When am I never not in the mood for fluffy cinnamon rolls? You know? I know you know.
They’re only downfall though? They take forever to make and mama hath no patience.
You’re just gonna sit there and rise TWICE? For at least an hour EACH TIME?
The hell..?
Does my ass look like it can wait that long?
But damn, when you have warm, fluffy cinnamon rolls (notice my usage of the plural word, rolls, here) shoved inside your beautiful mouth, oh baby baby. My ass might just be able to wait.
Now here’s an important question. What makes amazing, fluffy cinnamon rolls? In my opinion, it’s a nice, tender dough, a gooey cinnamon sugar filling, and a glorious amount of cream cheese icing. YESSIR! Mama didn’t raise no fool!
But enough putzin’ around! Here’s a quick recipe summary with some helpful notes/tips in something I like to call…
THE RUNDOWN.
-First thing’s first, what gives a cinnamon roll a nice, fluffy texture? A few things. Bread flour, eggs, butter. These beautiful, luxurious ingredients create a beautiful, luxurious roll.
-Bread flour creates a more tender and chewy texture. If you don’t have bread four, no sweat, all-purpose flour will do the job just fine!
-Eggs create a softer dough. For example, a brioche dough. It involves a lot of eggs, making it super tender.
-And Butter. We want richness, we want flavor. Butter is where it’s at.
-Now the filling. It’s pretty simple, cinnamon and sugar. Load it up. Bingo bango.
-And the cream cheese icing. Lay it on THICK. While the rolls are still warm. Let it drip down the sides. Let it get all up in there. Oh mama mama.
-This recipe makes 12 rolls. I make mine on a half sheet pan. You can make yours in whatever pan you want. If you’re trying to fit all the rolls in a 9×13 pan, it’s a pretty tight squeeze. You can try two 8×8 or 9×9 pans, whatever your heart desires.
-Also, instructions for overnight cinnamon rolls will be in the recipe below. Super easy to do, just refrigerate after you transfer them to the pan (rather than starting with the second rise). Then chill overnight. The following day, finish with the second rise (which will probably take about 60 minutes longer than the original method since they are cold).
Now that you’re full of cinnamon roll information, you can choose for yourself. Make fresh ass, fluffy cinnamon rolls, or cookies.
Either way, you’re making a wise decision and I love you.
See ya’ll!
Fluffy Cinnamon Rolls
Print RecipeIngredients
- Dough
- 1/4 cup (60ml) warm water, 110 - 120 degrees
- 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
- 3/4 cup (180ml) buttermilk, at room temperature
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup (100g) + 1/2 tsp granulated sugar, divided
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 6 tablespoon (85g) unsalted butter, melted
- 3 1/2 - 4 cups (17.5 oz - 20 oz) bread flour (or all-purpose)
- Cinnamon Sugar Filling
- 6 tablespoon (85g) unsalted butter, well softened
- 1 cup (210g) packed light brown sugar
- 2 tablespoon (13g) cinnamon
- Cream Cheese Icing
- 1/4 cup (56g) unsalted butter, softened
- 3 oz. cream cheese, softened
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups (190g) powdered sugar
Instructions
Pour water in a the bowl of an electric stand mixer, pour in yeast and 1/2 tsp sugar and whisk well. Let rest 5 - 10 minutes to until foamy and fragrant (if it doesn't puff up your water was either too hot or the yeast is bad and the rolls won't rise).
Add in buttermilk, eggs, 1/2 cup granulated sugar, salt, vanilla and 6 Tbsp melted butter. Fit mixer with whisk attachment and blend mixture until combined.
Pour in 2 1/2 cups of the flour and mix until well combined. Switch to a hook attachment then add another 1 cup flour. Knead mixture until combined.
Continue to knead on pretty low speed, about 5 - 6 minutes while adding a little more flour, until you reach a soft and moist dough. The dough shouldn't stick to the sides of the bowl but does stick to the bottom. I ended up using 4 cups or 20 oz. of flour.
Transfer dough to an oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 1/2 hours (I usually preheat my oven to 170 degrees, turn it off, and put my dough in there to rise).
Butter a rimmed 15 by 10-inch jelly roll pan (or whatever pan you choose to use!) then line with parchment paper. Butter parchment paper and set aside.
Punch dough down. Dust a working surface lightly with flour and turn dough out onto surface. Sprinkle top of dough with a little flour then roll dough out into an 20 by 18-inch rectangle.
Spread 6 Tbsp butter evenly over entire surface (I use my hands). In a small mixing bowl whisk together brown sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle and spread brown sugar mixture evenly over butter layer (try to leave about 1/2-inch border uncovered along all edges).
Beginning on an 18-inch side tightly roll dough into a cylinder. Pinch the seam to seal (brushing a little egg white underneath helps if needed).
Cut into 12 equal portions using a large sharp knife (they should be 1 1/2-inch each). Arrange rolls, spacing evenly apart on prepared baking pan.
Cover with plastic wrap (leave plastic it a little loose but be sure it fully encloses to keep air out. Also see notes for overnight method as this would be the point to chill***).
Let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 1/2 hours. Preheat oven to 375 degrees near the last 20 minutes of rolls rising.
Bake rolls in preheated oven until centers are no longer doughy, about 18 - 22 minutes (center should be 185 degrees on an instant read thermometer). If needed during the last 5-10 minutes of baking you can tent with foil to prevent excess browning, all ovens vary.
While rolls are baking in a medium mixing bowl using an electric hand mixer whip together butter and cream cheese until smooth and fluffy. Add in vanilla and powdered sugar and whip until light and fluffy.
Spread icing over hot from the oven rolls. Rolls are best served warm. If you have leftover rolls store in an airtight container once cool and rewarm individually on a plate in microwave for about 15 seconds or until soft and warm.
Notes
***For the overnight method, immediately after you've cut rolls and placed them in pan wrap with plastic wrap and chill overnight. Then following day remove from fridge, keep covered and let rest at room temperature until doubled in volume, about 2 hours. Continue to bake as directed. Recipe from Cooking Classy.
