There’s nothing like a hot, sticky cinnamon bun. They come in all shapes, sizes and flavors, and they’re all simply delicious.
These cinnamon buns are kind of like a mix of the soft, sweet rolls that are covered in cream cheese frosting and the flaky, pecan, sticky roll variety. It’s as if the two had a baby together, which, trust me, is not a bad thing.
The dough is soft and sweet with rich cinnamon filling swirled between every roll, and instead of being lathered in rich icing, they’re covered in a homemade caramel sauce that is ridiculously incredible. You can top them with whatever you want, but in my family, we’re partial to pecans and golden raisins.
There’s not much more to say about these cinnamon rolls except that they are life-changing. And well-worth how long they take and the clean-up afterwards.
Prep Time: 3 hours
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 3 hours and 30 minutes
Servings: 24 rolls
Ingredients:
For Sweet Dough:
¾ cup milk
½ cup sugar
1 stick butter
4 ½ teaspoons yeast
1/3 cup water
3 eggs
5 ½ – 6 ½ cups flour
For Caramel:
2 sticks butter
1 1/3 cups guar
3 Tablespoons Karo corn syrup
Directions:
Photo by Jasmine Tang
1. Over low heat, melt together butter, white sugar and milk. Once completely melted, mix well with a spoon and allow to cool to 105-115°F (you will need a small kitchen thermometer to make these).
Photo by Jasmine Tang
2. While the milk mixture is cooling, place the yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the hot water which should be 105-115°F. If your yeast does not start foaming in the next 5 minutes, discard the contents and use new yeast. If you don’t do this, you will be sad and without cinnamon rolls in a few hours.
Photo by Jasmine Tang
3. Add the cooled milk mixture into the stand mixer and mix well. In a small bowl, crack the eggs and beat them well. Add the beaten eggs to the stand mixer and mix well.
Photo by Jasmine Tang
4. Add 5 cups of flour and use the dough hook attachment on your mixer to knead well. The dough will be extremely soft and sticky at this point. In 1-2 tablespoon increments, add more flour as needed. When it’s ready, the dough should not stick to any part of the bowl and should be completely smooth.
Photo by Jasmine Tang
5. Spray a large mixing bowl with non-stick spray and put the dough inside of the bowl. You may need to use a dough scraper and flour your hands liberally since the dough will be extremely soft and sticky. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in a warm spot (ideally a warming drawer). Allow the dough to rise until it is doubled in size. This can take up to 1 hour.
Photo by Jasmine Tang
6. While the dough rises, make the caramel sauce by putting the Karo syrup, brown sugar and butter over medium heat. Once the ingredients are mixed together, allow the mixture to boil for exactly 5 minutes.
Photo by Jasmine Tang
7. Once the mixture is done boiling, remove from heat and immediately pour into a large, deep baking pan. (I use a pan that is the size of my rimmed cookie sheets but about 2 inches deep like a cake pan). Cover with desired toppings (e.g. raisins and nuts) and set aside.
Photo by Jasmine Tang
8. Prepare a work surface for your dough. I use a silicone rolling mat which I liberally dust with flour. When your dough is done rising, dust it with flour and move it onto the work surface. Roll the dough out so that it is approx.. 1 cm thick, 20 inches long and 12 inches wide.
9. Prepare 1 cup of cinnamon filling and spread it thinly across the dough. Leave a 1 inch margin at the bottom of dough.
10. Starting with the length of the dough that has the cinnamon filling, gently and tightly roll the dough towards the end with the clean margin.
Photo by Jasmine Tang
11. Cut the tube of dough into 24 even pieces and place them, cut side up, on top of the caramel pan.
12. Allow the pan to rise again for 30 minutes.
13. Bake for 30 minutes at 350°F.
14. After baking, immediately place a rimmed cookie sheet with a piece of parchment paper over the top of the pan. Invert the pans so that the rolls are on the new pan, caramel side up.
Photo by Jasmine Tang
15. Allow to cool and then slice and serve. These are best served warm.
Photo by Jasmine Tang
Got buns, hun?: