There are many cinnamon roll recipe out there, but any good baker knows that it's all about ratios of ingredients. This is the recipe for the perfect, chewy cinnamon roll.
The video is 30 minutes long, but it explains all the technical info that will be very useful for a first timer or anyone who's looking to bake for sale.
There are lots of great tips covered in detail in the video, but there are a couple of topics I think it's important to highlight based on discussions I've seen online.
Putting butter in the filling: It would be an understatement to say that I love butter more than Paula Deen. I size up every food item as a possible delivery vehicle for butter, especially baked goods. But when it comes to cinnamon rolls, the butter should be worked into the dough, not the filling. It will melt into a puddle and take a lot of your filling with it. It can burn in the bottom of the pan. There should be enough butter in your dough that it slowly oozes into the cinnamon and brown sugar filling while baking, where it stays in place perfectly. Don't get me wrong, I will slather a big scoop of salted butter right on top of my frosted cinnamon roll. Not because it's dry or needs it, but because I love butter.
Gritty filling: If you find yourself with gritty filling, it's because you're putting too much brown sugar in the filling. For a batch of 12 cinnamon rolls, there should be no more than 1 cup of brown sugar. It should be a thin layer. It's going to be rolled up, so in the end there will be multiple layers and lots of brown sugar. But if you exceed this amount, you're going to end up with a sandy texture... then you're probably going to be trying to add butter to the filling to fix the texture and you'll find they both end up burnt in the bottom of the pan. It's a vicious cycle! :) It's difficult, but it's important to show restraint here.
Christopher's Chewy Cinnamon Rolls
Dough:
- 562 grams all-purpose flour
- 355 ml buttermilk (or milk)
- 100 grams white granulated sugar
- 9 grams salt
- 7 grams active dry yeast (or 14 grams fresh yeast)
- 1 large egg
- 2 tsp molasses (optional, but makes them more chewy)
- 56 grams butter at room temperature, not melted (salted or unsalted)
- 1 tbsp oil (optional, but if will help the cinnamon rolls stay moist for several days)
- 8 grams (1 US tbsp) ground cinnamon
- 200 grams (1 US cup) brown sugar (light or dark)
- (NO butter!)
- 30 ml (2 tbsp) milk (or buttermilk)
- 10 ml (1 tsp) vanilla extract (or half that amount of another extract)
- 29 grams (2 tbsp) butter, softened but not melted
- 120 grams (1 US cup) powdered sugar
Instructions: The video has the instructions for everything in detail, but here are the high level steps.
- Oil or butter the bottom of the pan.
- To make the dough, mix all ingredients except butter and oil just until mixed. Cover with a towel and let sit for 20 minutes for the flour to hydrate. (This is called and "autolyse".)
- Knead the dough in a Kitchen Aid mixer on speed 2 with a dough hook for 5 minutes.
- While still kneading, add the oil and begin adding the softened butter 1 tbsp at a time until mixed in. This should take a total of no more than an additional 2-3 minutes for a total kneading time of 7-8 minutes.
- Cover the dough and let rise until doubled. The amount of time this takes will be dependent on the temperature on the dough and your kitchen. If you need it to move slower, do it in the fridge overnight. If you want it to be faster, turn the oven on for 20-30 seconds then turn it off and put the covered dough in the oven.
- Oil the counter, do not use flour! The dough will be extremely soft. Use your hands to gently press the roll out to a rectangle that's about 18" x 13". (You should be using a 9" x 13" pan for these, so if you immitate placing the pan side by side, that's how bit 18" x 13" is. There's no need for complicated measurements.)
- Working quickly, spread desired filling on it all the way to the top and side edges, but leave about 1" at the bottom edge. (Your dough will likely begin its second rise here and will become software so you don't want to dilly dally while doing this.)
- Tightly roll the dough away from yourself (and towards the bottom strip without filling)
- Wrap the dental floss tightly around fingers on each hand and slide underneath the roll to the center. Cross over to cut in half, then cut the two halfs in half again. That will give you four even rolls. Then cut each of those pieces into thirds. That'll give you a dozen.
- Place the rolls sideways in the greased 9" x 13" glass pan.
- Cover and let rise until doubled. (Follow the same instructions as for the first rise, no matter how you do it, what you're looking for is a double in height.)
- Bake at 350F (175C) until the internal temp of the rolls is 185F (85C) which will be between 25-30 minutes. Pull the rolls and let sit on the counter for about 10 minutes before icing.
Here are some other delicious alternatives for filling and frostings.
Cherry Rolls:
Filling:
- 200 grams (about 1 1/2 US cup) fresh or frozen sour cherries, thawed and chopped
- 50 grams (1/4 US cup) white sugar
- 4 tsp tapioca starch (not corn starch)
- zest of 1/2 lemon
- juice of 1/2 lemon Mix all ingredients together. Heat and continuously stir *just* until they start to boil. Cool until warm to use as a filling. Frosting: Make frosting as in original recipe, but add 1/2 tsp almond extract to the frosting recipe. (If selling, make sure to disclose the almond extract as some may have a nut allergy!) Shortcut: If you want to use a store bought cherry option, I'd go with the Bonne Maman brand of cherry preserves. You can find them in any US grocery store. They're hands down the absolute best ones on the market! This would be cost prohibitive if you're making the rolls for sale... but it's delicious for yourself and family.
Blueberry Lemon Rolls:
Filling:
- 200 grams (about 1 1/2 US cup) fresh or frozen blueberries, thawed
- 50 grams (1/4 US cup) white sugar
- 4 tsp tapioca starch (not corn starch)
- zest of 1 whole lemon
- juice of 1 whole lemon Mix all ingredients together. Heat and continuously stir *just* until they start to boil. Cool until warm to use as a filling. Frosting: Make frosting as in original recipe, but use 30 ml (2 tbsp) fresh squeeze lemon juice to the frosting recipe instead of milk or buttermilk.
Orange Rolls:
Dough:
Make the dough as in the original recipe, but substitute 118ml (1/2 US cup) of the buttermilk or milk with orange juice and add the zest of half of an orange.
Filling:
Option 1: Make the filling as in the original recipe
Option 2: Instead of the original filling recipe, use 1 cup of orange marmalade
Frosting: Make frosting as in original recipe, but use 30 ml (2 tbsp) orange juice to the frosting recipe instead of milk or buttermilk along with the zest of 1 whole orange
Reese's Peanut Butter Rolls:
Filling:
Instead of the original filling, use 355 ml (1 1/2 US cups) of creamy peanut butter
Chocolate Ganache Frosting: Heat 355 ml (1 1/2 US cup) of heavy cream until hot but not boiling. Pour over 340 grams (12 oz) high quality bittersweet or semisweet chocolate chips and stir until melted, then stir in 1 tsp vanilla extract. These proportions work perfectly with Ghirardelli brand chocolate, if using other chocolate you may have to tweak the ratio.
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