Cinnamon Rolls
Classic, homemade cinnamon rolls made from a favorite cardamom-flecked, buttery, yeast dough with a generous cinnamon-sugar swirl.
I make a version of these cinnamon rolls nearly every year for Christmas. The first time I made them was in 2010, inspired by the version in Lotta Jansdotter's book. They're beauties. Everyone LOVES them. The base recipe is for a version of Lotta's beautiful, homemade, hot from the oven, loaded with sugar and spice, golden, buttery, classic cinnamon rolls. 
Cinnamon Roll Basics
To make cinnamon buns you start by making a buttery yeast dough. I know some of you shy away from yeast-based recipes, because of perceived difficulty, but these really are fun to make. One thing to know, they do take time. You'll need to let the dough rest and rise at various points, but most of that time isn't active, so don't let that deter you. Also, once you get the hang of things, you can play around with all sorts of different fillings in future batches. If you want to explore something beyond cinnamon sugar, the filling can be anything from jam, a sweet compound butter, a flavored cream cheese filling. Have fun, experiment, and use this recipe as a jumping off point.
How to Make Cinnamon Rolls: The Process
Making cinnamon rolls goes like this. Mix the dough. Let it rise. Roll it out. Put down the filling. Roll. Slice. (Freeze here, if you're going that route). Another rise. Bake. Lotta sprinkles her cinnamon buns with pearl sugar before baking, which gives them a nice crunchy top, but I know a lot of people like a thick slathering of icing - to the horror of some Swedes, I might add. Sometimes I serve these w/ raw sugar on top and icing on the side, and often use the icing from these hermit cookies. 
Variations
I've made little tweaks over the years reflected here. Above you see a version of the cinnamon rolls topped with icing. Alternately, you can do a simple sugar sprinkle before baking. I include instructions for both below. You can also play around with the flour. I've done versions with a percentage of rye and also whole wheat flour, for a kiss of rustic-ness. There are some great insights in the comments as well.
Make Ahead Magic
One of the great things about these cinnamon rolls, is that you can prepare them ahead of time. You can even freeze the pre-baked rolls. The night before you're ready to bake them, leave them to thaw, covered, on your counter, and bake them in the morning. 
To Make A Cinnamon Swirl Loaf:
This is an easy tweak to the below cinnamon roll recipe & results in a beautiful, braided loaf. Don’t be intimidated - it looks much more difficult than it is. Promise! The basic jist is this: instead of slicing your two tubes of tightly rolled cinnamon roll dough into individual buns, slice each tube lengthwise with a sharp knife and arrange them side by side, cut side up. See the illustration below to understand how to braid the strands. You should now have four “strands.” If you are having trouble slicing, try getting your knife a bit wet, and clean between each cut. 
To braid: Pinch the top ends together. Now, take the left strand and move it over two strands (to the right) and under one strand back to the left. Switch to the other side: take the most right strand and lift it over two strands to the left and back under one strand to the right. Repeat, alternating from left side to right side until the loaf is complete. I find it easiest to say out loud, “over two under one, over two, under one.” Pinch the ends together and carefully lift and tuck into a 9x5 loaf pan. It really doesn’t have to be perfect, just aim for a reasonably tight braid.
Continue with the recipe as written, allowing the twisted loaf to rise in a cozy spot. You’ll bake at the same temperature noted in the recipe, but for longer with the twisted loaf - closer to 30 minutes. And with a loaf like this, where you run the risk of a doughy interior if you under bake, I like to use an instant read thermometer to make sure the interior hits about 190F. If the top of your loaf darkens before the dough is cooked, tent a piece of foil over the top for the duration of the bake.
More Ideas:
There are a lot of way to go from classic cinnamon rolls to something else. Here are some of the ideas that have come up over the years. For the vegans out there, Shannon notes, "1 cup wheat whole wheat flour and used coconut milk and a flax egg. Topped with nutella and whipped cream." I make a version of the icing with creme fraiche, always a hit, but buttermilk is great too, and easier to come by.
Danielle had this to add," I added 1 tsp of a medicinal masala chai spice blend I ordered on etsy, and it put these over the top!" I love this idea, and heartily encourage experimenting with other spice blends as well. I make these at times with a cinnamon, rose petal, sesame blend. Also, hard to go wrong by using a bit of lemon zest in the bottom of your baking dish.
Hope you love these as much as we have over the years! If you're looking for breakfast recipes don't miss this healthy granola, or the best waffle recipe (seriously!), these classic pancakes, a loaded frittata, tofu scramble, Herb Cream Cheese Scrambled Eggs, and the baked oatmeal is always popular.
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Cinnamon Rolls
If you plan on freezing any of the pre-baked cinnamon rolls, here's what you want to do. Freeze them for an hour on a baking sheet or until they'll hold their shape, then drop them into a freezer bag, squeeze out any air and seal well. The night before you want rolls for brunch, thaw them overnight on your counter top, covered with a clean dish towel, and bake per the instructions below any time the following morning.
- 4 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 1 cup warm whole milk (105F to 115F / 40C to 46C)
- 3/4 cup / 100g brown sugar
- 1 large egg, beaten
- 1/2 cup / 125g unsalted butter, barely melted
- 1 tablespoon ground cardamom
- 1 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
- 4 cups / 600g all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup / 60g brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons cinnamon
- 1/2 cup / 125g unsalted butter, softened
- 1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon of water
- large grain raw sugar or pearl sugar for sprinkling OR icing
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 4 tablespoons buttermilk or heavy cream
- 1/8 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
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Sprinkle the yeast over the warm milk in a large bowl. Add a pinch of the sugar and stir to dissolve the yeast. Let stand for a few minutes or until foamy.
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Add the remaining sugar, the egg, melted butter, and cardamom. Stir until smooth. Stir the salt into the flour, then gradually add the flour to the bowl, a bit at a time, incorporating the flour after each addition. Transfer the dough to a floured counter top and knead for 8-10 minutes, or until the dough is smooth and elastic. Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl, turn it to coat with oil, and cover with a kitchen towel or equivalent. Let the dough rise in a sunny or warm place until doubled, about an hour.
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Cut the dough in half on a floured counter top and form each piece into a ball. One at a time, roll each piece into a rectangle 12 inches/30cm and 1/2 inch/12mm thick. See the photos up above if this is confusing.
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Start by combining the cinnamon and sugar in a small bowl. Spread half of the butter evenly over one rectangle of the dough. Sprinkle half of the sugar mixture evenly across the butter. Roll the dough up tightly lengthwise, then turn it so that the seam side is down. Cut the roll into 12 equal slices, a serrated knife works best. You can bake these, cut-side up, on a parchment lined baking sheet, in cupcake liners, or in a buttered baking dish. I used a well-buttered standard pie dish. Unless you are using individual cupcake liners, you want to arrange the slices about 1/2-inch from each other on the baking sheet or in the baking dish. They rise and expand, and end up nice and snuggly in/on the pan. Repeat with the remaining rectangle of dough and filling. You can freeze any slices you aren't going to bake at this point.
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Cover the rolls you are going to bake with a dry towel and let rise in a sunny or warm spot until doubled, about an hour. The timing is pretty flexible here - you can go a few hours depending on what is convenient.
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Heat the oven to 400F/ 205C with a rack in the top third. Brush the buns with the egg wash and sprinkle with sugar if you like. Bake the buns until golden brown, roughly 15-18 minutes. Don't over bake, the buns will dry out = not as good. Remove from the oven and serve warm if possible, plain or with a slather of icing* on top of each bun.
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Whisk the powdered sugar with the buttermilk, salt, and vanilla together in a small bowl. Stir until smooth, let sit for a few minutes, then adjust with more sifted powdered sugar if you want a stiffer icing, more buttermilk to thin it out.If icing your cinnamon rolls, spread a bit on each individual roll before serving or serving the icing on the side with a palette knife for individual spreading.
Adapted from the Cinnamon Bun recipe in Lotta Jansdotter's Handmade Living: A Fresh Take on Scandinavian Style by Lotta Jansdotter.
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Comments
if my in-laws will permit it, i might be whippin these up christmas eve as well! great idea :)
if you don't have time to roll and bake the dough on the same day you can skip the first proofing stage and refrigerate it overnight, or even 3 days. the dough will slowly proof in the fridge and when you roll out the dough it's much easier to work with. my only change here, as a baker, would be to work the salt in with the flour. having salt & yeast be in such close quarters is dangerous, as salt kills yeast. I especially love that you baked these in a pyrex pie plate. i like to bake mine in a cake pan because they get all cozy. HS: Shuna, that reminds me of the Peter Reinhart Pizza Napoletana dough recipe w/ the overnight rise. I love a good overnight dough. Makes life easier for sure. Also, good call on the salt. Thx. xo
Have you tried baking with soy? My infant daughter can't handle any dairy at all right now, so I'm having to avoid it too. It's making plans for x-mas dinner a bit challenging, but I really want to bake for Christmas breakfast! We tried making pancakes with soy and they were a bit too heavy and thick.
These look delicious! Has anyone tried with a substitute for the egg? I read about the success with soy milk/Earth's Balance, but would like to make completely vegan. Heidi, your blog is a constant inspiration, thank you.
That reminds me of a comment by my Franco/Lebanese cousin about American food: she said she tried cinnamon rolls hot from the oven and thought they were the best thing she had ever had...I could see how this recipe could be a great template for all sorts of interpretations. Happy Holidays!
@marie, I have made cinnamon buns with soy milk and smart balance or earth balance before, and found them to still be yummy and rise properly, etc. In fact, I automatically make those substitutes and was planning to for this recipe as well. I don't celebrate Christmas, but I'm always in favor of a good cinnamon roll recipe!
Oh. My. God. I can TASTE these from the photos....now if I can only successfully make these, it will cement the idea in my kids' psyches that their mom actually can cook...and another childhood memory will be mine! Oh, it's diabolical! Really, I'm trying these today. Wish me luck, and stay tuned... Happy Holidays, Heidi! Thanks for your blog! it's an inspiration.
"Might I suggest a splash of bourbon as well?" ... But of course! It isn't holiday baking at my house without it! Have to admit that I never would have thought to put it in the frosting for cinnamon buns though... double yum! Thank you for pre-testing the freezing capabilities for us. That took these from "maybe making them" to "definitely making them"... Merry Christmas!!
I've made a similar recipe and done the second rise overnight in the fridge -- works well if you just want to make them the night before (no time/need to freeze them first, but still is quick in the morning). Take them out of the fridge 30 minutes before putting them in the oven (use some of this time to preheat your oven). I would guess it would work similarly here. I really like your suggestions for filling modifications; I need to play around with some of those!
I've made cinnamon rolls for Christmas breakfast for years. I make the rolls on Christmas Eve and let them rise in the refrigerator overnight. I'll try freezing them this year and letting them thaw instead. One trick my guys like is when I make them in a cast iron pan. You get a great crust and caramel goo on the bottom that way. It also keeps the rolls warm a bit longer.
Mom loved making cinnamon rolls. She put raisins in with the cinnamon sugar and made a sticky caramel sauce with butter and brown sugar under the rolls. After baking, let the pan sit for just a minute, then cover it with wax (or parchment) paper and a cooling rack. Flip it all over and the sticky caramel runs down over the rolls. Cardamom sounds so tasty and different from hers. I'm gonna have to try this.
mmm, nothing better than hot cinnamon buns on Christmas morning! yum!
Sorry, too quick a trigger finger. I also wondered if the milk should not be scalded? My understanding is that milk contains a protein that inhibits the yeast, and that it is denatured if you scald the milk first. Does anyone who is a better baker than I know?
Really? A tablespoon of cardamom. Seems like a lot.
This recipe is just what I've been looking for--I bet your home smells divine! Quick question: is 4 teaspoons of yeast one or more packets? Thanks! PS Your raw kale salad has become a family staple!
Like you I love cinnamon buns (or a coffee cake) for Christmas morning along with fresh fruit and a simple quiche. Oh yeah and not to forget the mimosas! I like the freezing and unthawing over night. So much cooking in so little time can make one tired and cranky! Anything that can be done in advance I am in favor of. Love it.
Sounds like the beginning of a wonderful family tradition! And I like the part where you got to make two test batches!
The smell of cinnamon buns (kanelbullar) is always the first thing I notice when I return home to Sweden. Here we eat them all through the year! I've got lots of traditional Swedish recipes translated into English on my website if anybody is interested. This post has made my heart warm. Tack! x
these look *amazing*. when i was a kid we always had blueberry muffins fresh from the oven on christmas morning. cinnamon rolls might make a nice change... call me a dork, but do you think you could sub whole wheat pastry flour, or would it destroy the texture? HS: Hi Laura, I haven't had a chance to work out any sort of whole-grain flour version of the cinnamon buns, but I have some ideas. I'm thinking a rye flour version, or maybe one with white whole wheat flour. Prob.some sort of a blend. For next year!
Do you think you could let these do the second rise in the refridgerator overnight? I, too, have been thinking a lot about cinnamon rolls for Christmas, although I plan to make the filling with cardamom rather than cinnamon. However, I'm traveling home for Christmas and won't get back early enough to warrant freezing and defrosting, so I'm looking for alternatives for the second rise. Thanks!