Cinnamon Rolls that are so easy to make, you will never pop another cardboard tube again!
Before those little feet run down the stairs Christmas morning, you turn on the tree lights to really set the scene for their sweet little impatient faces and grab your phone to hit RECORD!
Before you say give the little ones the “GO!” Run to your fridge to pull out the cinnamon rolls you made the night before to let rise while for thirty minutes while the presents are opening. Put the cinnamon rolls in the oven, pull out the frosting you made the night before and by the time the kids are done picking up their wrapping paper scraps, you will be frosting home made cinnamon rolls that will just add to the morning magic!
Making cinnamon rolls from scratch is so satisfying, you’ll wonder why you ever popped a cardboard tube open to enjoy this breakfast treat. My favorite part of this entire process is that you make everything the day before. Once your cinnamon rolls are sliced, and placed onto a baking sheet you place them into the fridge until you are ready to pull them out to rise one last time before you bake. Make the frosting the day in advance and you will have a breakfast that may be more memorable than the presents given that morning! OR if making the frosting seems like that’s one more step you do not feel like doing – use store-bought cream cheese frosting. I have done this many of times and it is delicious! You can still spread it on when the rolls are warm!
ACTIVATE THE YEAST
1 1/2 cup warm water + 2 envelopes of quick-rise dry yeast + 1 tsp sugar
FOR THE DOUGH
1 1/2 cup buttermilk
4 eggs at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 tsp kosher salt
2 tsp vanilla
12 Tbsp unsalted butter at room temperature
8 to 8 1/2 cup of unbleached all-purpose flour
For the FILLING
1 1/2 sticks melted unsalted butter
2 1/2 cups brown sugar
Ground cinnamon
1. First and foremost, you will activate the yeast. In this step you simply add two packages of quick-rise yeast to warm water, and a bit of sugar to “feed” the yeast. Give it a stir, and let it stand for 5 minutes while you prep the remaining ingredients for the dough. The yeast will “bloom” and become frothy.
2. In a large bowl, with a handheld mixer, mix together the buttermilk, eggs, sugar, salt, vanilla and butter until all ingredients are fully combined and batter is light and fluffy (2-3 minutes)
3. ADD the bowl of yeast, water sugar to the large bowl with batter. Mix together for an additional 30 seconds until just combined.
4. ADD half of the flour (4 cups) to the batter, and mix until it is nearly incorporated. Add remainder of flour. If the dough is far too sticky to work with, add the additional 1/2 cup, you can add up to an additional 1/2 cup leaving you with 9 total.
5. Sprinkle flour onto your countertop, pour dough out, sprinkle a bit more flour on top of the dough and start to knead the dough for 2 minutes until dough becomes more smooth and firm.
6. Place back into the bowl, and cover with a kitchen towel for 90 minutes for the dough to rise.
In this amount of time, the dough will expand to 2x its size. Once the 90 minutes it up, you are ready to roll out the dough!
1. On a well-floured surface, place the cinnamon roll dough down, it will naturally expand and you can push it down into a rectangular shape that is 2 or so inches thick.
2. Flour a rolling a pin, and sprinkle the top of the dough to ensure the pin will not stick before rolling.
3. Starting in the center of the rectangle, you will begin to roll in a cross-like pattern. With gentle pressure, roll dough up, down, left and right until you are left with a nearly 3 foot long x 2 feet wide elongated rectangle of dough that is 1/8 inch thick.
4. Melt the butter, and pour over the entire rectangle of dough.
5. Spread 2 cups of brown sugar with your hands over the butter, helping the brown sugar to stick to the butter.
6. Carefully sprinkle ground cinnamon across the entire top of the brown sugar. Dusting the entire surface of the brown sugar.
NOW WE ROLL!
- Using both of your hands you will roll the dough into a very long, snake-like roll. Here is how you do it!
- Start in the bottom left corner, working left to right (long ways) roll 1/2 inch section over onto itself, gently pinching as you go to let the first roll stick – do this the entire length down
- Now, work your way back gentle rolling in another half-inch of dough onto itself again, rolling tightly, working inch by inch as you work your way down the row. Once you are on your third trip you’ll finally have a more rope like shape that makes rolling much easier!
- Continue to tightly roll the dough, left to right, right to left until you are at the end. Finish rolling intentionally with the last edge to remain seam side down until the rope.
NOW WE SLICE!
- With a very sharp knife, you will slice the cinnamon rolls into 2 inch sections. Simply slicing the log of dough, left to right into 2 inch sections.
- BUTTER a baking sheet and place cinnamon rolls onto the baking sheet
- Cover with clear wrap and place in the fridge for the morning to let rise one more time, and bake.
You can absolutely skip waiting overnight, and let the rolls rise for 30 minutes, and bake at 350* for 25 minutes or until golden brown.
If you are making the overnight version –
In the morning, remove the baking sheet from the fridge and let the rolls sit out at room temperature for 30-45 minutes to let rise one more time.
Bake at 350* for 25 minutes, or until golden brown.
Frost when warm if you prefer gooey cinnamon rolls, or frost when slightly cooled for a thicker frosting.
Cream Cheese Frosting
1 stick unsalted butter at room temperature
8oz cream cheese at room temperature
2 1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 Tbsp milk if needed
To make frosting:
With a handheld mixer, in a large bowl, mix together all ingredients for 3 minutes, or until the frosting is light and fluffy. Add 1 tbsp of milk if you need the frosting to be thinned out. Use immediately on warm cinnamon rolls, or place in an airtight container in the refrigerator until ready to use (3 days maximum)
