Cinnamon Buns
After the holiday season comes to an end and all of the Christmas cookies are snug in our stomachs, I have one singular issue to address: I need more sweet treats around the house!! My decision of what to make, following my mom’s delicious Christmas cookies, was quite simple. It had to be cinnamon buns!
Their fluffy and doughy inside, crisp and buttery outside and creamy glaze on top was the only convincing I needed. My recipe is loosely based on Sally’s Baking Addiction, with my own changes to become exactly how I like it.
I’ve always enjoyed baking cinnamon buns, anything that entails kneading dough is a baking project I have fun with. But actually rolling them up into wheels is what makes cinnamon buns extra exciting to make!
It has taken me awhile to find a recipe that I really love and that sits perfect with me, until I realized I had to make some tweaks, with the help of one of my favorite influencers, Helene Myhre. This travel influencer residing in Norway, is quite known for her cinnamon buns where she creates pop up shops to sell them as she travels all around her country. From this cinnamon bun connoisseur, I learned two very important things:
Brush the cinnamon buns withe melted butter the exact second you take them out of the oven
Add cardamom to the filling
While these tweaks may seem small, they are what led me to finally create my version of perfect cinnamon buns. The fresh out of the oven cinnamon buns are so hot that the butter just oozes down the center of them, not only creating a nice layer on the top, but also giving the bun a little extra softness. Once the butter dries on top, the outer edge of the dough is left just a littttllllee crisper than before… just how I like it!
INGREDIENTS:
Dough
3 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup whole milk
3 tbsp butter
2 and 1/4 teaspoons yeast (or one packet)
1 large egg
2 tsp cinnamon
Cinnamon Filling
3 tbsp butter
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon
2 tsp cardamon
1/2 tsp salt
Glaze
1 and 1/2 powdered sugar
2 tbsp butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 and 1/2 tbsp milk (substitute heavy cream)
DIRECTIONS:
Combine 2 and 3/4 cup flour, sugar and salt into a large bowl and whisk until well mixed.
Melt butter in microwave, then add milk and microwave until warm.
Add yeast to mixture and stir until yeast has dissolved.
Add mixture and egg to the large bowl with the dry ingredients and mix with wooden spoon.
Add cinnamon once fully mixed.
Knead with flour covered hands and gradually add 1/4 cup left of flour into the dough ball until it isn’t sticky anymore. Knead for 5 minutes or until a solid ball is formed.
Let sit for 5-10 minutes covered with clean kitchen towel while you prepare the filling.
Melt butter, then mix in brown sugar, cinnamon, cardamom and salt.
Take dough ball out of bowl, and lay it on a clean, and flour covered surface. Roll out dough with rolling pan until about 1/4 inch thick, into as much of a rectangular shape as you can get it.
Spread the filling with a spoon across all areas of the dough.
Cut a vertical line about 1.5 inches apart from each other with a pizza cutter or knife. Cut these sections in half horizontally.
Roll up each cut section into a cinnamon bun!
Place each bun into a lightly greased 8x8 glass or metal pan and let sit with a clean kitchen towel, or aluminum foil for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Buns should double in size!
Preheat oven to 375° and stick pan in the oven. Let cook for 25 minutes.
AS SOON AS IT COMES OUT OF THE OVEN and not a moment later … brush 1 tbsp melted butter on the tops of all the buns!!!
Mix powdered sugar, melted butter, vanilla extract and milk together and pour over the top. Do this step a little after its cooled so it doesn’t melt to the bottom right away.
ENJOY :)
Cinnamon buns pre-baked, doubled in size
I hope you enjoy the recipe and enjoy your post-holiday sweet treat!! I have plenty more recipes (and sweet treats) to come in the new year… some healthy some absolutely not!