Sunday Cinnamon Rolls

These cinnamon rolls are the best thing to have a Sunday morning. Jared likes to sleep in on the weekends, but I am still an early bird. So I like to get up and prep these so Jared can wake up to the smell of freshly baked cinnamon rolls. (How lucky is he???) You can also prep a lot of this the day before, so all you have to do is bake the next morning.

First you will prep the dough by combining warm milk and instant yeast. You don’t need to “activate” your yeast before mixing it into the dough, but I always feel better seeing those little bubbles in the milk before I continue the dough. It means you’re off to a good start! Then you’ll add your eggs, sugar and salt and beat until combined. Then you’ll slowly add your butter and finally add your flour and let your dough hook knead away.

Once your dough is combined and in a smooth ball, you’ll let it rise and focus on the filling, which is butter, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and a little salt all whipped together into a nice airy paste that you will spread all over your rolls. When the dough has doubled in size, you will roll the dough out to about a 24×16 rectangle (at least!) and spread the filling out covering the dough in an even layer. The bigger you can get your rectangle, the tighter your swirls will be!

Once your filling is spread out, you are ready to roll! Starting at the wider end of your rectangle, roll the dough up very tightly, moving slowly from one side to the other. This will ensure very tight spirals and create a nice long roll that you will cut into 12 equal pieces. Once your rolls are cut into even pieces, place them in a greased 9×13 dish to proof again. If you want to eat the cinnamon rolls the next day, you can let them proof covered in the refrigerator overnight. Otherwise, you can proof them by covering them and letting them sit until they are almost doubled, or at least noticeably larger, and get ready to bake!

Before baking them in the oven, you will cover them with either heavy cream, vanilla oat milk, or more butter. This will make them nice and gooey. While the buns bake, you will whip together your brown butter cream cheese frosting. When the buns are fresh out of the oven, you’ll put your first layer of frosting on, which will create a nice crackly layer before you add the rest once they are fully cooled.

Print Recipe

Cinnamon Rolls

These cinnamon rolls are so soft and frosted TWICE with the most amazing brown butter cream cheese frosting, which creates a thin crackly layer of frosting topped with a fluffy one.

Course: Dessert

Keyword: cinnamon rolls

Servings: 12 rolls

Ingredients

For the dough:

• 1 cup warm milk about 115F (or warm to the touch, like what you might wash your hands with)
• 2 1/4 tsp instant dry yeast (I use SAF instant yeast, but you can use one .7 oz package of active dry yeast with successful results, you may just need to proof for a bit longer)
• 2 large eggs room temperature
• 1/2 cup butter softened
• 4 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar

For the filling:

• 1 stick unsalted butter (8 tablespoons)
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar packed
• 2 tbsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• Pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup heavy cream, vanilla oat milk, or about 1/4 cup softened, spreadable butter for topping the rolls before baking

For the frosting:

• 1 stick unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup cream cheese (4 ounces)
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar, plus 2 tbsp packed
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Pinch of salt

Instructions

For the dough:

• In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, combine the milk and sprinkle the yeast over top. (You can also use the beater instead of the dough hook for the first few steps, which is a bit easier if you have a larger stand mixer. But if you don’t want to dirty two hooks, that’s fine too!) You should see some bubbles start to form on top, then continue to the next step. (Note: with instant yeast, you don’t really have to do that but I like to anyway. With active dry, it may take a few minutes to see this happening.)
• Add the eggs, salt and sugar. Beat on medium speed to combine.
• Slowly add the butter, a bit at a time until fully incorporated. Don’t add the next piece of butter until the first one is fully incorporated.
• Add the flour and knead on medium speed to combine. The dough should be a bit wet and sticking to the bowl and the dough hook. Let the dough rest for about 10 minutes while the flour hydrates, so it will be a bit easier to knead.
• If you were using the beater attachment, clean the dough from the beater and switch to the dough hook. Knead the dough on medium speed for about 5 minutes, until the dough has formed into an elastic, smooth ball. It will be sticking to the sides of the bowl a bit, that is okay!
• Spray a large bowl with cooking spray (or grease with butter), and transfer the dough to the bowl. Cover it with a kitchen towel and leave it in a warm spot in your kitchen and let the dough rise until it has almost doubled. It will depend on the temperature of your kitchen, but this normally happens in about an hour. When you poke the dough and the imprint of your finger mostly remains, but springs back slightly, you are ready to roll the dough out. If your fingerprint fills in quickly, keep letting it rise. If your fingerprint doesn’t spring back at all, the dough is overproofed.

For the filling:

• In the meantime, beat together the butter and sugar on medium speed for the filling.
• Add the cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt and continue beating until the mixture has lightened and thickened, about 5 minutes.
• To make spreading it over the dough really easy, you can transfer the filling to a piping bag. But this isn’t necessary!

To assemble and bake:

• Once your dough has doubled, turn the dough out on a generously floured surface (if you have a nonstick pastry mat like a silpat, this is your moment to use it!).
• Flour the surface of the dough and the rolling pin, and roll the dough out to a large rectangle. The larger the rectangle, the tighter your spirals will be. I like to roll it out to at least a 24×16 rectangle. The bigger your rectangle, the tighter your spirals will be!
• Spread the filling out evenly over the dough using a rubber or offset spatula, making sure to cover to the edges.
• Roll the dough as tightly as you can from the wider end. Start off really slowly and work your way across the dough so you can keep your spirals tight.
• Then cut into 12 equal size piece and place in a 9×13 baking dish that has been sprayed with cooking spray or greased with butter.
• Cover and allow the rolls to proof again in a warm spot in your kitchen for about 30 minutes to an hour. Don’t be worried if they don’t fully double in size, but they should be noticeably larger than when you first covered them. They will grow more in the oven, I promise!
• While the rolls are proofing, preheat the oven to 375F.
• Once the rolls are larger and finished proofing, you will cover them with the cream/oat milk/butter. This will make them moist and gooey! If using heavy cream or oat milk, warm the milk in the microwave so its warm to the touch (not hot, just warm). Drizzle the milk over the buns and allow the rest of the milk to coat the bottom of the baking dish. If using butter, warm the butter until it’s spreadable and cover the tops of the buns with the butter.
• Then bake the buns in the oven for 20-25 minutes, or until lightly golden brown on top and cooked through. You can also test that the buns by inserting a digital thermometer into the dough of an interior roll – the temperature should be about 188F.

For frosting:

• While the buns are baking in the oven, make your frosting. In a small saucepan, brown the butter. The butter will melt, then bubble, then foam, then brown. It will take about 5-7 minutes. Then move to the freezer to cool until it is beginning to solidify.
• Once the butter is chilled, beat it together with the cream cheese, brown sugar, vanilla, and salt, until smooth. *Note: this also works with whipped cream cheese, but you may have to add a bit more. It can get a little lumpy when you use the whipped cream cheese, but it smooths out when you pass it through a sieve*
• As soon as the buns come out of the oven, use about 1/3 of the frosting to cover the buns in a thin layer of frosting.
• Then let the buns to cool completely and the icing to stiffen. Once they are cooled, top with the remaining frosting and serve!