Eat your heart out, Cinnabon

I'm tinking around with sweets these days, trying to figure out a good menu for our up and coming coffee shop- and tried these cinnamon rolls. Thank you Martha Stewart!!

Here is the recipe- I highly recommend this.

1/4 C warm watter
2 packets active dry yeast
1 1/2 C butter, melted
1/4 C sugar
2 1/4 t salt
2 large eggs
6 1/2 cups all purpose flour

Place water in a small bowl; sprinkle with yeast and let stand until foamy (about 5 minutes). In a large bowl, whisk together milk, butter, sugar, salt and 2 eggs. Whisk in yeast mixture.

Using a wooden spoon, stir in 6 C flour, 1 cup at a time until you have a soft, shaggy dough. Add more dough if necessary. Turn dough onto floured work surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 5 - 10 minutes. Butter the inside of a large bowl; place dough in bowl, turning to coat. Cover bowl in plastic wrap; let stand in a warm spot until dough has doubled in size, about 1 1/4 hours.

For the filling:
1/2 C butter at room temperature
1 C packed dark brown sugar
2/3 C walnuts or pecans
1/2 t ground cinnamon
pinch of salt

In a food processor, combine brown sugar, nuts, cinnamon and pinch of salt. Pulse until coarsely ground.

After the first rise, divide dough in half. Working with one half at a time, roll dough out to a 16-by-10 inch rectangle on a lightly floured surface. Spread 4 T butter over dough (I only used 2), leaving a 1/2 inch border all around. Sprinkle half the nut mixture over butter.



Starting at the long end, roll up dough like a jelly-roll; with a sharp knife, cut crosswise into 12 equal pieces. Place buns cut-side down in two 13-by-9 buttered baking pans. Cover pans loosely with plastic; let stand in a warm spot until doubled in size, about 1 1/4 hours. Preheat oven to 375 F with racks in upper and lower thirds. Bake buns until golden brown,, 25-30 minutes, rotating pans back to front and top to bottom halfway through. Let cool 15 minutes.

For the glaze:

1 C packed dark brown sugar

6 T butter

2 T water

In a small saucepan, heat brown sugar, butter and water over medium, stirring, until simmering; cook 1 minute. Drizzle glaze over buns; let stand 10 minutes before serving.