Cinnamon rolls are one my favorite breakfasts! I’m pretty sure that I am not alone as every time I go to a bakery in the morning, there is always less cinnamon rolls than muffins and other breakfast goodies. I mean, who can say no to cinnamon rolls?
These rich sweet bread swirled with butter, brown sugar and cinnamon makes any breakfast special. My son and I just love it with a thick slathering of cream cheese frosting. My husband though, he just wants it plain, or with a tiny, tiny dab of frosting, if we insist.
I first made cinnamon rolls when I was about 13 years old and followed a recipe I wrote down from a TV program. I never really baked then so I used a coffee cup for a “cup” measure, a small dessert spoon as a “teaspoon”, and a spoon we used to eat for a “tablespoon”. I was hooked after that and have tried dozens of recipes and a lot of buns sold by famous bakeries wherever I went.
The perfect cinnamon rolls for me has a good bread structure, buttery, just a little sweet. The filling should be generous, and I like it to have raisins in the swirls. The brown sugar/cinnamon/butter mixture should be oozing down the bottom of the bun where it meets perfectly roasted pecan/walnuts. Perfection! Rarely do I find one that checks all the boxes so I usually bake it at home and my son’s eyes always light up when he realizes we are having cinnamon rolls for breakfast tomorrow morning! My little clone!
Years ago, I would even add chopped apples with the raisins before rolling up the dough and it would taste lovely. You can omit the raisins, or the pecans if you wish but I hope you try it this way once and with a generous coating of the frosting, if I may suggest!
Dough:
95 grams whole milk
2 large eggs
95 grams sugar
190 grams active starter
355 grams all purpose or bread flour
7 grams salt
100 grams softened butter
Filling:
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
20 grams all purpose flour
135 grams dark brown sugar
30 grams butter
1 cup golden raisins
1 cup chopped pecans
Frosting:
50 grams butter
100 grams cream cheese
100 grams powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
30 grams milk
Procedure for the dough:
1. Place the milk, eggs, and sugar in the Thermomix bowl, cover and set to 30 seconds/speed 3.
2. Add starter, flour, and salt and set to Knead/2 minutes.
3. Add butter and Knead 2 minutes more.
4. Transfer dough into a large bowl. Cover and set aside in a warm place until double, about 3-4 hours.
Meanwhile, prepare filling:
5. In a medium bowl, mix cinnamon, flour, and sugar. Cut in butter until it resembles crumbs.
6. Grease a 13”x9” pan and sprinkle with chopped pecans. Set aside.
7. Roll out dough to about a 12×15 rectangle. Sprinkle with cinnamon mixture and evenly spread raisins over it. Roll up from the long end so you’ll have a 15 inch log. Cut the log into 12 1.25 inch rolls. Place on top of the pecans in the prepared pan. Cover and refrigerate overnight. (Or you can leave on the counter until doubled in size, about 2-3 hours and bake).
8. Next day, leave cinnamon rolls on the counter to come to room temperature for about an hour or 2.
9. Preheat oven to 350F. Bake rolls for about 25 minutes, tenting with foil if it browns too fast.
10. Prepare the frosting: In a bowl, beat together butter and cream cheese. Add powdered sugar and beat well. Mix in vanilla and milk to thin out the frosting a little. Beat until fluffy. This has a frosting consistency as I prefer that over a thin drizzle. If you would like a drizzling consistency, add more milk.
11. Cool buns on a wire rack for 10 minutes, remove from pan one at a time, invert onto a serving plate and generously frost with cream cheese frosting.
Enjoy!