Baking to fight cancer!

I am doing my favorite thing this afternoon, baking!  This Saturday is finally the day for Relay for Life.  Our Pray for Gray team joined late in the game but we reached our goal of raising $1000!  At the Relay we will be selling baked goods, bracelets and hosting bingo from 11pm to midnight.  Everything that we sell goes towards our group total.  So, I have been given a good excuse to make a mess in the kitchen!  I am baking to fight cancer.  I am making cinnamon rolls, cinnamon peach bread and chocolate banana bread.  I thought that I might share my favorite cinnamon roll recipe.  It is a great recipe that has never failed me.  I like it because it is easy on my arthritis as the bread maker does all the dough work for me.  Dan likes these cinnamon rolls with just a bit of butter on top while Dawson loves a vanilla frosting glaze over the top.  Either way these are pretty yummy.

Cinnamon Rolls

1 cup warm milk ( about 110 degrees F)

2 eggs

1/3 cup butter, melted

4 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup white sugar

2 1/2 teaspoons yeast

1 cup brown sugar

2 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon

1/3 cup butter, softened

1. Place ingredients in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select dough cycle; press Start.
2. After the dough has doubled in size turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, cover and let rest for 10 minutes. In a small bowl, combine brown sugar and cinnamon.
3. Roll dough into a 16x21 inch rectangle. Spread dough with 1/3 cup butter and sprinkle evenly with sugar/cinnamon mixture. Roll up dough and cut into 12 rolls. Place rolls in a lightly greased 9x13 inch baking pan. Cover and let rise until nearly doubled, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
4. Bake rolls in preheated oven until golden brown, about 15 minutes.
5. While rolls are still hot brush the tops of the rolls with butter. (basically I just take a stick of butter and rub it over the hot rolls)
6. Enjoy!

FYI ~ I have made these through the cutting the dough and placing it in the pan stage and then instead of letting them rise and baking them I just covered them with plastic/foil and put them in the freezer for another day.  The night before I want the rolls I just pull them out of the freezer and let them thaw/rise overnight.  In the morning I just bake like normal.

This is my first year participating in Relay for Life.  I am so excited to be apart of something that truly does make a difference in people's lives.  I was thinking about, over the years, the people that I knew who fought this battle called cancer.  I can think of 8 off the top of my head.  This year will be an emotional one for Team Pray for Gray as we just recently loss our friend Karl.  I pray that this will be a time of healing and a celebration of life for not only our team but for all the teams that are at the relay.