• Make sure you have enough room in your refrigerator for this recipe to safely sit overnight

Dough

• Bring milk to about 110°F using a saucepan or your microwave
• Add milk and yeast to a large mixing bowl and let rest until foamy (about 5 minutes)
• Add all dough ingredients, apart from flour, into the bowl and mix.* Add in 4 cups of flour and mix thoroughly. This requires a sturdy spoon and some hand kneading, or alternatively, a dough attachment on a stand mixer (so I've heard). Add the remaining flour (and perhaps a bit more) until your dough is smooth and no longer sticky.

  *If you have a sourdough starter discard, you can add about 1/4 of a cup to this. If you don't have a starter, that's fine. Just reduce the flour by 1/4 of a cup.
• Let the dough rest covered for 1-3 hours, or until doubled in size

Filling

• Combine filling ingredients in a medium bowl
• Prep a 9 x 13 baking pan with nonstick spray (if you, like me, don't have one this large, use two 8 x 8 pans)
• Place risen dough onto a floured surface and flatten/roll into a rectangle with a height of 1 cm to .5 inches using a rolling pin (thinner dough will make a tighter spiral, a thicker dough will have a doughier spiral)
• Brush filling across the rectangle
• Roll rectangle from the long side to make a long cylinder/log
• With the seam side down, use a sharp knife to slice to log at 1 inch or 2.5 cm intervals
• Place the rolls into the baking dishes, cover and refrigerate overnight (8-10 hours)

  If this was too much effort without nearly immediate gratification, you can skip this step (note there's still 2 hours before they'll be ready)

Morning Of Instructions

• Allow the dough to rise at room temperature for an hour to an hour and a half
• Preheat oven to 375°F
• Cook the buns for at least 20 minutes, checking centers to see if they're cooked through
• Remove from oven and let cool for about 8-10 minutes
• I like to eat these without, but feel free to ice them will vanilla frosting or make a cream cheese icing