The Best Cinnamon Buns
These are the absolute best cinnamon best! Perfect for Christmas morning.
My family LOVES these cinnamon buns. They never last very long so I always make a lot!
Today I’m joining a Christmas treats tour hosted by my friend Kristen of Ella Claire. Be sure to visit all Christmas treats at the end of this post.
recipe tips
Update: Recently I added some heavy cream over the dough before I baked it and it made the buns extra moist! I’ve added it to the recipe below but it’s optional.
This recipe is doubled so it can easily be halved if you want to make less. It makes 14-20 cinnamon rolls (depending if you’re rolling them up to make large or small cinnamon buns).
Here is a photo of the dough after it sat for an hour or more to rise. If you are finding that your dough isn’t rising, put your oven on and place the bowl on top to warm it up. It won’t rise if it’s too cold.
My kids don’t like raisins so I make one half with raisins and one half with.
Then I roll up it up from the bottom (the smaller side) to create bigger rolls.
Then I cut about 2 inch slices and place them down in a baking dish.
Sometimes I melt the butter (like in the photo above) and sometimes I just spread on softened butter with a knife (like in the photo below).
To save yourself time on Christmas morning, prepare the cinnamon bun dough the night before. Follow the recipe until putting the rolls in the pan then cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator overnight. In the morning, remove it and let rise for about 90 minutes then bake and make the glaze.
I added glaze to these cinnamon buns when they were still quite warm so depending on how you like it, you can add the glaze when it’s warm or cooled down.
The Best Cinnamon Buns
Ingredients
Dough:
- 1 cup milk
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1/2 cup lukewarm water
- 1 envelope active dry yeast
- 1 egg, slightly beaten
- 4 1/2 -5 cups all purpose flour
- 1/4 cup butter softened
- 3/4 cup lightly packed brown sugar
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2-1 cup raisins (optional)
- 1/4 cup heavy cream (optional)
Glaze:
- 2 cups icing sugar (confectioner’s or powdered sugar)
- 1/4 cup butter
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 4 tbsp milk
Instructions
Dough:
- Scald milk and pour into a large bowl. Add sugar, salt and butter. Stir until butter melts.
- Dissolve 1 tsp sugar in 1/2 cup lukewarm water. Sprinkle in yeast. Let stand for 10 minutes.
- Stir yeast mixture with a fork and add to milk mixture. Stir in egg.
- Beat in 2 cups flours. Beat vigorously by mixer about 6 min until shiny and smooth.
- With dough blade on mixer, gradually add 2 1/2 to 3 cups more flour.
- Turn dough onto a floured surface and knead for about 5 minutes. Shape into a smooth ball and placed into a greased bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for about 90 min in a warm space until double in size.
- Punch the dough and cut in half.
- Roll out dough into two 9×12 rectangles onto a floured surface.
- Mix butter, sugar and cinnamon together in a bowl and brush onto dough.
- Roll up like a jelly roll and cut into 1-2 inch slices (for big cinnamon buns roll up from short side).
- Place slices cut side down into greased pan. Cover and let rise for about 45 minutes or until double in size.
- Optional: for extra moist buns, drizzle about 1/4 cup of heavy cream over the buns before you bake them.
- Preheat oven to 350 deg F and bake for about 20 min until golden brown.
Glaze:
- Mix together glaze ingredients and pour over warm (not hot) rolls in the pan.
Now be sure to visit all the other recipes below!
Make sure to pin it for later!
click in case you missed:
Easiest Shortbread Cookies Ever
4 Minute Decadent Microwave Fudge by Ella Claire | Gluten/Dairy Free Rice Krispies Christmas Trees by Zevy Joy | Dipped Marshmallows by My Sweet Savannah | Individual Chocolate Souffle by Town and Country Living | Santa Munch Christmas Popcorn by Tidy Mom
Mini Skillet Cookie Cakes by Inspired by Charm | Cinnamon Buns by So Much Better with Age | Peanut Butter Fudge by Anderson + Grant | Peppermint Brownies by Nina Hendrick Design Co. | Deconstructed Apple Pie Bites by Taryn Whiteaker
Christmas Energy Snack Bites by Nest of Posies | Peppermint Bark by Boxwood Avenue | Gluten Free Chocolate Peanut Butter Truffles by Tidbits | Keto Cinnamon Sugar Pecans by Home Stories A to Z | Candy Cane Pretzels by My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Caramel Popcorn Crunch by Shabby Fufu | Individual Ornament Cakes by Summer Adams Designs
Jamie, these look delectable! I’ve had such a craving for cinnamon buns lately. I’m going to try your recipe. Thanks for sharing it!
These look so good, I love making cinnamon buns Christmas morning, I’m going to give this a try!
these buns look super tasty. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
My children hadn’t tried these until we went to the USA and now cinnamon rolls are our Christmas morning breakfast. Looking forward to trying your recipe Jamie, as it is different to my own.
Thank you for sharing at Create, Bake, Grow & Gather this week. I’m delighted to be featuring your recipe at tonight’s party and pinning too.
Merry Christmas,
Kerryanne
I’m veering from my usual recipe to try this one!
I made these for Valentine’s Day. They were amazing! I made them ready the night before but was a little unsure because they didn’t rise for some reason. But Ivtook them out of the fridge in the morning (sliced and ready for 2nd rise) and they rose no problem and were so so good! We planned to put cream cheese icing on them but I first tried your glaze and it was so good we didn’t bother with the cream cheese. Thanks Jamie!
Thanks Julia! I’m so glad you liked them!
Hugs, Jamie