Cinnamon rolls

Cinnamon rolls: sticky, soft, moist and yummm...One whiff of the cinnamon and I am ready to stop my calorie counting to enjoy a roll or two! The warm gooey moist look of the rolls really seal the deal for me. The high-calorie is the only reason I make these once in a rare while. Having a bread-machine makes it easier to make this one. But a food processor/hand mixer can be used just the same. Even hand kneading is not too difficult with this one since you only need to knead once and then simply shape the bread after leaving it to raise. Totally worth the effort and wait.


You will need (for dough):
4 - 5 cups (530 - 660 grams) all-purpose flour
3-4 tbsps mashed potatoes or instant mash (optional)
1 package (7 grams) (2 teaspoons) active dry yeast
1 cup milk
1/3 cup (75 grams) unsalted butter
1/3 cup granulated white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs or 3/4 cup egg substitute (for vegans)

For filing:
3/4 - 1 cup (160-200 grams) packed light brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 cup (227 grams) unsalted butter, cold (cut into pieces)
1/2 cup (120 ml) raisins or currants (optional)
Glaze: (Optional)
1/2 cup (58 grams) icing sugar
1 - 2 tablespoons milk
3-4 tbsp cream cheese softened (optional)







Warm up milk and butter in the microwave or stove top until butter is just melted. It should just be lukewarm. When a few drops are placed on your wrist it should not be too hot. If it is allow it cool until it becomes lukewarm.

Mix up butter and milk well.







Add eggs/egg substitute and lightly whisk until well blended. It should all come up to nearly 500 ml. If not add more milk/water. Avoid the urge to add more egg substitute as they tend to make the dough gooey on the inside. 

Place the milk-butter-egg mixture in the bread machine/food processor/electric mixer or a large bowl. Add 3 and 1/2 to 4 cups of flour. If your bread machine instructs to place the liquids on top, reverse the order given here. You can use food processor or electric mixers or hand mix too. If using fresh mashed potatoes add them along with liquid items.

Add sugar, salt, yeast and instant mash. The mashed potatoes give moist crumby rolls that are extra yummy. If you prefer not to add it you can leave it out without affecting the recipe.


Set the bread machine to dough cycle and let it do it's thing. You can hand knead or use food processor/electric mixer. Knead in the food processor/mixer at low speed for 3 minutes. Remember to scrape out the sides occasionally to make sure you got all of them. You can add more or less of the flour. I found 4 cups of flour was perfect. But many things affect the flour-liquid ratio including flour quality, humidity and temperature etc. So if you feel that you need more add 2 tbsp at a time until you get a smooth dough. It should not be sticky but firm dough that when pressed springs back up.

Cover with damp towel and leave to raise for about 1 hr until doubled in size (shown). The bread machine automatically beeps after the raise time. Sorry about the hazy picture. I was trying to get a picture with one hand while helping my 3 yr old dust the counter with flour. 

Grease a baking sheet well with butter. I use parchment paper for easy cleaning :)

Turn the dough over onto a lightly floured surface (erm... this is lightly dusted with flour according to my 3 yr old!). Punch out the air and roll it out into 15 inch square. If you like thicker rolls, go for 12 inch square instead.






Mean while add brown sugar and cold butter and cinnamon (for the filling) into a mixing bowl and mix the butter well into the sugar using pastry cutter or fork.

It should look like this.

Spread it out evenly on the rolled out dough leaving out an inch or so on the sides to seal.

Roll the square tightly and seal the sides by brushing some milk and pinching them to form a log. Rolling tightly and sealing is very important. This will make sure that the sugar does not leak out when baking.

Cut the log into 12-16 even-sized rolls depending on the thickness you want. Cover with cling/plastic wrap and let them raise again for another 1 hr in room temperature or place them over night in the warmest spot of your fridge. You can also freeze these in ziplock bags for later use.

24 hrs before you want the rolls, you can take the dough from the freezer and leave them to thaw out in the fridge. When you are ready to bake. Take the dough from the fridge and leave them out at room temperature while your oven preheats. Preheat the oven to 160 degree Celcius (fan assisted). Make sure you have enough space between the rolls as they will expand when baking. Now slightly brush them with milk at room temperature (optional). This gives the golden crust that looks so tempting!!




While the rolls bake, mix icing sugar with milk for the frosting. You can add butter or cream cheese to these to give it more yummy taste and a beautiful white color. But I did not do it thinking that the rolls were already calorie heavy :) But go for it if you fancy them.

Bake them at 160 degrees for 30-40 mins depending on how thick you cut them. If they brown too early cover with kitchen foil.

Here are the rolls all baked. When you thump them on the bottom they should sound hollow. If not pop them back in the oven covered in the kitchen foil for another 5-10 mins.

Allow to cool slightly and then drizzle the icing over all the rolls. Serve warm. You can stick them in the microwave for 15-20 secs per roll to warm them back up for breakfast. They are great for tea time snack as well and go great with tea, coffee or hot chocolate. Adding cream cheese to the icing will give a much better white color (than you see here) making them look irresistible, drool!! :)


After gobbling a roll for breakfast this morning, my 3 yr old critic said, "It is yummy, Mummy, well done. Give yourself a clap and I will give you a well done sticker when I am done." It was a perfect way to start the day for me. Cinnamon rolls with coffee and a praise from my critic was just icing on top of it making it all the more sweeter. Hope you enjoy yours soon!

I am sending this one to What is with my cuppa and Nupur's page , Favorite recipes: Non indian food hosted by Sheelu Agarwal.