These brioche cinnamon rolls with heavy cream are super soft and fluffy! They’re filled with a delicious brown sugar cinnamon filling and are topped with a dreamy cream cheese frosting. You can prep the rolls the night before and let them rise overnight, giving you amazing, warm cinnamon rolls in the morning!
This recipe was originally published in June 2021. It has since been updated with new images.
I’ve been adding some warm heavy cream to my cinnamon rolls just before baking for a few years now, but it looks like it’s become a huge trend on TikTok! Adding the heavy cream before baking will give you extra fluffy cinnamon rolls!
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Why you’ll love this recipe!
- This cinnamon roll dough is soft and buttery due to the milk, butter, sugar and butter.
- The recipe needs two rises, but you can do the first one overnight in the fridge! This means you can have delicious, soft and chewy cinnamon rolls ready for breakfast.
- Before baking, pour warm heavy cream on top of the rolls. The rolls will soak up the cream during baking giving you super soft and gooey cinnamon rolls.
- They’re covered in a creamy and rich cream cheese frosting. You can make the frosting by hand and it only takes a few minutes to whip together.
Ingredients Needed
- Butter: I love using European style butter in my recipes, like Kerry Gold. European butter has a higher butterfat content, giving you a much richer bake.
- Cream Cheese: If you’re based in the UK and your cream cheese comes in tubs, make sure to pat it down using a paper towel. European cream cheese has a higher moisture content, so you’ll need to pat it down before whipping into the frosting.
- Flour: I use all purpose flour in this recipe, but you can use bread flour if you want a chewier cinnamon roll.
- Yeast: make sure you check the expiration date on the yeast before you start baking!
- Heavy Cream: just before we put the cinnamon buns in the oven, we’ll pour over warm heavy cream (or double cream in the UK!). As the cinnamon buns bake, the cream will go into the rolls making them extra moist and gooey.
Step by Step Instructions
Step One: Warm up the milk in a small saucepan or in a microwave until lukewarm. Pour into a bowl and add your yeast. You don’t want the milk to get too warm or it will kill the yeast! Let it sit for 10 minutes until it begins to foam.
Step Two: Mix together your flour, sugar and salt in a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook. Add the butter, milk mixture and eggs and mix on low speed for 2-3 minutes. Increase the speed to medium and beat for another 2-3 minutes, until it becomes a uniform dough and slightly sticky! Grease the bowl and cover it with plastic wrap, then let it rise until doubled in size (about an hour and a half!)
Step Three: Whisk together the cinnamon roll filling ingredients in a small bowl.
Step Four: Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface until it is 18×12 inches. Brush softened butter on to the dough, leaving a ¼-inch border then sprinkle over the cinnamon sugar.
Step Five: On the long side, tightly wrap the dough. Use dental floss or a serrated knife to cut the log into 12 pieces. Place into a buttered 9×13 baking pan and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise for an hour.
Step Six: Preheat the oven to 350°Fahrenheit/175°Celsius. Remove the plastic wrap and pour over slightly warmed heavy cream. Bake for 25-30 minutes.
Step Seven: While the cinnamon rolls bake, make the cream cheese frosting. Use a hand mixer to mix all of the cream cheese frosting ingredients.
Step Eight: Pour the frosting of the still warm cinnamon rolls and enjoy!
Baking Tips & Tricks
- I highly recommend using a weighing scale and measuring out your ingredients the metric way. It makes a huge difference to your baking and is the most accurate way to bake!
- Make sure all of your ingredients are at room temperature. Pull out your ingredients about 2 hours before you start baking
- When adding your yeast to the milk, make sure the milk isn’t too hot. You want the milk to be lukewarm, otherwise it may kill the yeast. You should be able to dip your finger in the milk and find it not too hot.
- Don’t use melted butter for the filling, but use softened butter instead. I’ve found that using melted butter leads to the filling leaking out during the second rise.
Frequently Asked Questions
After you’ve placed the rolls in your buttered dish, let them rise for just 30 minutes. Place them in the fridge overnight, then the next day let them come to room temperature for about an hour before baking.
Yes! Let them cool completely then place in a ziplock bag or freezer friendly tupperware. When ready to eat, let them defrost in the fridge overnight. Warm them up in the oven at 350 for 10 minutes.
Wrap up tightly or keep in an airtight container for up to 5 days. You can reheat them in the microwave or oven.
After the second rise, poke the buns with your finger. It should bounce back but leave a bit of an indent. If there is no indentation at all then you need to let the dough rise for a bit longer.
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Have you made this recipe? Please rate the recipe below! Don’t forget to follow me on Instagram @alpineella and Pinterest!
Recipe
Brioche Cinnamon Rolls
Equipment
- 9×13 baking tray
Ingredients
Brioche Dough
- ¾ cup whole milk
- 2 ¼ teaspoon active dry yeast
- 1 egg room temperature
- 1 egg yolk room temperature
- 3 ½ cups all purpose flour
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon fine sea sat
- 4 tablespoon unsalted butter room temperature, cut into squares
- ½ cup heavy cream
Cinnamon Filling
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- pinch salt
- ¼ cup unsalted butter room temperature
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 4 oz cream cheese room temperature
- 1 ¼ cups powdered sugar
- 3 tablespoon heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
Cinnamon Rolls
- Warm up your milk in a small saucepan over medium-low heat, you just want it to be lukewarm. Too hot and it will kill the yeast! Pour the milk into a medium bowl and add the yeast, stirring to combine. Leave for 5-10 minutes until it has foamed and there are bubbles
- In the bowl of a stand mixer with the dough hook attachment, add the flour, salt, and sugar and mix to combine.
- Pour the milk, butter and eggs into the stand mixer bowl bowl, and mix on low speed for 2-3 minutes. Raise the speed to medium and mix for another 3 minutes. Your dough should be smooth and not too sticky.
- Take the dough out of the bowl and oil it, then scrape the dough back into it. Cover it loosely with clingfilm and let it rise at room temperature until it has doubled in size, about an hour to an hour and a half.
- Butter a 9×13 baking dish.
- Turn your dough onto a floured work surface and use a floured rolling pin to roll it into a large rectangle, measuring 18 inches (46cm) long, and 12 inches wide (30.5cm).
- Mix together the cinnamon, sugar, and salt in a small bowl. Use a pastry brush to brush over the softened butter, leaving a ¼ inch margin, then sprinkle over the cinnamon mixture.
- From the long side, roll it into a tight spiral. Cut it into 12 pieces using either unflavored dental floss or a serrated knife. Place them into your buttered dish.
- Cover loosely with clingfilm and let rise for about an hour. You’ll know the dough is ready when you poke it, it bounces back but leaves a bit of a dent. If the indentation doesn’t stay, it needs longer. You can also do this all the night before, allow them to rise for just 30 minutes (instead of 1 hour), put them in the fridge (covered with clingfilm) at this point and the next morning let them come to room temperature before baking (for about 1 hour)
- Preheat your oven to 350°F/180°C. Warm the heavy cream in a small saucepan. Just before putting it into the oven, pour your warm heavy cream on top of the rolls, and in the spaces between the rolls. Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden brown.
Frosting
- In your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the cream cheese on medium speed until smooth.
- Add in the powdered sugar, milk and vanilla and beat on low speed for about 30 seconds. Increase the speed to high and beat for 1 minute. Spread over warm cinnamon rolls.
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