I have a love of cinnamon rolls. Actually, it might border on obsession. When Barry and I were first married, we would bake and eat an entire roll of Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls. Yes, I know you’re doing the math – that’s 8 rolls….four each. And I’m not ashamed. I even licked my fingers to ensure I had eaten all the topping that was to be found.
I’ve only made them from scratch a few times because it’s a lot of work to get up and make dough, then let it raise and THEN make the cinnamon rolls. Yes, I’m a morning person but 5am is just a tad bit early for me to be making noise in the kitchen. But, then I had a revelation….and I was in the bathroom. For some reason, I seem to have my biggest revelations in the shower. It’s because I don’t have any paper to write it down. What if I could let them raise overnight in the refrigerator and THEN bake them in the morning! *Hallelujah chorus!* Almost wants to make you take a shower, doesn’t it?
You’ll need yeast, warm water, milk, sucanat, coconut oil, baking powder, salt, egg, white wheat flour, butter, and cinnamon. First, in your mixture bowl, dissolve the yeast in your warm water. When it looks all happy and combined you’re ready for action!
Time to add the milk, sucanat, coconut oil, baking powder, salt, egg, and 2 cups of the flour. Turn your mixer to 1 and let it mix for about 2 minutes. You might need to scrape down the sides to insure everything gets mixed up. I’m mixed up most of the time….and it doesn’t even take two minutes.
Add enough of the remainder of your flour until you get a kneadable dough. If you’re using freshly ground flour, don’t add too much (that will result in a less-dry dough)…you can add more at the end if you need to. Knead on setting 1 for 6 minutes.
Turn your dough out of the bowl, grease the bowl with butter or oil, and then put the dough back in. Turn it over to grease the entire surface. Cover with a towel and let it rise until it’s doubled. I put mine in the oven with only the light on. That’s my favorite way to raise dough.
I usually clean off a kitchen counter to do my rolling on….I have a board for that, but it never seems to be big enough. Dust the surface with flour and roll your dough out until it’s about 12 inches by 10 inches. I’m always moving my dough while I’m rolling it out, to insure it doesn’t stick to the counter.
Spread the entire surface of the dough with butter. Be liberal with it. Love the butter. Spread it thick. It will make happiness. I used the softened butter from my Butter Bell. Softened butter spreads easier than butter straight from the fridge. In a small bowl, combine ¼ cup of sucanat and 2 teaspoons of cinnamon. Sprinkle this mixture over your butter. Go all the way to the edges. Leave no dough behind.
Roll the dough up tightly. When I’ve done this part, I always take my hands and press them on either end, pushing the dough in, evening up my dough so that it’s the same thickness all the way up and down the roll. Cut the roll into 12 pieces. I always use my tomato knife because it works so well for cutting dough. Try it some time. If you don’t have one – buy one. Rada brand. Thank you.
It’s dark now, can you tell? Put your rolls in a greased 9×13 pan and cover them with………….a shower cap. Just do it. Because putting a shower cap on your head; that just doesn’t make any sense. Ahem. Stick them in the fridge for about 12 hours.
They won’t raise much in the fridge – just a tad. Put the rolls into a COLD OVEN and then preheat it to 350 degrees. Putting it in the oven while it’s cold will let the rolls raise while the oven heats up. Bake for about 20 minutes total. Now, you might need to bake longer……ovens vary. For instance, I can’t bake anything at my mom’s house. I burn it. I know my oven intimately. Do you know your oven intimately? Check it after 20 minutes and see how much longer you might need.
While they are baking, make your icing. You’ll need softened butter, softened cream cheese, vanilla, maple flavoring, powdered sucanat, and milk. See the post about chocolate peanut butter to see how I make my powdered sucanat. Blend it all together until no lumps remain. Check behind you to make sure Barry and Annie aren’t watching. Test it. Hmmm. Pretty good. Test it more. Make sure to leave some for the buns. Icing on buns is over-rated. Icing in your mouth – not over-rated.
When the rolls are done, spread them with your icing. Make sure to do it while they’re hot so the icing melts a bit. Ohhhhhh baby. Be liberal. Like Pioneer Woman says, “if some is good, more is better.”
Serve them hot for a happy family. For the leftovers, I just warmed them the next morning at 350 for a few minutes. Cinnamon Roll bliss……and you made it from scratch. Pat yourself on the back….unless there is still icing on your hand.
Overnight Cinnamon Rolls
Rolls:
- 1 package yeast (2 ¼ teaspoons)
- ¼ cup warm water
- 1 cup warm milk
- 3 tablespoons sucanat
- 3 tablespoons coconut oil, melted
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 egg
- 3 ½ cups white wheat flour (hard white wheat)
- Softened butter for spreading
- ¼ cup sucanat
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
Icing:
- 2 tablespoons softened butter
- 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ½ teaspoon maple flavoring
- 1 ½ cups powdered sucanat
- 1 tablespoon milk
- In the bowl of your stand mixer, dissolve the yeast in warm water.
- Add milk, sucanat, coconut oil, baking powder, salt, egg, and 2 cups of the flour. Beat on speed 1 for two minutes or until thoroughly combined.
- Add remainder of flour until you get a stiff dough.
- Knead on setting 1 for 6 minutes.
- Turn dough out and grease the bowl with oil or butter.
- Return dough to bowl and flip over to coat entire surface.
- Cover with a towel and let raise until doubled.
- Punch dough down. On a floured surface, roll dough out into a 12×10 inch rectangle. Spread liberally with butter.
- In a small bowl, combine ¼ cup sucanat with 2 teaspoons cinnamon. Sprinkle over entire surface of dough.
- Roll up tightly. Press dough inward on each end to make roll even.
- Cut into 12 slices with a serrated knife. Place in a greased 9×13 inch pan. Cover and refrigerate overnight (12 hours).
- Uncover rolls. Place in a COLD oven and preheat to 350 degrees. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until browned. Begin checking after 20 minutes….do NOT overbake.
- While rolls are baking, make the icing.
- In a mixing bowl combine the butter, cream cheese, vanilla, maple flavoring, powdered sucanat and milk. Beat until no lumps remain.
- Frost hot rolls with icing. Serve immediately.
Nicole Kezama says
Hi Stacy. What kind of yeast did you use. Traditional or instant. I want to make these tonight and Ive only got instant on hand.
myersbr2 says
I think on these it was probably just a simple pack of Fleischmann’s ActiveDry.
Sarah D. says
I’ve been doing the “overnight” thing with my cinnamon rolls for a while now. I’m not, repeat *not*, a morning person! lol I use a bread-machine, and bread-machine recipe, for my cinnamon roll dough. Then spread liberally with butter and sprinkle with plenty of cinnamon and brown sugar; roll up and cut with floss (that’s how my Mom always did it; I tried using a knife once… not pretty). Then it’s into two greased 8×8 glass pans. I’d never thought of using a shower cap to cover dishes. Brilliant!!! That would be a lot cheaper than repeatedly buying clingwrap, as long as you wash the shower caps and save them. Anyway, I leave the rolls in the fridge overnight and set them on the stove to rise while it preheats. Since I use glass pans, it probably wouldn’t be a good idea to put them in the preheating oven. My husband likes the rolls covered, and then some, in cream cheese frosting. =)
Always enjoy your blog, Stacy. Now, I want cinnamon rolls…
Sarai says
So it works! But, it adds more steps than I care to take all of time… this is why we only soak our grains *most* of the time haha. My main confusion with adapting it to soak was that, from what I understand, you should only leave cultured dairy products out to soak overnight. Since this recipe uses milk, I think buttermilk might have been a good option, but I didn’t have any on me. So I thinned out some yogurt with water and used it as the soaking medium. If anyone else is interested in trying it with buttermilk, that might be better. The only “method” is to mix everything together but the baking powder, salt, yeast, and egg (and the 1/4c water for dissolving the yeast in). Let it “soak” over night, then proof your yeast and mix all the remaining ingredients in, and continue with directions.
However, that does make this a three day baking process, so I think our unilateral vote was to treat cinnamon rolls as the treat they are, and not worry about soaking them 🙂
Stacy says
🙂 Thanks for the update!!
Sarai says
Haha, no worries! I’ll just try it and see what happens. I think soaking has to occur at room temperature for it to really work. I normally mix in all the dry ingredients of the recipe, then add part of the liquid and the acid. I know some people will add in the egg before soaking, but letting eggs sit out at room temperature for a whole day kind of freaks me out. So I just add eggs and anything else the next day. We’ll see 🙂
Stacy says
Keep me posted! 🙂
Sarai says
I know this is an old post, but I have a new question! I made these when first posted and loved them, but haven’t made them since (I, too, am secretly glad of all the work involved in cinnamon rolls because it keeps me from eating my own weight in them every month!). However, being several months more pregnant at this point, I am craving sweet, doughy things ALL the time. However, I can tell a definite difference in my digestion and energy levels when I eat grains that have been soaked or sprouted (versus the pasta pasta pasta I WANT to eat haha). Do you think it would significantly change the consistency of these if I adapted the recipe to soak the dough (sans egg, of course) overnight before continuing on in the recipe? I love the texture of these as is, and definitely don’t want to ruin it. 🙂
Ps- The last time I made these, I soaked some dates to mix with butter and cinnamon and make a kind of syrup for the filling, instead of sugar. Could not taste a difference at all, and made me feel less guilty about the number that I ate!
Stacy says
Since we don’t soak grains I haven’t really thought about it – but since you “soak” the whole mixture overnight in the fridge, wouldn’t that suffice? I know soaking usually just involves the flour and an acidic medium, and this is all mixed together….I’m not sure.
LOL I’m not any help, am I?
Barb @ A Life in Balance says
I’m so glad you made this with real food ingredients! I’ve been making my cinnamon rolls in my bread machine using a dinner roll recipe however I haven’t tried making it healthier like yours. I’m definitely pinning this one!
Stacy says
I think I need some right now.
Anne @ Quick and Easy Cheap and Healthy says
Yum, these look fabulous! I rarely make cinnamon rolls either because of all the work and also the fact that I would eat them all in one sitting:)
Stacy says
For me, it’s mostly the hard work. lol
Lisa says
I saw someone use dental floss, not the mint flavored, to cut her cinnamon rolls. You slide the floss under the roll, cross the ends over the top, and pull. Did that make sense?
Stacy says
Yes, it makes sense. 🙂 I’ve used that method for cutting cakes…but for cutting dough, I just really love my tomato knife – it seems to work easier.
Mary Beth Floyd says
I’m just amazed there are left overs……wouldn’t be at my house!
Stacy says
If Barry, Annie, and I all ate 12 cinnamon rolls – you’d likely be visiting us at the ER. 😉
Sara Shay says
I’m with you Stacy! I an a bit obsessed with trying out new cinnamon roll recipes. I recently made the sourdough one from GNOWFLINGS, everyone liked them but I did have to sweeten up the recipe a bit. Now that I have some help in town I can do some cooking and projects without worrying about baby.
Stacy says
We’re really weird with the sourdough stuff…some of it is just too sour for us. I love my Gnowfglins cookbook though – we LOVE the pancake recipe. 🙂
Shari says
LOL! My husband and I (pre kid era) used to eat whole cans of cinnamon (and my personal fav “orange”) rolls too but then we found out he can’t eat gluten. I haven’t found the time or courage to try out a gluten free cinnamon roll recipe yet but I know someday I will have to so we can all enjoy a treat again instead of drooling and feeling deprived when looking at those yummy pictures! ;D
Stacy says
Glad to know we weren’t alone in our post kid days. 🙂
Janie Gentry says
Oh, Stacey, this receipe sounds so wonderful! I have been asking for a stand mixer for a while, and I just may have to buy one for myself, now. I’m getting my kitchen remodeled in the spring, thanks to a lot of free cabinetry from a wonderful member of my extended family, and I’ll finally have enough counter space to do all the kneading and baking that I want to do. I’ve printed this receipe and it will be one of the first things I make when I get finished with the kitchen. Thank you for all the wonderful ideas you and Barry give me on a regular basis.
Stacy says
Janie, I’ve seen several deals on Kitchen Aid mixers posted by Deal Seeking Mom. Make sure you sign up to get her daily email so that you can know if there is a good deal to be found. 🙂