Homemade Brioche Style Cinnamon Rolls
Pillowy brioche-style breakfast buns enveloping a buttery cinnamon-brown sugar filling and blanketed with smooth cream cheese frosting.
There’s nothing better than a fresh-baked cinnamon roll, still warm and smothered with cream cheese frosting and these cinnamon rolls are seriously addictive – I’ve made three batches since perfecting the recipe!
Enjoy them alongside breakfast, as a snack or as dessert!
Ingredients
Bread flour. Helps to give our cinnamon rolls a sturdy & chewy texture – giving the cinnamon rolls a “dough” taste and feel once they are baked without actually having to underbake them!
All-purpose flour. Balances out the sturdiness from the bread flour to make the dough softer.
Whole Milk. A must for these cinnamon sweet rolls! Adds a little richness and some sweet for these rolls
Yeast. This is what we use to make our dough rise. This recipe requires original/regular yeast – not instant. Don’t worry, these rolls only need one rise!
Granulated Sugar. Adds sweetness but also feeds the yeast to help with rising. Sugar in the dough also contributes to its caramelization as well.
Eggs. It wouldn’t be a brioche-style dough without eggs! They add a luxurious richness to the dough!
Butter. Use unsalted butter so that you can control the saltiness of the finished rolls. Butter in the dough makes in rich and soft. In the filling, as it melts it keeps the dough soft and the helps caramelize the brown sugar.
Cinnamon. Needed for obvious reasons. Use store-bought ground or freshly-ground from cinnamon sticks – delicious results either way!
Brown sugar. We opt for brown sugar in our cinnamon-sugar filling – it has a much warmer flavor than granulated sugar and as it melts the rolls will be more of a “syrupy” sticky as opposed to a “hard candy” sticky
Tips for the best homemade cinnamon rolls
- Weigh the ingredients with a scale. Baking, especially this recipe, needs precise measurements for optimal results. Weighing ingredients with a kitchen scale ensures that you get consistent results each time you make this recipe.
- Knead with a stand mixer. This recipe requires the dough to be worked until smooth – in my stand mixer this takes about 7 minutes at medium-high speed so opting to do it by hand could prove a bit taxing.
- Make sure your yeast isn’t past it’s expiration date. Yup, yeast expires – it is a living thing after all! If yeast is expired your dough won’t rise as much as it should (if at all) and your cinnamon rolls won’t turn out nearly as pillowy. If you’re not sure whether or not your yeast is expired you can add the amount called for in this recipe to a small bowl along with a ¼ cup of the milk and a teaspoon of the sugar for the recipe. The mixture should bubble a little and give off a strong, “yeasty”, fresh baked bread aroma.
- Add yeast to warm, not hot milk to activate. Follow the directions on your yeast packet. This is typically between 100 – 110°C – the milk should be warm but still feel comfortable on the back of your hand (just slightly warmer than milk or formula for a baby).
- Choose your pan based on your texture preference. A dark pan conducts heat more quickly and so the bottom of your cinnamon rolls will caramelize more quickly compared to a light colored pan.
I advise against a glass pan for this recipe since glass takes longer to heat but retains heat more efficiently so the bottom of your cinnamon rolls could burn before the center is cooked.
If you only have a dark pan but would prefer the underside of your cinnamon rolls to be less caramelized and remain softer, line your baking pan with parchment paper like I did!
Equipment
- 1 stand mixer with dough hook
- 1 Rolling Pin
- 1 spatula
- 1 9-inch round baking pan or 8 inch square pan
- parchment paper optional
Ingredients
Brioche-Style Dough
- 11 oz bread flour
- 3 oz all-purpose flour
- 7 ½ oz warm whole milk
- 1 large egg
- 1 ½ oz granulated sugar
- 2 ¼ oz unsalted butter
- 2 ¼ tsp dried yeast
- 2 tsp vanilla
- ¾ tsp salt
Cinnamon Sugar Filling
- 5 TBSP unsalted butter melted
- 6 TBSP light or dark brown sugar
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 4 oz cream cheese
- 3 oz confectioner's sugar
- 1 ½ TBSP whole milk
Instructions
- Heat milk according manufacturer's guidelines (typically between 100 -110℃) and add yeast to activate. Stir gently to dissolve making sure there are no lumps.
- Add milk/yeast mixture and all other ingredients for the dough to a stand mixer with a dough hook attachment and allow to knead for 7 minutes or until dough is smooth and mostly sticks to the hook.If kneading by hand, knead until dough is smooth. It will be a little sticky – this is normal
- Once dough is smooth, transfer it to a greased bowl (with enough room for the dough to about double in size) and cover the bowl with a warm, damp kitchen towel and allow to proof for 45 minutes.
- While dough rises, make cinnamon-sugar filling by combining melted butter, cinnamon & brown sugar together in a bowl.
- Preheat oven to 350℉ and once dough is proofed, punch it down to release a little air then roll out in a rectangular shape to ⅛-inch thickness.
- Using a spatula, spread all cinnamon-sugar filling evenly across the rolled out dough.
- Using a pastry cutter or knife, cut the dough into 8 strips – about 2½ -3 inches wide and 6-8 inches long.
- Roll up each strip and then place the rolls in a greased baking dish or a baking dish lined with parchment paper. Allow for at least a ½ inch of space between each cinnamon roll.
- Bake cinnamon rolls for 20 minutes or until golden brown.
- While cinnamon rolls bake, prepare frosting by whipping milk, granulated sugar & cream cheese in bowl and set aside.
- Once cinnamon rolls are done drizzle the frosting across the top while they are still hot.
- Enjoy your brioche-style cinnamon rolls warm! Refrigerate any leftover cinnamon rolls and reheat in microwave for 45 seconds to a minute before serving again.
