The ultimate cinnamon buns recipe is right here, and you’re going to love it! Yeast-risen cinnamon rolls, made from scratch, topped w/ sweet cream cheese glaze. The ultimate cinnamon buns are definitely worth getting up for on a weekend morning.
Oh, do I have a story for you.
Last Friday night, Handsome and I were cleaning up after dinner and debating what we would like to do for the evening when my phone rang. It was the state police, telling me that I needed to come to Court House 11. Right then. Not weeks or months later. Right then. 8:45 on Friday night. Seriously? Had I committed some crime that I wasn’t aware of?
Nope. It was for something much more ridiculous.
Remember all the way back in January when I did the right thing and stopped for a car accident I saw? Now I know why people don’t bother. Apparently, they were supposed to subpoena me, but the paperwork got lost and they waited until the last minute before realizing they needed me.
I called a friend of mine just to make sure this wasn’t some cop trick.
I had to drive 45 minutes on a Friday night for a fender bender because someone refuses to admit they failed to yield. Handsome just laughed and I sighed and completed my civic duty. I got to draw on a dry erase board, make assumptions towards the basic laws of physics, answer the same question reworded over and over, and swear to tell the whole truth and all that jazz. All because she didn’t want to admit she simply failed to yield (you know, the only way her car would have been able to collide with his). I’m sad if this is what our law enforcement is wasting their time on.
Days like this put me in the mood for the ultimate cinnamon buns.
Ultimate Cinnamon Buns
Cook’s Illustrated Holiday Baking – Winter 2010
Ingredients:
For the Dough:
- 3/4 cup whole milk, heated to 110 degrees
- 1 envelope (2 1/4 teas) rapid-rise yeast or instant yeast
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- 4 1/4 cups (21 1/2 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup cornstarch
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 teas table salt
- 12 tbs (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 12 pieces and softened
For the Filling:
- 1 1/2 cups (10 1/2 ounces) packed light brown sugar
- 1 1/2 tbs ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teas table salt
- 4 tbs (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened
For the Glaze:
- 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 1 tbs whole milk
- 1 teas vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups (6 ounces) confectioners sugar
Preparation:
Note: If the dough is still wet and sticky after mixing for 10 minutes in step 2, add up to 1/4 cup flour (a tbs at a time) until the dough releases from the bowl. For smaller cinnamon buns, cut the dough into 12 pieces in step 3. The buns can be made ahead of time; After transferring the pieces to the prepared pan in step 3, the buns can be covered tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerated for up to 24 hours. When ready to bake, let the buns sit at room temperature for 1 hour. Remove the plastic wrap and continue with the recipe from step 4 as directed.
For the dough: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 200 degrees. When oven reaches 200 degrees, shut off. Line 13×9 inch baking pan with foil, allowing excess foil to hang over pan edges. Spray foil and medium bowl with nonstick cooking spray.
Whisk milk and yeast in liquid measuring cup until yeast dissolves, then whisk in eggs. In bowl, of stand mixer fitter with dough hook, mix flour, cornstarch, sugar and salt until combined. With mixer on low, add warm milk mixture in steady stream and mix until dough comes together, about 1 minute. Increase speed to medium and add butter, one piece at a time, until incorporated. Continue to mix until dough is smooth and comes away from sides of bowl, about 10 minutes. Turn dough out onto clean surface and knead to form smooth, round ball. Transfer dough to prepared bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and place in warm oven. Let rise until doubled in size, about 2 hours.
For the Filling: Combine brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a small bowl. Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface. Roll dough into an 18-inch square, spread with butter, and sprinkle evenly with filling. Starting with the edge nearest you, roll dough into tight cylinder, pinch lightly to seal seam, and cut into 8 pieces. Transfer pieces, cut side up, to prepared pan. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in warm spot until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
For the glaze and to bake: Heat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk cream cheese, milk vanilla and confectioners’ sugar in medium bowl until smooth. Discard plastic wrap and bake buns until deep golden brown and filling is melted, 35 to 40 minutes. Transfer to wire rack and top buns with 1/2 cup glaze; cool 30 minutes. Using foil overhang, lift buns from pan and top with remaining glaze. Serve.
Without asking, I’m convinced at least one person I know just read this with a little ‘I told you so’ grin on their face. Be careful, or I won’t share my ultimate cinnamon buns with you. 😉
This Friday, May 13, Steph’s Bite by Bite is hosting a bake sale on Friday May 13th to raise money Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. I can’t wait to participate in an online bake sale! I’ve never done anything like this before but it is the second time Steph has hosted a bake sale on her site. I’m donating Cranberry White-Chocolate Chip Cookies (one of my favorites). Tons of awesome bakers are involved, so get pumped! Steph’s last bake sale earned $1,707 – let’s see if we can up the ante for round two!
Lauren at Keep It Sweet says
Oh wow, these look incredible! Makes me think of the days when I would get Cinnabon at the mall… a LONG time ago!
Katrina @ In Katrina's Kitchen says
oh my goodness – I can’t believe you had to do all of that just for a fender bender. People are…people. Ugh. Anyway – yay for cinnamon rolls 🙂
Vicki @ Wilde in the Kitchen says
Seriously, they called you for that? I’m so surprised at the weird hour of the court meeting too! Can’t some people just admit they were in the wrong? I can totally see eating a whole bunch of these to end the day on a bright note!
Erin says
I love being a fat kid sometimes 🙂
Dionne Baldwin says
I just licked my screen. I craved cinnamon buns when I was pregnant with my daughter and I still have a wicked crush on them. You should move to my neighborhood, seriously. You won’t be sorry! 🙂
Mary at n00bcakes says
Wow, that sucks about you getting dragged out on a Friday night…especially for something as inane as failing to yield. Still, you get props for doing the right thing! As incredibly depressing as it is to realize our law enforcement is required to spend time on little stuff like that, it’s still cool to stick it to the nincompoop who refused to just pay her dues. Go you for making her pay up (at least, I hope that’s how it ended)!
Plus, you then had an excuse to eat cinnamon bunz. Rock.
Sandra's Easy Cooking says
I think that I am new on your blog..just hopped from Katrina’s to see your cooking adventures..This looks wonderful! Perfect for breakfast, desserts and after midnight snacks:)) Thanks for sharing!!!
Kita says
Thanks for dropping by 🙂
Maggie @ Vittles and Bits says
Ohh GOODNESS! These look fabulous! What a funny story too, I guess it’s true that no good deed goes unpunished right? : /
Erin says
My 6 year old loves all things cinnamon! These look like the perfect Sat morning breakfast. Thanks! People are amazing – my husband was sitting in a parking lot on Christmas Eve, and a lady backed into him. She tried to claim it was his fault (sitting still in the parking stall). A witness came forward to support my husband, and she FINALLY backed down. So…if it weren’t for people like you, who knows what could happen!
Kita says
That’s craziness! If you hit a parked car its 100% your fault. Large objects don’t just materialize. Wow…
The Harried Cook says
I love your fat kid recipes… 🙂 this one looks great, especially with the glaze on top… yum!
[email protected] says
Breakfast week is making me so hungry every morning. Your cinny rolls are gorgeous. They rose so high and that inside curl is my favorite bite.
Dana Salvo says
Wow I can almost taste it. Those pictures are fabulous! I’m sitting here in a hospital waiting room for a friend starving! lol
Kita says
I hope everything is ok!
RavieNomNoms says
Haha how stupid is that?! Wow…that is just unreal huh? I bet these cinnamon buns made you feel better though. Certainly, the ultimate by looking at it. Gooey and terrific!
[email protected] says
Were you compensated for your time/gas?!?! Mother of … this is why people don’t help…unfortunately.
I can smell the cinnamon buns …. I wish!!! They look amazing!
Belinda @zomppa says
You really are a good samaritan. Truely. Especially for making these buns. I can’t stop staring.
Carolyn says
These look fabulous, Kita, just fabulous!
Inga´s Haven says
mmmmm… I love cinnamon buns and these look just perfect !!
Christina @ Sweet Pea's Kitchen says
Oh. my. god. I need one of these right now!! 😀 Bookmarked! Can’t wait to give them a try!
briarrose says
Heaven…and a great way to recover from the civic duty experience. Amazing looking buns.
Kita says
hehe. Why thank you 🙂
kitchenarian says
Those cinnamon buns would make anything better. I think the woman that failed to yield could probably use one of these! Great post and good for you for doing your civic duty.
the constant hunger says
I haven’t had a cinnamon bun in ages. I love walking by a bakery or even a mall food court and smelling the sweet aroma of cinnamon rolls. This is going on my list of things I need to bake!
Roxana GreenGirl says
I once witnessed a car accident and kinda promised myself I pretend I don’t see a thing next time it happens. They called me couple of times, even lost one day to the court as I was called in to testify. Oh boy, so many things to go though, more than when I was in a car accident. well, obviously it was my fault then LOL
these rolls are the perfect solution to start the weekend :))
thanks for sharing Kita
Suesan says
No! No! No! The 1/2 cup cornstarch absolutely ruins this recipe. While the dough is lovely to work with and the buns bake up beautifully, the texture to the taste is slightly starchy, almost scratchy to the teeth. My husband loved the first two or three bites, then said the same thing. My neighbor — a San Francisco Culinary Institute graduate(baking focus) — had the same reaction. Sadly, I threw the batch out.
Sorry. Dump recipe — or, at least, drastically reduce the cornstarch.