Brown Butter Buttermilk Cinnamon Rolls
Super soft, tender gooey cinnamon rolls made from a buttermilk dough and a brown butter brown sugar filling.
Servings 12
Equipment
- stand mixer for kneading the dough
Ingredients
Roux
- 240g or 1 cup water
- 40g or ⅓ cup bread flour
Dough
- 7g or 1 packet instant yeast
- 60g or ¼ cup water warmed to touch
- 3 tablespoons buttermilk powder can sub milk powder
- 100g or ½ cup brown sugar
- 2 large eggs at room temperature
- 50g or ¼ cup canola oil can also use browned butter, measure after browning
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 520g or 4 cups bread flour
Filling
- 200g or 1 cup brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons cinnamon
- 113g or ½ cup browned butter see notes
- Pinch fine sea salt salt
- dash of vanilla
- 120g or ½ cup heavy cream for pouring over after they have risen
Glaze
- 1 tablespoon browned butter
- 190g or 1 ½ cups organic powdered sugar made with tapioca starch
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 tablespoon milk or heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons cream cheese
Instructions
- Make the roux: In a medium sized pot, combine the flour and water. Turn heat on to medium and cook while whisking until you get a thick paste, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add to the bowl of your stand mixer.
- Make the dough: Combine the water with the yeast and set aside until frothy. When the roux is no longer too hot to touch, add the yeast and water mix, as well as the remaining ingredients for the dough. Fitted with the dough hook, turn the mixer on and knead for about 7 minutes, until you have a soft, stretchy dough. Add more flour if needed (up to 1/2 cup more), dough should be sticky and will not form into a ball. Turn dough into an oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Set in the fridge overnight, or for a 2 hour rise at room temperature.
- Make the brown butter: in a saucepan, add 12 tablespoons of butter, chopped. Cook on medium high until the butter foams, sputters and separates. Once it goes quiet and you can smell nuttiness and see specks of brown at the bottom of the pan, pour it into a heatproof bowl and set in the fridge for about an hour, until it is creamy but not hard (if you make it beforehand and it has solidified, melt it in the microwave).
- Make the filling: combine together ½ cup of the now set but soft browned butter, brown sugar, cinnamon salt and vanilla.
- Make the rolls: Prepare a 9×13” aluminum cake pan with parchment paper. Roll out the dough onto a well-floured surface to the size of a standard cookie sheet (so about 13×18 inches). Spread the filling over the dough, leaving a one inch border on each side. Roll the dough up from the longer side into a log. Use dental floss (unwaxed) or a sharp knife to first trim the edges, then slice it into twelve 1” size rolls. Place them in the pan and set in a warm place to rise until puffy, about an hour. If you did the first rise in the fridge this can take longer. Remove heavy cream from the fridge to allow it to come to room temperature.
- Bake the rolls: Preheat the oven to 350 F. Right before you set the rolls into the oven, pour the heavy cream over the pan – ensuring equal portioning and especially getting between rolls. Bake the rolls for about 20-30 minutes until puffy and browned.
- Make the icing: Sift the powdered sugar into a bowl. You should have leftover brown butter, add 1 tablespoon of it, the salt, vanilla, heavy cream, and cream cheese and whisk until smooth. If it’s too thick, add a bit more heavy cream. If too thin, add a bit more powdered sugar. Pour the icing over the rolls while they are still warm but not hot.
- Serving and storing: these are best served warm, within an hour after coming out of the oven. They should be stored in an airtight container and can be reheated gently in the microwave right before eating.
Video
Notes
If you'd like to use brown butter in the dough as well as the filling and icing, brown 226g butter (one cup) and measure out 57g for the dough (have it cool but melted before adding), 110-113g for the filling (creamy state is best for ease of spreading) and about a tablespoon should be left for the glaze.