Soft Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Icing

Before you start

A great cinnamon roll is tender enough to pull apart in spirals, with a filling that stays thick and syrupy rather than leaking out the bottom. The dough is enriched with milk, eggs, butter and sugar, which keeps it soft for a day or more. Brown sugar, cinnamon and soft butter make the filling; spreading the butter and sugar as a paste, rather than pouring melted butter, keeps it inside the swirl.

Watch the dough, not the clock. Enriched doughs rise more slowly than lean bread, especially in a cool kitchen. Pull the rolls when they reach about 88°C (190°F) in the center, and ice them while warm, not hot, so the cream cheese icing drapes without melting into a puddle.

Ingredients

• Dough240 ml (1 cup) whole milk — warmed to about 40°C (105°F)
• 50 g (¼ cup) granulated sugar
• 7 g (2¼ tsp) instant yeast
• 2 large eggs — room temperature
• 480 g (4 cups, spooned and leveled) all-purpose flour — plus up to 30 g more if needed
• 1 tsp (6 g) fine salt
• 70 g (5 tbsp) unsalted butter — very soft
• Filling75 g (5 tbsp) unsalted butter — very soft
• 150 g (¾ cup packed) light brown sugar
• 1½ tbsp ground cinnamon
• Pinch fine salt
• Icing115 g (4 oz) cream cheese — softened
• 30 g (2 tbsp) unsalted butter — softened
• 120 g (1 cup) powdered sugar
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• 1 to 2 tbsp milk

Method

1. Stir the warm milk, sugar and yeast in the mixer bowl. Add the eggs, flour and salt and mix on low speed until a shaggy dough forms, about 2 minutes.
2. With the mixer on medium-low, add the 70 g soft butter a tablespoon at a time. Knead for 8 to 10 minutes, until the dough is smooth, slightly tacky and pulls away from the bowl. Add flour a tablespoon at a time only if it sticks to the sides after 6 minutes.
3. Shape the dough into a ball, place it in a greased bowl, cover and let rise at warm room temperature, about 24 to 26°C (75 to 78°F), until doubled, 1 to 1½ hours.
4. Mash the filling butter, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt into a thick paste. Grease the baking pan.
5. Roll the dough on a lightly floured counter into a 40 × 30 cm (16 × 12 in) rectangle with a long side facing you. Spread the filling evenly, leaving a 1 cm (½ in) bare strip along the far edge.
6. Roll up tightly from the long side and pinch the seam closed. Cut into 12 equal pieces about 3.3 cm (1⅓ in) wide using floss looped under the log and pulled crosswise.
7. Arrange the rolls cut side up in the pan, 3 by 4. Cover and let rise until puffy and touching, 30 to 45 minutes. Meanwhile heat the oven to 180°C (350°F).
8. Bake for 25 to 28 minutes, until golden brown and the center roll reads 88 to 90°C (190 to 195°F). Tent with foil after 18 minutes if the tops brown quickly.
9. Beat the cream cheese and butter until smooth, then beat in the powdered sugar, vanilla and enough milk to make a thick but spreadable icing. Cool the rolls 15 minutes and spread the icing over them.

Tips for success

• The dough should feel like a soft earlobe: tacky but not sticky. Too much added flour is the main cause of dry rolls.
• Floss cuts cleanly without squashing the spiral. A serrated knife works if you saw gently.
• For extra-gooey centers, pour 60 ml (¼ cup) warm heavy cream over the risen rolls just before baking.

Substitutions

All-purpose flour

Bread flour gives a chewier, taller roll. Add an extra 1 to 2 tbsp milk, since it absorbs more liquid.

Instant yeast

Use the same weight of active dry yeast, dissolved in the warm milk for 5 minutes first. Expect the first rise to take 15 to 30 minutes longer.

Cream cheese icing

A simple glaze of 120 g powdered sugar and 2 tbsp milk is sweeter and thinner, and lets the rolls sit at room temperature longer.

Variations

Pecan cinnamon rolls

Scatter 80 g toasted chopped pecans over the filling before rolling.

Cardamom-cinnamon rolls

Use 1 tbsp cinnamon plus 1½ tsp ground cardamom in the filling.

Troubleshooting

Filling leaked out and burned on the pan

The butter was melted instead of soft, or the log was rolled loosely. Use a paste filling and roll snugly, pinching the seam well.

Rolls are dense and bready

Too much flour or an incomplete rise. Keep the dough tacky and let each rise go until the dough is clearly puffy, regardless of time.

Centers are doughy while tops are dark

The oven runs hot or the pan is dark. Tent with foil and bake to temperature, not color.

Center rolls popped up above the others

The log was rolled too tightly. Roll firmly but without stretching the dough.

Storage

Iced rolls contain cream cheese, so keep them covered in the refrigerator for up to 4 days and do not leave them out more than 2 hours. Warm individual rolls in the microwave for 15 to 20 seconds. Unfrosted baked rolls freeze well for 2 months.

Safety notes

The raw dough contains uncooked egg and flour; bake before tasting. Contains wheat, milk and egg.