Okay, this is going to sound crazy but my mom doesn’t like cinnamon. She basically deprived me of a childhood filled with cinnamon toast, snicker doodles and cinnamon rolls. Thankfully for me, I discovered the good stuff at the mall where I would shamelessly line up again and again for the free Cinnabon samples. Those were the carefree days of samples without the question of, “Where’s your mommy?” The days before constant parental supervision, rampant allergies and lawsuits.
Those were the days my friend! The first time I had that soft, sweet cinnamon-y-sugar, cream cheese topped deliciousness on a toothpick my life changed. I was totally, completely in love. Cinnabons were way better than Coco Pebbles, Fruit Roll Ups and FunDip.
Cinnamon buns truly make everything right with the world. I had a lot of fun making this recipe, mostly because I hardly ever work with yeasted doughs – I even had to go out and buy yeast because my yeast was dead. Fresh yeast in hand, I knew that I wanted to make a simple, no-knead sweet dough and used the basic no-knead ratio of 100 parts flour, 1 part yeast and 70 parts water. I added in sugar to make it a sweet dough and that was it: super simple, no-knead cinnamon buns. Of course, it’s not like cinnamon bun dough needs much kneading anyway, but I’m on the no-knead bandwagon and I’m not hopping off any time soon!
I am cream cheese topped, I am cinnamon swirled: I am a cinnabon!
The Best No-Knead Cinnamon Roll/Cinnabon Recipe
makes 9 rollsBuns
- 1 cup + 2 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon milk
- 1 teaspoon active dry yeast
- 2 1/4 cups bread flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons butter
- 1 room temperature egg, lightly beaten
Filling
- 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
- 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon flour
- 1/4 cup butter, at room temperature
Frosting
- 4 ounces whipped cream cheese (about a cup)
- 2 tablespoons room temperature butter
- 1/4 cup sugar
Melt the butter in the microwave and set aside to cool. Mix together the milk and yeast and set aside. In a large bowl, stir together the bread flour, salt and sugar. By now the butter should be slightly cool – add it to the milk and whisk. Add the beaten egg and make sure everything is mixed together throughly.
Add the milk mixture to the flour and stir until everything comes together in a fairly wet dough. Cover with saran wrap and proof for 2 hours.
In a small bowl, mix together the brown sugar, cinnamon and flour. Set aside. Line a 8-inch pan with parchment paper.
After 2 hours, the dough should have doubled in sized. I like to work my dough on parchment paper as it makes it easier to pick up the edge of the dough when rolling. If you are going to work on parchment paper, be sure to tape it down so it doesn’t move while you’re rolling. Generously flour your workspace and hands. Scrape the dough out onto the floured workspace and dust with flour. The dough will be very soft and quite sticky so if you need to dust it, go ahead and dust generously.
Roll out the dough to a 14 x 20″ rectangle. Spread the 1/4 cup of room temperature butter out evenly over the dough and then evenly sprinkle on the cinnamon-sugar-flour mixture. Roll the dough up, starting at a short edge. Cut into 9 equal pieces and place in your prepared pan. Cover with saran wrap and proof for 1 hour.
At this point, you can hold the buns in the fridge if needed. I did just that as I had to run out and do some errands. I returned to bake them after 2 hours, but if you’d like to prepare them the night before and bake them off in the morning that would work too.
To bake: Preheat the oven to 350°F. Remove the buns from the fridge as the oven is heating up. Bake for 30-35 minutes. While the buns are baking, make the frosting. Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Fold in the whipped cream cheese until smooth. Set aside in the fridge.
When the buns are done, the tops should be golden brown and a skewer poked through should come out clean. Frost immediately for the Cinnabon look. Let cool slightly and enjoy warm.
A FEW NOTES:
This dough is extremely soft and sticky due to it’s 69% hydration. While drier doughs are easier to handle, this dough yields a supremely soft bun with a delicate crumb. I think it’s well worth the stickiness!
I like using whipped cream cheese for frostings because, well, it’s already whipped which makes it super easy. With whipped cream cheese you don’t get any of those annoying bits of cream cheese in your frosting, just super smooth creaminess.
These keep in the fridge for up to a week, covered. If anything the taste better as they age, but be sure to microwave them a bit before eating though – 20 seconds ought to do it!
PS – I’m heading off to the Saveur Best Food Blog Awards in Vegas tomorrow! I’m so excited to meet everyone! I’ll be the awkward, fan-girly one. You can check out my pictures on Instagram. If I remember to post that is. After all, you know what they say!
I’m excited to try this recipe !! Thank You!!
I’ve never successfully baked anything in my life unfortunately. UNTIL today that is! Just made this recipe and it was better than I could have imagined. My partner is on his 3rd bun in less than half an hour haha. Thank you so much for posting this. Its encourgaed me to attempt more baked good in the future!
I really like your your writing style and your recipe am going to try. Many thanks.
Is bread flour the same as cake flour? Im from India, where one doesnt get either, and I found a method to make cake flour at home by adding cornstarch. Cant find anything on how to make bread flour.
Hi Sharan,
Bread flour has more protein than regular all purpose and even more than cake. You could try with all-purpose, but I haven’t tried it before. I wouldn’t use cake flour though. Hope that helps!
This calls for active dry yeast, but you don’t seem to be activating the yeast. Does this mean you’re using instant yeast? Otherwise, I’m not sure how the yeast would activate in the milk, alone, especially if it’s not heated… Can you clarify?
hi sara,
i used active dry, with the residual heat from the butter being enough to activate, plus the slow rise time. you can certainly use instant yeast as well. if you’re concerned about the rise, you can heat the milk to 110°f, but i didn’t find it necessary.
I’m baking it right now! Sadly, they didn’t turn out like yours. It was difficult to roll them up and it’s more like a bun instead of a cinnamon roll. Wonder why all my no knead dough isn’t as pretty as how the bloggers do it. Is there anything I should rectify?
baking has so many factors, it’s hard to tell! is your kitchen warm? this dough is notoriously difficult to work with because it has such a high hydration, which makes it super soft and fluffy. it’s best to work quickly, in a relatively cold kitchen with dough that is straight out of the fridge. hope that helps!
I made these yesterday and baked them this morning. They are wonderful! I did add 1/8 tsp .each almond and vanilla extract to the dough, however. I also had to melt the butter to spread it over the dough. I thought I had my rolling surface well floured, but the dough still pulled against the parchment as I made the log. I had to use a knife to tease it free, and then eventually lifted the parchment to help me roll it up. So make sure to use plenty of flour. I would also check as I rolled the dough out to make sure it was still freely moving. I think next time I will find a glaze that is butter, 10x and perhaps cream for the topping. The cream cheese is just a bit on the tart side for me.
Can we freeze these for later use? How long do they keep? Can I freeze the frosting too?
i haven’t tried freezing them but i think it would work. are you freezing unbaked? you should probably thaw them overnight in the fridge before baking.