Best Brown Butter Cinnamon Rolls
Prepare to make the best homemade Brown Better Cinnamon Rolls with this easy-to-follow recipe. Soft and fluffy rolls with an enhanced flavor of brown butter!
Ingredients
Dough:
- 1 cup milk warm, whole or 2% recommended
- 2 Tablespoons + 1 teaspoon sugar divided
- 2 ¼ teaspoons quick rise yeast 1 packet
- 6 Tablespoons brown butter salted, See instructions for how to do this
- 1 egg large, whisked
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3- 3 ¼ cups bread flour or all-purpose, see notes
Filling:
- ½ cup brown butter at room temperature, salted, See instructions
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- 4 teaspoons cinnamon
- ¼ cup brown sugar regular or dark is fine
Frosting:
- 4 ounces cream cheese softened
- ¼ cup brown butter at room temperature, I used salted, see instructions for brown butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- ¾ cup powdered sugar
Instructions
To Make Brown Butter:
- Cut butter lengthwise and place in a small saucepan on medium/ medium high heat. Stir occasionally as the butter cooks. It will crackle and pop. Once it starts to foam, it takes about 2-3 minutes to brown. The foam will start to get a little brown and when you give it a little stir you'll be able to see cooked brown flecks of the butter solids at the bottom of the pan. See photos above for a visual guide. Remove from heat. For the dough, allow the butter to cool for about 5 minutes before using. For the other filling and frosting, allow to cool all the way to room temperature.
- Unfortunately, you cannot make the butter all at once, since it separates. After browning the butter for the dough, start browning the butter for the filling, then the frosting, setting each aside to cool and use later.
For the Dough:
- Make brown butter as instructed above and set aside to cool for a few minutes. Combine warm milk (ideally 105-112° F) and combine with the yeast and 1 teaspoon sugar. Set aside to proof. In 5 minutes the mixture should be very growing and foamy. If not, throw away and start over. Your yeast must be active and well for the best cinnamon rolls.
- Whisk egg. Combine brown butter, egg, salt, remaining sugar, bread flour and proofed yeast together and mix to combine. You can use a stand mixer with a dough hook attachment, your hands (I recommend watching a youtube video on how to knead if using your hands) or a bread maker on the dough setting to knead the dough. Knead 10-20 minutes until dough is silky smooth and elastic. Push a finger into the dough to make an indentation; the dough should bounce back easily. See photos above for a visual guide. I like to make the other 2 batches of brown butter while the dough kneads.
- Spray a large bowl with cooking spray or oil it with your preferred oil. Place dough inside, then spray the top with a little oil so it doesn't dry out. Cover with cling wrap and allow to rise in a warm place until at least doubled in size, about an hour.
Make the Filling and Prepare the Rolls:
- Combine sugar and cinnamon together in a bowl.
- Roll the dough out evenly. It should be about an ⅛-1/4" thick and the long end should be about 16-18". Give the room temperature brown butter a little mix to combine as it will be separated. Spread brown butter across the dough evenly. Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar mixture evenly over top of the butter. Use your fingers to crumble the brown sugar evenly over the top of the rest of the filling.
- Starting on the long end, roll up the dough. Cut into 12 even rolls. The easiest way for me to get the rolls even is to cut the log in half, then each half in half again. Then each of those I cut into 3 even pieces. Place evenly in a greased 9x13" pan. I like to spread them out a bit and make sure they aren't tightly rolled. I find this enables the insides of the rolls to puff and expand more. Cover and allow to rise for 30 minutes. 10 minutes into the rise, preheat the oven to 350° F. Once they are done rising, bake for 17-22 minutes until done. The tops and edges will just be starting to turn golden brown.
Make Frosting and Frost the Cinnamon Rolls
- Beat the cream cheese and room temperature brown butter together on medium speed until completely smooth and lump free, about 1-2 minutes. Add the vanilla and brown sugar and beat to combine. Add the powdered sugar and mix until well combined and smooth.
- Allow brown butter cinnamon rolls to cool about 10-20 minutes before frosting. This way they will still be warm and the icing will seep into the rolls, but they will be cool enough so that they won't get soggy. For frosting that sits on top of the rolls, wait until they have cooled completely. Make sure to check out the notes below for all the tips and tricks!
Notes
- You can use skim or 1% milk for these rolls, but they have a softer and silkier texture when you use whole or 2%.
- Bread flour makes a HUGE difference in the texture of how cinnamon rolls turn out. It makes them softer and smooshier and helps them retain that softness on days 2 and 3. We highly recommend you use bread flour, but all-purpose flour would also work in a pinch.
- For a more in depth tutorial on making brown butter, we highly recommend looking on youtube.
- Things like humidity can affect how much flour you need. The dough should just barely be pulling away from the sides of whatever bowl you are kneading it in. The dough should be very soft and almost sticky.
- One of my top tips in making yeast breads is proofing the yeast.Getting it activated and foamy and ready to go ensures you will get a good rise from your rolls and the perfect texture.
- Reheat day old cinnamon rolls in the microwave for 12-15 seconds for that delicious fresh from the oven texture.
- I like to spread the rolls out just a bit when placing them in the pan. I also like to make sure the roll is loose. If they are too tight, the middles can be dense or puff up instead of out. Spreading them just a bit enables them to grow and expand making them so soft and fluffy.
- It is now popular to mix together the cinnamon and sugar with the butter, and you can definitely do this. I find that I don't like the filling quite as much when it's pre-mixed together.
Nutrition
Serving: 1rollCalories: 500kcalCarbohydrates: 72gProtein: 11gFat: 19gSaturated Fat: 11gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 61mgSodium: 413mgPotassium: 145mgFiber: 2gSugar: 24gVitamin A: 599IUVitamin C: 0.02mgCalcium: 88mgIron: 1mg
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