5. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let it rest under the stove light, or next to the oven if it is already on, for at least 1 hour. The dough with double in size.

6. In the meantime let the stick of butter for the filling soften at room temperature. When the butter is soft add the sugars, cinnamon, cocoa powder, and vanilla and mix. The butter mixture should be spreadable but not melted.

7. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

8. On a clean counter, dust flour and keep extra off to the side. Transfer the dough onto the counter and begin to roll it into a rectangle with a rolling pin. The dough should be about 1/4 inch thick when rolled out.

9. Spread the butter mixture across the dough evenly.

10. Starting from the edge of the dough closest to you (this should be one of the longer, horizontal sides) roll the sheet of dough up tightly until it is a log shape.

11. With a flat edge knife, cut the dough into two-inch rounds from the log of dough. Discard the edges if they have little to no filling. This should yield about 16 rolls.

12. Place the rolls into two throw-away baking dishes (13 x 10.5 x 2.5), eight in each. This allows them to rise better.

13. Cover them once again with plastic wrap and let them rest for 20 minutes.

14. Bake them uncovered for 10 minutes. They should just have a nice crust on the end and little to no color.

15. For the icing, mix all the ingredients in one bowl. I like it to be thin enough to run off of the whisk when I lift it out of the bowl. If you want the icing to be thicker add more powdered sugar, for it to be thinner add more water.

16. As soon as the cinnamon rolls come out of the oven, top them with the icing and serve immediately. You can store them covered at room temperature for a full day and then reheat them in the microwave for 30 seconds.