Description
These brown butter cinnamon rolls feature the delicious caramelized, nutty flavors of brown butter in the dough, brown sugar cinnamon filling and icing. These cinnamon rolls are ultra soft, fluffy and only require one 60-minute rise, or make them the night before so that all you have to do is bake them the next day. You can make these as jumbo or regular sized cinnamon rolls.
Ingredients
Dough
- 1 1/4 cups whole milk, warmed to 110F
- 2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 4 1/2 cups bread flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs
- 10 tablespoons unsalted butter
Filling
- 12 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 1/4 cups brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
Before Baking
- 1/3 cup heavy cream
Icing
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, browned
- 2 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
1. Make the brown butter. In a small saucepan, add 10 tablespoons butter. Cook over medium-low heat, swirling the pan and stirring occasionally. The butter will start to bubble and simmer, then the butter will begin to turn a golden brown color. Continue to cook until the butter is a deep golden brown. Pour into a heat proof safe bowl and allow to cool to room temperature. To speed up the cooling process, you can place in the refrigerator. You can also prepare the brown butter the day before.
2. Make the dough. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment, add the instant yeast, warm milk and granulated sugar. Allow the mixture to sit for 2-3 minutes, while you measure out the remaining ingredients. Since this is instant yeast, you technically don’t need an activation time, but I like to let the yeast sit in the warm milk to make sure it is active and working before adding the remaining ingredients. The mixture should have a yeast smell and the surface should appear frothy.
Add in the bread flour, salt, eggs and cooled brown butter.
Knead for 5 minutes on medium-low speed.
Transfer dough to a lightly greased bowl. Spray the top of the dough with nonstick cooking spray and cover with plastic wrap.
3. Allow the dough to rise for 1 hour in a warm place.
4. While the dough rises, make the remaining browned butter. When you make browned butter, some of the butter evaporates, so it is best to do the brown butter for the filling and icing separately, since the amount the evaporates can vary slightly. After browning the butter for both the filling and icing, pour into separate heat proof bowls and set aside to cool to room temperature.
Once cooled to room temperature, add the remaining ingredients for the filling and the icing to the separate bowls, then stir to combine. Set aside until ready to use.
5. When the dough is almost done rising, preheat oven to 350F.
6. Once the dough is done rising, punch the dough down and turn out onto a very lightly floured surface. Roll into a 12×24 inch rectangle. Spread the brown butter cinnamon sugar filling over the rectangle, spreading all the way to the edges. Roll up into a cylinder, starting at the short end.
7. Cut the rolls, using a piece of unflavored dental floss. Wrap the floss around the roll, then criss cross the floss over top of the roll. Pull tight to cut the rolls. Cut into 8 roughly equal jumbo rolls, or 12 for regular sized rolls.
8. Place into a greased 9×13 inch baking pan. Pour heavy cream over the rolls, then bake in preheated oven for 30-35 minutes (for jumbo) or 20-25 minutes (for regular sized). If the rolls are getting a little dark on the top, you can cover the rolls with aluminum foil.
9. Remove the rolls from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes, then spread icing over the rolls. Serve and enjoy!
Notes
Overnight Cinnamon Rolls
- If you’d like to make these cinnamon rolls the day before, here’s what you need to do. Instead of allowing the dough to rise for 60 minutes, cut the rise time down to 40 minutes. Roll the dough out into a 12×24 inch rectangle and spread the brown butter cinnamon sugar filling over the dough. Roll into a cylinder, starting at the short end.
- Cut the rolls into 8 (jumbo) or 12 (regular sized) rolls and place in a 9×13 inch baking dish.
- Place the rolls in a 9×13 inch baking dish. Cover the rolls with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator to rise 8 hours overnight or up to 24 hours.
- The next day, take the rolls out of the refrigerator and allow to warm up/rise for 1 1/2 hours (it takes time for the dough to come up to room temperature. You don’t want to bake cold rolls, because it will prevent the rolls from properly rising in the oven. If you are short on time, preheat your oven until it reaches 100F. Once it reaches this temperature, turn your oven off. Place the covered rolls in the warm oven and allow to rise for 30 minutes.
- Pour heavy cream over the rolls and bake in 350F preheated oven for 30-35 minutes (for jumbo) or 20-25 minutes (for regular sized). Spread icing over warm cinnamon rolls and enjoy!
- Prep Time: 25
- Rise Time: 60
- Cook Time: 30
- Category: Breakfast/Brunch
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American