Preheat your oven to 170°C (340°F). Grease a 22x33 cm (13x9 inch) pan with softened butter.
In a bowl of a stand mixer sift together flour, salt and sugar. Set aside while you prepare the rest.
If you're using active dry yeast (like me), you need to activate it first. Heat your milk and water over a medium heat until it reaches about 50°C. Put active dry yeast in a small bowl and cover with couple of tablespoons of that warm milk and water mixture and a teaspoon of sugar. Mix it with a teaspoon and leave it to rest for 5 minutes or until it becomes all frothy and bubbly on top.
While your yeast is activating, heat up your milk and water mixture just a bit more and then pour it over cubed unsalted butter in order to melt it. Let it cool down - this mixture shouldn't be over 50-55C , otherwise it might kill the yeast.
Once you got everything ready, pour your yeast and milk/water/butter mixture to the flour. Add an egg. Using your stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, knead it on low speed for about 10 minutes or until it starts pulling from the sides. You may want to turn the mixer down once or twice and scrape the bottom with a spatula to make sure everything combines well.
The dough should be a little sticky, that's fine. When you're done with the stand mixer, transfer the douhgh to a lightly floured surface and knead it for just a couple of minutes. Transfer it to a greased bowl and let it rest fo 15-20 minutes, covered with cling film, while you prepare the filling. It doesn't need to double in size or anything.
For the filling - mix together softened butter, light muscovado sugar and cinnamon. If your sugar is lumpy, make sure to sift it before. Mix everything with a spatula, until smooth and combined.
After 15-20 minutes, using a floured rolling pin - roll the dough on a lightly floured surfaced to around 40x30 cm rectangle. (17x12 inch)
Using an offset palette knife, spread the filling evenly, making sure you're not damaging the dough. Roll the dough on the long side to a log. Cut about a centimeter from each end to get neat edges. Then divide the log into 12 pieces using a sharp knife (you don't want to smush everything)
Place cinnamon rolls in a prepared pan leaving quite a bit of space so they can rise properly. I actually used a too small of a pan, it would be better if I put only 9 of them in there, but it turned out okay anyway. :)
Cover your rolls with a clean tea towel or cling film and leave them to rise in a warm place, until double in size ( approx. 45 minutes). You'll know the dough is perfectly risen if it leaves a small indent when you press your finger.
Bake them for about 25 minutes in a preheated oven. Once they're done, leave them to cool a little bit before glazing.
for the vanilla bean cream cheese glaze
Make sure all your ingredients are ROOM TEMPERATURE. In a medium sized bowl, mix together cream cheese and butter with a whisk or a hand mixer. Add sifted powdered sugar and vanilla. Now, depending on the preferred thickness of the glaze, add anywhere between 1 to 3 tablespoons of whole milk. I added two tablespoons. Pour over slightly warm cinnamon rolls and enjoy! :)
Notes
Not all ovens are the same. If you experience browning at the top and are afraid it's too much, put a baking paper sheet over it or cover in aluminium foil. Just be careful when pulling them out of the oven - aluminium foil gets really hot!
They are best eaten the same day. I suggest keeping them in an airtight container if you wish to eat them the next day as well. If you don't have an airtight container, tightly wrapped cling film would also do the trick.
If you still don’t own one, I advise you to buy a kitchen scale – they’re cheap and easy to use, and always guarantee the same results in baking!