1. Warm milk in a small saucepan until the temperature reaches 110 degrees F. It should feel like warm bathwater.
2. Transfer warm milk to the bowl of an electric mixture. Add sugar and sprinkle yeast on top. Let sit for 30 minutes.
3. Add in whisked eggs, melted and cooled butter and red food dye of choice. Mix until well combined.
4. In a medium bowl, combine flour, salt, baking powder, and cocoa powder. Place dough hook on the stand mixer and slowly add flour mixture to the liquid mixer on medium speed for about 4-8 minutes. Dough should form into a nice ball and be slightly sticky. If it’s too sticky (sticking to your hands or to the bottom of the mixer) add in 2 Tbsp increments of flour.
5. Transfer dough ball to a well-oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and a warm towel. Allow dough to rise for up to an hour, or until doubled in size (if doing the gluten-free version, the dough will rise only slightly). To make sure your dough is proofing nicely, you can set the bowl in the oven under the “bread proofing” option and turn the oven off once it hits 100 degrees or you can wrap your bowl around Christmas lights (that’s what I do!)
6. While your dough is rising, make the filling by adding the softened butter, cinnamon, and brown sugar to your electric mixture or small bowl. Mix until well combined.
7. Set cinnamon filling aside and wash out the mixer to make the frosting!
8. In the bowl of the electric mixer, combine softened cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla extract. Beat until smooth and fluffy. Set aside or leave in the mixture until you are ready to spread over cinnamon rolls.
9. At this point, your dough has doubled in size! Get a large cutting board or large surface and sprinkle flour over the surface and place plastic wrap over it (about 14x9 inch rectangle). Add the dough to the center of the plastic wrap and sprinkle with more flour. Then top with another sheet of plastic wrap.
10. Roll dough out into a 14x9 inch rectangle. Remove the top layer of plastic wrap and spread cinnamon filling over dough; leaving about ¼ inch margin at the far side of the dough. Tightly roll the dough lengthwise into a cylinder. (The bottom layer of plastic wrap helps to get that tight roll!) I like to carefully “smash” both ends together to make a fuller roll!
11. Use a serrated knife or dental floss to cut into even 9 rolls. You may want to cut about an inch off both ends of the dough since the ends will not be full of the cinnamon filling.
12. Place cinnamon rolls in a greased 9x9 baking pan or round 9-inch cake pan. For easier cleanup, line the pan with parchment paper.
13. Melt the tablespoon of butter and brush the tops of the rolls with melted butter. Cover with a warm towel and let rise again for 30-45 minutes.
14. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
15. Remove the towel and bake cinnamon rolls for 20-25 minutes or until just slightly golden brown on the edges. I say slightly so the center stays gooey!
16. Allow them to cool 5-10 minutes before frosting.

Recipe Notes:

To make these gluten-free: replace bread flour with gluten-free 1 to 1 baking flour and add an additional tsp of baking powder to the dry mix. To the wet mix, add 1 tsp apple cider vinegar. The rolls will not rise as much as the original recipe but will still taste just as good, if not better, in my opinion!

To make these overnight: After placing rolls into the greased pan (after the first rise), simply cover the pan with tinfoil and place in the fridge overnight. When you are ready to bake them, set the pan on the counter for at least 30-45 minutes (room temperature) before baking (this is their second rise). If you decide to use beetroot powder instead of beet juice, decrease your flour mixture by ¼ cup and gradually add more flour if the mixture seems to be too sticky when making the dough.