Cinnamon Rolls 5/5 (2)

Cinnamon rolls aka cinnamon swirl, is a heavenly delight right here, on earth. If you haven’t tried it yet, you’re missing out. It’s a yeast leavened dough rolled with cinnamon, sugar, butter filling, then cut into round discs which resemble a swirl, then baked to perfection, finally topped with cream cheese frosting.

Cinnamon though originated in Sweden is now consumed globally. Cinnabon, an American food chain whose signature dish is cinnamon rolls, have their outlets throughout GCC. My daughter was the one who introduced me to it. Rest is history!!!

As a sweet toothed person, she fell in love with this scrumptious delight. Ultimately which led her to cinnamon roll recipe hunt. After few experiments, she perfected this recipe; which even beats Cinnabon’s rolls in taste and texture. Also, my Kitchen Mantra is, “NOTHING BEATS HOMEMADE”, especially when the baking aroma fills around you in your kitchen, living room, your entire house!!! Serving your loved ones with the warm cinnamon rolls, with cream cheese frosting slightly melted on the roll, it is divine, inexplicable! Added to that, when your daughter bakes and serves it, as a mother you lay back on your couch and relish it, it’s truly an incredible moment. Such a bliss!!!

Now let’s get into the details and nuances of the ingredients of this recipe.

Ingredient tips:

1. Yeast – As I mentioned early, it’s made from leavened dough, which implicates the presence of leavening agent. Yeast is the leavening agent used here.

Yeast are of 2 types available in the market-

a) Active dry yeast– which needs proofing with lukewarm water and sugar. This requires 15 minutes which increase the rising time of the dough. But there are less chances to fail as the proofing will indicate if the yeast is alive or dead, accordingly you can add or discard. This will save the dough.

b) Instant yeast– as the name implies is instant in nature, you can directly add it to the dry ingredients. It doesn’t need proofing as the particles are finer and dissolves and activates faster. This reduces the time of dough raising. It’s also available in the market as Rapid rise yeast or Quick rise yeast.

This recipe calls for instant yeast, you can directly add it to the dry ingredients.

2) Keep the rest of the ingredients at room temperature which helps to activate the instant yeast and in turn helps the dough to rise well.

3)Cheese cream frosting– this is the gem on the crown. Adds an extra zing to the roll. Generally cream cheese, butter, sugar and vanilla extract are the key ingredients. To make creamier, you can add heavy cream / whipping cream to it. You can add this cream cheese frosting to the baked cinnamon rolls when warm, so they get to soak in. If you prefer the frosting look, then add it when the rolls are in room temperature.

4) Cinnamon filling– This imparts the robust flavor to the roll. Without this, it would be like any other roll or bun. It includes butter, cinnamon and dark brown sugar. It can be applied on the dough sheet in 2 ways.

a) mix softened butter, cinnamon, dark brown sugar in a bowl till it gets mixed well and then apply on the sheet evenly. This is bit difficult as the mixture adheres to the knife due to its stickiness.

b) mix brown sugar and cinnamon together in a bowl. Generously apply softened butter to the dough sheet, then spread the sugar, cinnamon mixture on it. This is much easier than the first method as the butter is applied prior. Don’t use melted butter as it’ll tend to leak. Always use softened butter as shown in the video.

5) We used salted butter in the place of unsalted butter, as we always prefer salted in our baking. It enhances the flavour. Feel free to  unsalted butter, as it doesn’t alter the texture.

6) Similarly, you can interchange honey in the place of white sugar in the dough. If honey is used, reduce ¼ cup of milk as the dough may turn out too sticky and tacky.

7) Make sure, when you add all the ingredients wet and dry in the dough, they are at room temperature. If any ingredient is cold, it may not let the yeast to activate. While adding milk, it should be lukewarm as too hot milk will also destroy the yeast. Milk should be around 105- 110° F or otherwise if you insert your fingers inside the milk bowl, your fingers should feel warm (tolerable warmth).

Moving on to the techniques, you can virtually look into the nuances in detail in the video and look into the notes at the end of the recipe.

Click here to jump to recipe card!

Bread dough

Sift the flour into a deep bowl. This is to remove all those unnecessary lumps in the flour, giving the bread a fluffier texture.

Add the yeast towards the edge of the bowl and the salt on the opposite end. Stir them into the flour on their respective side.

Create a hollow in the center and add the butter, oil, cinnamon, vanilla and honey. Crack the eggs in a separate bowl (it’s quite difficult to fish out those pesky eggs shells, so if you’re not confident please use another bowl) and then add it into the flour. Now mix all the ingredients into the flour.

Warm the milk; but make sure it’s not too hot, as it will kill the yeast, and add it slowly into the crumbly dough, stop when you feel the dough becomes slightly sticky, you needn’t use the entire quantity of milk. Just make sure all of the flour is combined (Refer to notes).

Lightly dust a surface with flour and knead the dough for 12-15 mins.

The dough should be ready when you can perform the window-pane test successfully (Refer to notes).

Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and cover the bowl tightly with cling film. Keep the bowl in a slightly warm place; as too hot temperatures will kill the yeast.

Let the dough rise for a minimum of 2 hours or until it has at least doubled in size. You can also leave it overnight if you wish. If you leave it overnight, keep it in the fridge and then you must give it 2 hours resting time after you take it out (Refer to notes).

Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and punch the air pockets down.

Then using a rolling pin, roll the dough into a 20×20″ rectangle. The final thickness should be about 1/8th an inch.

Cinnamon-sugar

Take a small bowl and mix the cinnamon and dark brown sugar and mix them into a fine powder.

Take a spatula/ butter knife/ even your bare hands and smear butter onto the dough leaving an inch gap on the side farthest from you, spread to the corner on all other 3 sides.

Now pour and spread the cinnamon-sugar mixture all over the dough leaving the inch gap.

From the side closest to you start rolling the dough towards the end.

Once rolled pinch the ends to prevent it from unfurling while baking.

Take a thread and move it under the dough and cross the ends at the top and pull; this will ensure clean cuts and the beautiful pattern will not be squashed by a knife. Get rid of the ends and using the thread cut rolls of width 1.5 in. You should get anywhere between 12-15 rolls depending on the thickness and dimensions of your rolled dough. We got 12 rolls.

Place in a greased and lined baking tray

And cover tightly with cling film and let it proof for ½ – 2 hrs. (Refer to notes)

Cream-cheese icing

Take a bowl and cream the butter and cream cheese.

Then, sift the sugar to avoid any clumps, again beat the mixture. Scrape the sides of the bowl for even texture and flavor.

Add the vanilla extract and heavy whipping cream

And beat the icing for around 30 seconds to 1 minute.

Preheat your oven 15 mins before your proofing time is over to 200 degrees Celsius. Remove the cling film after 2 hrs proofing.

Drizzle the warm heavy whipping cream only onto the swirls avoid letting it reach the bottom of the pan as it will burn in the bottom of the pan during the 30-40 mins in the oven.

Wrap the tray with aluminum foil and bake for 25 mins at 200 degrees and then remove the foil and bake the rolls for 5-10 mins.

After taking the rolls out of the oven; immediately smear icing on the rolls to make it melt and become ooey-gooey cinnamon-rolls. You can eat the buns warm, or you can store the rolls at room temperature for about 3 days.

You can place them in air-tight zip lock bags and store them for about 1 month in the freezer.

Recipe card

Preparation time: 40 minutes

Baking time: 30-35 minutes

Cuisine: International

Category: Dessert

Yields: 12-15 rolls

Author: Varunika

Ingredients:

For Bread dough:

All-purpose flour – 500 g

Instant active yeast – 11 g

Salt – 1 tsp

Coconut oil – 3 tbsps

Cinnamon powder – ½ tsp

Vanilla Extract – 1 tsp

Salted butter – 3 tbsps

Honey – 5 tbsps

Large eggs – 2

Full fat milk – 1 cup (warm)

Heavy whipping cream- ¼ – ½ cup (warm)

For Cinnamon-sugar powder:

Ground cinnamon –  4 tsps

Unsalted butter – 5 tbsps

Dark brown sugar – ¾ cup

For Cream cheese frosting:

Cream cheese – 90 grams

Salted butter – 3 tbsps

Powdered white sugar – ½ cup

Vanilla Extract – 1/2 tsp

Heavy whipping cream – 1 tbsp or 15 ml

Instructions:

For Bread dough:

1. Sift the flour into a deep bowl. This is to remove all those unnecessary lumps in the flour, giving the bread a fluffier texture.
2. Add the yeast towards the edge of the bowl and the salt on the opposite end. Stir them into the flour on their respective side.
3. Create a hollow in the center and add the butter, oil, cinnamon, vanilla and honey.
4. Mix the ingredients into the flour.
5. Crack the eggs in a separate bowl and then add it in (it’s quite difficult to fish out those pesky eggs shells, so if you’re not confident please use another bowl).Now, mix the eggs into the mixture.
6. Warm the milk; but make sure it’s not too hot, as it will kill the yeast, and add it slowly into the crumbly dough, stop when you feel the dough becomes slightly sticky, you needn’t use the entire quantity of milk. Just make sure all of the flour is combined (Refer to notes).
7. Lightly dust a surface with flour and knead the dough for 12-15 mins. The dough should be ready when you can perform the window-pane test successfully (Refer to notes).
8. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and cover the bowl tightly with cling film. Keep the bowl in a slightly warm place; as too hot temperatures will kill the yeast.
9. Let the dough rise for a minimum of 2 hours or until it has at least doubled in size. You can also leave it overnight if you wish. If you leave it overnight, keep it in the fridge and then you must give it 2 hours resting time after you take it out (Refer to notes).
10. Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and punch the air pockets down. Then using a rolling pin, roll the dough into a 20×20″ rectangle. The final thickness should be about 1/8th an inch.

Cinnamon-sugar

1. Take a small bowl and mix the cinnamon and dark brown sugar and mix them into a fine powder.
2. Take a spatula/ butter knife/ even your bare hands and smear butter onto the dough leaving an inch gap on the side farthest from you, spread to the corner on all other 3 sides.
3. Now pour and spread the cinnamon-sugar mixture all over the dough leaving the inch gap.
4. From the side closest to you start rolling the dough towards the end. Once rolled pinch the ends to prevent it from unfurling while baking.
5. Take a thread and move it under the dough and cross the ends at the top and pull; this will ensure clean cuts and the beautiful pattern will not be squashed by a knife.
6. Get rid of the ends and using the thread cut rolls of width 1.5 in. You should get anywhere between 12-15 rolls depending on the thickness and dimensions of your rolled dough. We got 12 rolls.
7. Place in a greased and lined baking tray and cover tightly with cling film and let it proof for ½ – 2 hrs. (Refer to notes)

Cream-cheese icing

1. Take a bowl and cream the butter and cream cheese. Then, sift the sugar to avoid any clumps, again beat the mixture. Scape the sides of the bowl for even texture and flavor.
2. Add the vanilla extract and heavy whipping cream and beat the icing for around 30 seconds to 1 minute.
3. Preheat your oven 15 mins before your proofing time is over to 200 degrees Celsius.
4. Remove the cling film and drizzle the warm heavy whipping cream only onto the swirls avoid letting it reach the bottom of the pan as it will burn in the bottom of the pan during the 30-40 mins in the oven.
5. Wrap the tray with aluminum foil and bake for 25 mins at 200 degrees and then remove the foil and bake the rolls for 5-10 mins.
6. After taking the rolls out of the oven; immediately smear icing on the rolls to make it melt and become ooey-gooey cinnamon-rolls. You can eat the buns warm, or you can store the rolls at room temperature for about 3 days.
7. You can place them in air-tight zip lock bags and store them for about 1 month in the freezer.

NOTES:

• We used honey for the dough but it isn’t necessary you do the same; you may substitute the honey with ¼ cup of sugar.
• While you can use a hand or stand-mixer, we prefer kneading. Just make sure not to add too much flour when you are kneading. Kneading is done to form and break gluten links, which makes the bread you eat light and fluffy.
• It is highly recommended that you use bread flour, but often it isn’t easily available in many countries. We used all-purpose flour, and the result was still great. The bread was light, fluffy, and chewy; we’ve followed this recipe several times and it hasn’t once disappointed us.
• When making the cinnamon-sugar mixture, you can mix the butter right in with the sugar and cinnamon, but we seriously recommend that you smear the butter and sprinkle the sugar, as it makes your job way easier.
• Many websites recommend that if you are preparing for an occasion you can prepare a day before and store the rolls in the refrigerator before the second proof.
• Here we are going to be honest; we tried it once, but what happened was that once we took it out of the refrigerator the rolls began to sweat; and the cinnamon-sugar and butter began to melt and pool at the bottom, hence after we baked it the rolls were dry and tasteless. So, while you can refrigerate your rolls we would not recommend you doing so; make and bake it fresh would be our advice.
• While kneading the dough; perform a test called the window-pane test to know when your dough is ready and doesn’t need more kneading. Tear off a piece of dough and stretch its corners with your fingers. It should not tear and should become thin and translucent, and you should be able to read big and bold letters with it.
• When adding the milk, stop when you feel the dough becomes slightly sticky, you needn’t use the entire quantity of milk. We used about 3/4^th cup of milk and we recommend that you use at least that much as, if you add too less the dough will be dry and tough to eat.
• You need not add heavy milk to the swirls before baking; we drizzled it on because the rolls become stickier.
• Frosting can be done a day or two priors, and stored in the refrigerator. Sugar can be adjusted to your taste. Though whipping cream is optional, it aids improving the texture and adds an extra notch to the flavour.