Cinnamon Rolls. A perfectly comforting baked good if there ever was one. And though some may think it's difficult to make, it can actually be super doable, even for beginners! So if you're looking for an easy and delicious cinnamon roll recipe to try your hand at making them, look no further. Best of all, you won't even need a mixer for this (though you can still use it if you want to!). You'll need to knead the dough by hand for only 10 minutes, and the rest is easy-peasy.
Ingredients
For the dough:
- 55g butter, softened
- ¾ cup milk
- 3 ¼ all purpose flour
- ¼ cup white sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 packet (11g) instant yeast
- ¼ cup water
- 1 egg
For the filling:
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ½ tablespoon cinnamon
- 75g butter, softened
Directions
- Heat milk in a small pot over medium heat until it starts bubbling around the edges. Remove from the heat, add the 55g of softened butter and mix until melted. Pour into a separate jug or container and let cool until warm (you should be able to hold the jar comfortably).
- In a large bowl, combine 2 ¼ cups of flour, yeast, sugar and salt. Using a whisk, mix well.
- Add water, egg, milk and butter mixture. Mix until well-combined.
- Add remaining flour, ½ cup at a time, mixing well after each addition. As the dough starts forming, it'll get difficult with the whisk - I recommend swapping to a spatula, or better still, just using your hands - it'll be sticky at first but just keep kneading to combine and it'll get less sticky as your dough forms.
- When the dough has come together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead by hand until smooth, about 10 - 12 minutes.
- Form the dough into a ball, cover with a damp cloth and let rest for 10 minutes.
- In the meantime, get the filling ready. Combine brown sugar, cinnamon and softened butter in a small bowl and mix into a paste.
- After the dough has rested for 10 minutes, using a rolling pin, roll out the dough on a floured surface into a rectangle measuring about 12 x 9 inches. Try and get the thickness of the dough even across the rectangle so you won't end up with rolls of super varying sizes.
- Spread the filling mixture over the dough. Starting from the bottom, roll it up - try and keep your rolls tight and neat, so you can have nice looking rolls! Pinch the seams to seal.
- Slice the roll to form rounds of about 3/4 of an inch thick. Place each roll, cut side up, on a lightly greased pan that will fit all your rolls (you should be able to get 10 - 12 rolls, depending on how thick you cut your slices),
- Cover with the damp cloth again and let them rest until doubled in size (about half an hour). Preheat the oven to 190 degrees Celsius.
- Bake for around 20 minutes (though you should start checking from 15 minutes onwards!) or until golden brown. Let cool slightly before eating.
Notes:
- If using a stand mixer, use the dough hook attachment. When mixing up the dry ingredients, you may have to scrape down sides with a spatula a few times to make sure it's all combined. After the dough has come together, let the machine knead the dough for 8 - 10 minutes.
- Want to go the extra mile and cover your rolls with a glaze? Try this icing recipe from Julie Blanner or this cream cheese frosting recipe from AllRecipes.
- Not sure how to knead dough? Check out this instruction video by King Arthur Flour.
Cinnamon rolls are a great treat to have pretty much any time of the day, and when they're this easy to make, why wouldn't you? Give this recipe a shot and get your house smelling delicious with the scent of these rolls baking in the oven!