Easy Homemade Cinnamon Rolls

These fluffy and moist homemade Cinnamon Rolls are surprisingly easy to make. Knead, roll and bake.. it’s as easy as that! 

Believe it or not this was my first time baking cinnamon rolls. One more recipe SUCCESSFULLY ticked off my baking wishlist! Yayyie for me! This sweet cinnamon rolls recipe is perfect and is definitely a winner. My rolls were amazingly fluffy and just enough moist, the coffee glaze tastes perfect with cinnamon and brings out its flavor. I couldn’t stop marveling at my perfect rolls because they looked as great as they tasted.

I’ll admit that I was very intimidated by cinnamon rolls before baking these like I  am from anything “fancy” looking but these rolls surprised me. They were actually really easy to make and I didn’t have to struggle while rolling at all. The dough is just enough moist and rolls perfectly and since there’s no wet filling in the rolls, they didn’t even stick. I had a little hard time rolling my pizza rolls  because of the wet pizza sauce (they were gorgeously tasty though, which made them worth the effort 😉 Check out the recipe here) but the filling in my cinnamon rolls is softened butter instead of melted butter which was very easy to manage. A generous sprinkling of cinnamon and sugar on the butter was just perfect and they rolled like a dream! I suggest you to make these even if you’re a beginner at baking because if I can make such pretty rolls at my first attempt, anyone can 🙂

I remember eating cinnamon rolls at Cinnabon in the skin piercing winters of London, they were gorgeous in winters but something about these rolls is so comforting that you wouldn’t mind eating them any day. I can eat them be it summer or winters! But I also remember the Cinnabons to be overpowering-ly sweet (if that’s a word). With that much sweetness, one cannot eat more than a roll at once so I kept the sweetness balanced in my rolls. They were sweet enough to make everything taste great without making you feel full and high on sugar.

I’m really proud of these cinnamon rolls because I developed this recipe. After researching a number of recipes, I realized there’s not one recipe that I love. One made too many rolls, the other didn’t look appealing, then there are blogs with vegan recipes with products that are hard to find. I had to develop this out of need and I’m glad I did. This recipe made 9 medium sized rolls but if you have a bigger dish you can of course cut out more, be sure to keep them approximately 2 inches wide and you’re good to go!

The coffee glaze I made has been inspired from a number of blogs but I’m glad that with a little hit and trial I landed on the the perfect recipe I can proudly call mine. This glaze doesn’t have a strong coffee flavor but just enough for it to qualify as a “coffee glaze” :p I loved the hints of coffee from the glaze against the sweet cinnamon, works perfectly every time!

Can you see how beautiful they look pre-baked? I loved seeing these rolls rise. I’m in awe of the power of yeast, it really is my new found love! You just have to knead and then leave it upto the yeast to do the rest! That’s what I did with these rolls. After making the dough I kneaded it for about 4 minutes until it was silky smooth and then rolled it out in to a 14×8 inches rectangle. After brushing it with softened butter and sprinkling it with cinnamon sugar mix I rolled it up in a tight log and cut out 9 pieces. Then its upto the yeast to do the rest! You line small unappealing rolls in a pie dish and after 60 minutes they turn into these beautiful swirls. All you need to do now is out them in the oven and prepare the coffee glaze ! Sounds easy? So get ready to make the best Cinnamon Rolls in the world:D

RECIPE: Easy Homemade Cinnamon Rolls

INGREDIENTS

Makes: 9 Medium Sized Rolls    

Prep Time: 1 hour 35 minutes approx (including dough rising time)

Baking Time: 20-25 minutes

For the Dough

• All Purpose Flour, 3 cups (390 grams approx.)
• Granulated Sugar, 3 1/2 tablespoons
• Salt, 1 teaspoon
• Active Dry Yeast, 2 1/4 teaspoons
• Lukewarm Water, 1/2 cup
• Milk, 1/2 cup
• Melted Butter, 3 tablespoons

For the Filling

• Softened Butter, as needed
• Cinnamon Powder, 1 1/2 tablespoon
• Caster Sugar or Powdered Sugar, 4-5 tablespoons

For the Coffee Glaze

• Icing Sugar, 2/3 cup
• Vanilla Essence, 1 teaspoon
• Black Coffee, 2 tablespoons
• Milk, 2-3 tablespoons

METHOD

Make the Dough

1. Proof your yeast: In a jar pour lukewarm water, the water must be warm enough (test by inserting your fingers in it, if you can keep your finger in the warm warm comfortably then go ahead otherwise wait until it cools down. Make sure the water isn’t cold though, the yeast will not wake up if the water is not warm enough) Mix 1/2 teaspoon sugar in the water until it has completely dissolved, this will act as food for the yeast. Once the water is the right temperature and the sugar has dissolved, sprinkle the yeast over it, mix using a spoon, cover tightly with cling film or plastic wrap and leave aside for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes the yeast mixture must appear foamy which means the yeast is now active and ready to be used, if it doesn’t then start again. You don’t want to take chances with this step.
2. In a bowl, mix together flour, remaining sugar, salt and add the yeast water to it. Now add in the melted butter and milk and form a dough. If the dough appears dry add a little more milk, it should be on the sticky side.
3. On a well floured surface, knead the dough ball for 4 minutes until it is silky smooth and let it rest in a bowl (greased with butter or oil) for 10 minutes in a warm place (I preheat my oven at 200 degrees Celsius for 3 minutes and keep my bowl in it). If the dough is sticky add more flour to the surface and keep using until your dough ball looks and feels silky. Do not go overboard with the flour though, too much flour will ruin the fluffiness.
4. Take the dough ball and roll it out into a 14×8 inches rectangle.

Assemble the Rolls

1. In a bowl, mix together the cinnamon and caster sugar. Now using a pastry brush or spatula coat the dough rectangle made in step 4 with softened butter. Sprinkle generously with the cinnamon sugar mix.
2. Start rolling from the longer side and form a neat tight log. Cut out 2 inches thick rolls, you should have about 9 of them, line them in a pie dish greased with butter and sprinkled with caster sugar.
3. Line the rolls in the dish far from each other. My pie dish was 7 1/2 inches in diameter but I recommend using 9 inches pie dish. The rolls will have more space and will rise more. Mine were a bit too tight.
4. Cover lightly with foil paper and let them rise in a warm place for 60-90 minutes until they have doubled in size, mine took 75 minutes. (For a warm place I preheat my oven at 200 degrees Celsius for 3 minutes and keep my bowl in it).
5. Once the rolls have risen, bake them in a preheated (180 degrees Celsius for 5 minutes) oven at 180 degrees for 25 minutes or until evenly browned. Cover the rolls after 15 minutes with foil to avoid heavy browing.

For the Coffee Glaze:

Mix icing sugar, milk, vanilla essence and coffee until you achieve a smooth runny glaze. Spread it evenly on the rolls once the cool down.

And get ready to eat the best homemade cinnamon rolls ever!

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