Fresh cinnamon rolls in the morning. Ahhhh, the smell, the golden brown goodness coming out of the oven. Who would have thought it could be so easy? This is a fairly simple recipe that always produces good results.

Step 1: Ingredients

Here's what we'll need:

3 Packages of Active Dry yeast
1 Package white cake mix
2 1/2 Cups Water
4 Cups All Purpose Flour
1/2 Cup Butter softened
1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
2 Teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
1/4 Cup Melted Butter
1/3 Cup Sugar
Raisin, if desired

Step 2: Make Some Dough

Now it's time to make some dough. Turn the water on and get it warm to the touch. Not hot, just warm. Pour a cup and a half of it into a bowl and then add the yeast to it. Stir it up and let it sit for about ten minutes until its creamy looking.

In a large bowl mix the cake mix up with 3 cups of the flour. Once you have it all mixed up make a well in the center of and pour the yeast mixture into the well. Add the other cup of warm water to that. Now mix it all up together to combine them. This a bunch easier if you have a stand mixer with a dough hook but I've shown you here that you can do it all by hand. Add the remaining flour to it, about 1/2 cup at a time, stirring well after each addition until the dough pulls away from the bowl as you move the spoon.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead it until its smooth and stretchy. Kneading means using the palms of your hands and working from the center push the dough flat out in all directions. Once you have it flattened out in a big circle fold it up in thirds and then flatten it back out again. Keep doing that until, as I said, its smooth and elastic. It'll take a while, at least 5 minutes to get it nice and smooth. Once you're there roll it all up in a big ball.

Grease a clean bowl with some butter and put the ball of dough in the bowl and swish it around to cover the ball with grease. Cover the bowl with a clean damp towel and put it somewhere warm. Wait about 30 minutes and look under the towel and the ball should be about twice the size it was. That's those little yeast enzymes getting fat and happy. Like I'm going to be after we're done making these sweet rolls!

Step 3: I Need You to Knead Me

Now take the dough out of the bowl and punch it. Flatten it all out on your floured work surface and get the gas out of it. Now take the rolling pin and flatten it out thin into a rectangle. Push from the middle out to both ends and then work the ends up and down to make a rectangle. It should be about 10" by 16" or so.

Take your softened butter and spread it all over the surface of the rectangle. Now sprinkle the brown sugar evenly all over the butter. Do the same with the cinnamon. Use more cinnamon if you like, its hard to get too much on there. Possible, but hard. Now if you want to you can drop a bunch of raisins on here too. I like raisins but some people don't. My sister calls them bugs. She's always been a little crazy when it comes to her food though.

Lets roll this up ok? Starting from one of the long sides, roll the dough up into a log. Put it with the seam down in the center of your work surface. Slice the log up in one inch slices.

Preheat your oven to 375F.

Grease a 9x13 inch baking pan to put the rolls into. Put the melted butter in to one bowl and the white sugar into another bowl. Dip your rolls in the butter first and then the sugar and put them into the greased pan. Cram them in there nice and snug. Now cover the roll with your damp cloth and let them rise again for 30 minutes.

Bake the rolls at 375F for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Your kitchen smells great doesn't it? You're going to love these.