The Best Home-made Cinnamon Rolls

These cinnamon rolls are gorgeous and fluffy. They are made with a bread dough that is filled with butter, sugar and cinnamon then topped with a sweet glaze for the most delicious treat.

Cinnamon rolls are a popular treat at Christmas but can be enjoyed all year round. These cinnamon rolls are covered with icing and are a delicious treat for breakfast or a teatime treat with coffee or tea. Baking these rolls are delightful as the cinnamon leaves a spicy warm smell in your home that really makes it feel like Christmas.

This recipe may seem time consuming but most of the time the dough will be rising and you can be getting on with other things at the same time. Even with all the work that goes into making these rolls, once you have finished you won’t regret it. If you prefer you can cover them in cream cheese frosting instead. My red velvet cupcakes include the ingredients and instructions for a delicious cream cheese frosting.

Ingredients for Cinnamon Rolls

Dough

• 200g strong bread flour - for my cinnamon rolls I use a combination of bread flour and plain which I find gives the rolls a better texture.
• 200g plain flour - also known as all purpose flour.
• 120g golden caster sugar - use any sugar of choice.
• 1 teaspoon salt - to enhance flavour.
• 7g fast action dried yeast (1 sachet) - or instant yeast.
• 180ml milk - I use whole milk but use any milk of choice.
• 45g unsalted butter - room temperature and very soft.
• 35ml vegetable oil - a little oil helps produce softer rolls.
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract - for flavour.
• 1 medium egg - use a room temperature egg.

Filling

• 70g unsalted butter - butter should be very soft.
• ½ teaspoon salt - to enhance the flavour of filling. You can also use salted butter with no salt but you can control the amount of salt when you add it yourself.
• 100g soft light brown sugar - I prefer the texture of soft brown sugar for the filling but you can also use white sugar or a combination of both.
• 2 tablespoon ground cinnamon - adds the unique cinnamon flavour we love in cinnamon rolls.

Icing

• 150g icing sugar - also known as powdered or confectionary sugar.
• 25ml whole milk - you can use any milk you prefer.

How to Make Cinnamon Roll

Make the dough

1. To a mixing a stand mixer bowl add the flour, sugar, salt, and yeast. Whisk with a balloon whisk and set aside. To a microwaveable bowl add the milk, unsalted butter, vegetable oil and vanilla extract then microwave for 50 secs or until the milk is warm and butter has melted. If you have a thermometer then you can test the temperature which should be around 43^oC.

2. Pour the wet ingredients into the mixing bowl with the dry ingredients and using a dough hook mix the ingredients. While the ingredients are mixing add in the egg and continue to mix until a dough forms. The dough will be quite sticky so pour the dough onto a floured surface using a large spoon. Sprinkle some flour onto the dough and begin to knead for around 4 minutes or until the dough is smooth and slightly springy.

3. To a bowl, add a couple drops of vegetable oil and use your hand to spread the oil to ensure it covers all the inside of the bowl, this is to ensure the dough doesn’t stick. Add the dough to the bowl and cover with cling film (plastic wrap). Leave the dough to rise in a warm area for 2 - 3 hours or until the dough has doubled in size. (refer to recipe tips).

Prepare and add the filling

4. Whilst the dough is rising, you can prepare the filling. To a small bowl, unsalted butter, soft brown sugar and cinnamon then mix and set aside until needed. The butter must be very soft to combine well. Once your dough has doubled in size, flour a surface and roll out the dough into a square shape which should be around ½ a centimetre or ¼ of a inch. Using a palette knife, smooth the butter, sugar and cinnamon mixture onto the dough. Ensure it covers the whole surface.

5. Tightly roll up the dough and cut into 9 even rolls (firstly, mark where you want to cut with a knife). Place them in a 8 x 8 baking dish or tin and ensure there is equal space between them all as they will expand. Cover them and place them somewhere warm and draft free for 1 - 2 hours.

6. Once the rolls have expanded, preheat the oven to gas mark 4/350^oF/180^oC and bake for 30 - 35 minutes until lightly browned. If after 20 minutes they look like they are browning to quick, then cover them with foil for the last 10 minutes.

7. For the icing. Whisk the icing sugar and milk together and drizzle or spread over the warm rolls. Cover with foil until you’re ready to serve.

Recipe Tips

• This recipe uses fast action yeast which is also known as instant yeast. Instant yeast can be mixed straight in with the dry ingredients. The other type of yeast you can get is active yeast but this yeast needs to be dissolved in water before you use it.
• To activate the yeast, it is important that the milk is warmed up as cold milk may stop the yeast from activating. Even though the yeast needs to be warm, be careful not to raise the temperature too much as hot milk may also shut down the yeast. If you accidently heat the milk too much then leave it to cool for a few minutes before before you combine it with the dry ingredients. The temperature should be around 43oC or 110oF.
• Ensure your dough has fully risen before rolling out the dough. The time it takes to double in size will be dependent on the temperature of the room.
• When the dough is rising, it needs to be placed in a warm area. If your home doesn’t have any warm areas, then turn your oven on a low heat for around 5 minutes then turn it off and place the bowl in the oven. The oven should be warm not hot.
• To cut the rolls, you can use a sharp knife but you will have to shape the rolls back with your finger as using a knife slightly squashes them in. For the best result, use floss to cut the cinnamon rolls.

Nutrition

Nutrition based on 1 serving - Calories: 469kcal | Fat: 16.1g | Saturates: 7.7g | Carbs: 73.7g | Sugar: 42.5g | Fibre: 2.5g | Protein: 7.2g | Salt 0.3g

Storage

These rolls can sit at room temperature for 2 days or stored in the refrigerator for 4 days.

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