Brown Butter Cinnamon Rolls

5 from 4 votes

These are your classic cinnamon rolls with a slight improvement! These Brown Butter Cinnamon rolls use brown butter in both the filling and the frosting which gives them extra flavor and extra fluff.

Prep Time2 30

Cook Time35

Total Time3 5

Course: Afternoon Kaffee, Bread, Breakfast

Cuisine: American

Keyword: brown butter, Cinnamon Roll

Servings:

Calories: 609kcal

Equipment

Stand Mixer
12" Cast Iron Pan

Ingredients

Dough

500 grams all purpose flour
50 grams granulated sugar
15 grams instant yeast
4 grams fine sea salt
2 eggs standard large, room temperature
250 milliliters milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
60 grams salted butter softened
50 milliliters heavy cream

Filling & Frosting

228 grams salted butter
200 grams granulated sugar
3 tablespoons cinnnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
200 grams powdered sugar
2 tablespoons milk more as needed

Instructions

Dough

In the bowl of a stand mixer whisk together the flour, sugar, and yeast.
Sprinkle in the salt. Then add in the warm milk, two eggs, and vanilla extract.
Use a dough hook to knead everything together on medium low speed for 15 minutes until the dough has smooth edges and the bowl is clean.
Add half of the butter in and knead again until incorporated (about 5 minutes). Add in the second half of the butter and knead once more until smooth. The dough should pass the window pane test *see notes section for more info.
Place the dough on a plastic lined 1/4 baking sheet and cover with another sheet of plastic. Press into an approximate rectangle and place into the fridge overnight.

Fillings

The next day, add the butter into a medium pan. Place over medium low heat (medium if using electric and your stove isn't very hot).
Cook until bubbling, then use a rubber spatula to stir it gently until brown bits form. Keep scraping and stirring the pan until the butter is heavily speckled with brown bits but not burnt.
Turn the heat off and allow it to cool until it has reached a spreadable consistency. Scoop 150 grams of the brown butter into a small mixing bowl and add in 125 grams of sugar, 1.5 tablespoons of ground cinnamon, and a splash of vanilla. Stir to combine.
In a separate bowl, stir together the remaining 75 grams of sugar and 1.5 tablespoons of cinnamon.

Shape the Cinnamon Rolls

Preheat the oven to 350 F and place a rack in the center of the oven.
Grease a seasoned cast iron pan with softened butter (what's left on the butter wrapper is usually enough) or line with a sheet of parchment.
Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to 14" x 14". Try to keep the dough as rectangular as possible while rolling it out and use flour as needed to keep the dough from sticking.
Spread the brown butter filling over the entire surface of the dough.
Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar over the butter filling.
Roll the dough up, starting with the side closest to you. Be careful to keep the roll tight but don't squeeze out the butter.
Once fully rolled, place it seam side down and give the roll a few squeezes while also ever so slightly stretching it out. You want the roll to grow to be 15" long.
Use a sharp knife to mark 1.5" marks along the roll. Then slice where each mark is to cut the roll into 10.
Place the rolls into the pan so that there are 7 around the outside of the pan and three on the inside. Space the rolls evenly in the pan so that there is also space between the rolls and the edges of the pan.
Cover the pan with plastic and set aside for at least 30-45 minutes to proof while the oven preheats. They should grow to be fully touching and puffy!

Bake the Cinnamon Rolls

Once the oven is heated up and the buns have gotten nice and puffy, drizzle the top with heavy cream. This helps to make them nice and fluffy.
Then, place the pan onto the center rack in the oven. Set a timer for 25 minutes.
After 25 minutes have passed, rotate the pan and bake for another 20 minutes until golden brown. If any have started to have their centers pop out, just gently press them back in with a spatula.
Once baked, remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool slightly.
While they cool, make the frosting.

Brown Butter Frosting

In a medium bowl, whisk the remaining brown butter together with powdered sugar and a couple splashes of milk.
If it is too thin, add more powdered sugar, if too thick add more milk. It should be quite thick because the warmth of the cinnamon rolls will sort of melt it.
Spoon the frosting onto each cinnamon roll. Then use the back of the spoon to spread the frosting out in a circular motion on each cinnamon roll.

Notes

Tips for making a Homemade Cinnamon Rolls

When making yeasted dough, ensure that you allow your mixer to fully knead the dough, until it forms a smooth ball and the sides of the bowl are cleaned. This will happen twice while kneading the dough, once before the butter is added and once after. Sometimes I have to scraped down the sides of the bowl after the second butter addition.
I like to do the first proof (rise) of the dough overnight in the fridge because it means less time in the morning and it is easier to assemble the cinnamon rolls when the dough is cold.
It's important to keep a close eye on your butter when browning it because you want to get those delicious bits but you don't want it to burn. Once it starts to bubble, use a rubber spatula or wooden spoon to stir the bubbles around so that you can see the color underneath. It should get quiet, and then start to foam, cook it a bit longer and then it should be ready.
To quickly cool the brown butter, pour it onto a quarter sized baking sheet and place the baking sheet on an ice pack or in your freezer, just don't forget about it. You want the butter to reach a spreadable consistency.
When rolling out the dough, try to make it as rectangular as possible. This will help when it comes shaping and cutting the twist. I use a bench scraper to keep reshaping into a rectangle as I roll it because it can be tricky to reshape at the end.
The cinnamon rolls are done when the dough tops have become golden brown. You don't want to over bake them or they will lose their gooeyness.

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