Huge cinnamon buns with cream cheese frosting and a hearthstone design.

The hearthstone is a common device used to teleport oneself in World of Warcraft. Cinnamon buns' natural swirl design lends itself to this WoW item quite nicely.

The recipe is based off of Joy of Baking's cinnamon rolls with some minor changes.

Ingredients for cinnamon bun dough:

4 1/2 - 5 cups all-purpose flour
1 package (1/4 ounce) active dry yeast
1 cup milk
1/3 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs

Ingredients for cinnamon bun filling:

3/4 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup butter

Ingredients for cream cheese frosting:

1 bar of 8 oz. cream cheese
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup powdered sugar
Blue decorators' gel

That may seem quite the list, but it's really not too bad. The hardest part is waiting for the dough to rise. You will have to let the dough rise twice, so this can turn into a long affair with the dough's cooldown time. Luckily, you can get the buns ready to go and pop them into the fridge. You'll be all set for baking for fresh cinnamon rolls the next morning!

Start off with 2 1/4 cups flour and stir the yeast in.

In a saucepan with the heat on medium, heat the milk, butter, sugar, and salt. Constantly stir the sauce. When the butter is almost melted, check the temperature. Once it's between 120 - 130F, pull the saucepan off the stove to add to the flour mixture.

Add the liquid to the flour mixture, stirring slowly until it's well incorporated. The dough will be awfully thick at this point. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Once all the eggs are added, mix on high for three minutes.

If you have a stand mixer, you can use the dough hook to mix in the remaining 2 1/4 to 2 3/4 cups flour. I don't have one, so I kneaded by hand. Add in 1/2 cup of dough at a time until the dough is no longer sticky.

Form the dough into a ball and place into a greased bowl, flipping once. Cover and allow the yeast to go to work until the dough as doubled. It will take anywhere from an hour to three hours, depending on the temperature of the room. Yeast are happier when they are in a warmer room. It took my dough about two hours to get to the proper size.

Two hours later.

After the dough has risen, punch it down (my favorite part when working with dough!)

PUNCH!

Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and give it another cloth blanket while making the filling.

For the filling, take a stick of cold butter and chop into roughly 1/4" slices. Place into a bowl and add the brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon.

Use your hands to mix everything together. You'll have to mush around the butter with your hands, so it'll be pretty messy.

Roll the dough out into a 12" square so that the dough is about 2/3" thick. Evenly distribute the filling on the dough.

Roll the dough up very tightly into a long cylinder and pinch the seam shut. The middle of the dough will be a little bigger than the ends, so gently roll the dough log so it evens out.

Cut the dough into eight cinnamon rolls. I lightly scored the dough log with a knife before cutting to make sure I had even proportions.

Arrange the buns in a 13x9 baking pan. You could use a bigger pan, but any smaller and the buns won't fit.

Don't worry if the buns look a little squished; they'll puff out into a proper bun shape. Cover the pan and buns with plastic wrap to allow the dough to rise.

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At this point, you could pop the dough into the fridge for two to twenty-four hours. If you're planning on baking buns the next morning, allow the dough to stand in room temperature for 30 minutes right before baking. If you're going straight to baking, allow the buns to double in size. My dough took an hour to plump up.

After the buns are done rising, bake in a 375F oven for 20-25 minutes or until the tops are light brown. You can tell the buns are done when a toothpick that's poked into the middle of the cinnamon bun comes out clean.

Almost done! While the buns are baking, you can put together the frosting. Put everything – cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, and powdered sugar – into a bowl and mix until it's well blended.

Once the buns are done, allow them to sit for a couple of minutes so the frosting won't melt off the buns and you don't burn your hands.

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When you're ready to frost, grab a bun and slather on the cream cheese frosting.

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For the final bit, use blue decorators' gel and follow the cinnamon bun's natural swirl to create the hearthstone marking.

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Makes eight huge buns.

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