Brown Butter Cinnamon Rolls

Delicious brown butter cinnamon rolls made with the fluffiest brioche dough, and an easy cream cheese frosting. These are unbelievably good cinnamon rolls made with brown butter dough which adds so much flavor. It’s actually so simple to make, just follow along and you’ll have cinnamon rolls better than any bakery right at home.

For another recipe packed with cinnamon sugar flavor, with a bit of a twist, try this cinnamon sugar pull apart bread, and if you just want the easiest air fryer cinnamon roll recipe ever, click here!

Jump to:

• Why should I make homemade cinnamon rolls?
• Ingredients you need to make browned butter cinnamon rolls:
• How to make brown butter:
• How to make these cinnamon rolls:
• Baking brown butter cinnamon rolls:
• How to make overnight cinnamon rolls:
• How to serve:
• Storing leftover cinnamon rolls:
• Freezing cinnamon rolls:
• Expert tips and tricks:
• Recipe FAQS:
• If you liked this recipe, you might like:
• Brown Butter Cinnamon Rolls
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Why should I make homemade cinnamon rolls?

• You’ll never feel more accomplished than when you make homemade dough, roll it out and bake it into perfect golden brown scrolls. The smell that fills your house will be amazing- and actually, it’s probably a lot simpler than you think.
• The brown butter in the dough gives the most amazing flavor, it really ups the game. You can of course make the recipe with regular melted butter instead if you prefer!
• These are so fluffy on the outside, and soft and gooey in the center. The sugar content is perfectly balanced, and the cinnamon swirl is perfection. The cream cheese just completes the whole thing.
• You can make the dough the night before and bake fresh the morning of, instructions are below.

Ingredients you need to make browned butter cinnamon rolls:

• Bread Flour: Bread flour has a higher protein content than regular all purpose flour, which gives the final baked product more chew. You can also use regular flour if you can’t find your hands on bread flour.
• Salt: You need some in the cinnamon roll dough and some in the cream cheese frosting to offset the sweetness.
• Instant Yeast: The easiest yeast to use, you don’t need to activate this. Just make sure your yeast is not old and is still active (check below for how to do a yeast test)
• Milk: Use whole full fat milk. It needs to be lukewarm but NOT hot. if it’s too hot, it will kill the yeast. You can warm the milk in a small saucepan, or in the microwave like I did. The simple rule of thumb is you should be able to stick your finger in it without it being uncomfortably hot, it should feel like bath water. If it’s too hot, just let it cool a little. If you want to be specific about it, an ideal temperature is between 105-115 F degrees (40-45 C).
• Butter: Unsalted butter, both in the dough and in the frosting.
• Eggs: room temperature
• Granulated Sugar: Regular white sugar for the cinnamon roll dough.
• Brown Sugar: for filling the cinnamon rolls, you can use light or dark brown sugar. I prefer dark brown for more of a molasses-y flavor.
• Cinnamon: Plenty of cinnamon powder to really pack in the flavor.
• Powdered Sugar (Icing sugar): for the cream cheese frosting, you may want to sift this before adding to prevent lumps.
• Cream Cheese: Softened cream cheese for the frosting
• Vanilla: Adds a little flavor to the frosting.

How to make brown butter:

I love brown butter and use it in a lot of applications. It’s basically taking butter, melting it, then going even further. Use unsalted butter and cook it on the stove until it starts to turn an amber brown in color with brown solid flecks at the bottom of the saucepan. It will start to smell nutty and delicious.

Use a heavy bottomed saucepan so it doesn’t burn, and keep stirring on medium heat. Once the butter has browned, immediately remove it to another bowl so it doesn’t cook further and burn. Make sure you get all those brown flakes scraped out to use with the butter, that’s where all the flavor is!

Once dough has been filled, cut and assembled in baking pan, it goes through another 30 minute rest, at which you’ll see the rolls puff up. This is the best time to preheat the oven.

How to make these cinnamon rolls:

Baking brown butter cinnamon rolls:

You want to bake in an oven that’s been properly preheated so that the dough bakes evenly. I placed them on a parchment paper lined baking sheet to avoid the filling leaking onto the pan and sticking making it difficult to remove the rolls.

As soon as the rolls are light golden brown, remove them from the oven, and wait 5-10 minutes before frosting the rolls.

You want them to still be warm and delicious to enjoy, but not so piping hot that the frosting will melt right off.

How to make overnight cinnamon rolls:

After rolling the cinnamon rolls and cutting them up, place them on the same pan you’ll bake on (with the parchment paper and everything). But instead of letting them rise for another 30 minutes at room temperature, cover well with plastic wrap and place in fridge overnight.

The next day take the cinnamon rolls out of the fridge and let the cinnamon rolls come to room temperature then rise for 30- 45 min, until puffy and nearly doubled in size. Preheat the oven while rising and bake as directed.

How to serve:

• I love having these warm and gooey, straight out of the oven. There’s nothing like it! If you have leftover frosting, serve on the side for those who like a heap of frosting slathered on (me!)
• Serve with a hot drink of your choice. These pair amazingly with this hot chocolate or karak chai.
• You can also top these with chopped up toasted pecans or walnuts, or drizzle with some caramel or chocolate sauce.

Storing leftover cinnamon rolls:

Store leftovers in the fridge tightly covered for 2-3 days. I like reheating these in a warm oven, but you can also microwave them.

Freezing cinnamon rolls:

Cinnamon rolls can be frozen in dough form or after baking.

To freeze unbaked: Once they filled and cut, before the second rise, place in a pan and cover tightly. Place in freezer. The day before you want to bake them, thaw in the fridge overnight, the next day take them out of the fridge, let them come to room temperature then rise for 30- 45 min, until puffy and nearly doubled in size. Preheat the oven while rising and bake as directed.

To freeze baked: Allow them to come to room temperature, then either as a pan or individually, freeze them covered well. I’ve done this both frosted and not frosted, both ways worked out well. I’ve had them 2-3 months after freezing and they were still delicious! Heat either in the microwave for 20-30 seconds , or in a hot oven for 10-15 minutes. You can even freeze a batch of the frosting, preferably individually in mini zip lock bags to use at whim!

Expert tips and tricks:

• Don’t let the butter burn! Once it starts to turn golden brown at the base, immediately remove to another bowl.
• Cool the brown butter completely before using so it doesn’t change the texture of the dough.
• Let the dough rise properly, and do this in a warm place. I really like turning on my washing machine for a few minutes, then turning it off and placing the dough inside that warm and toasty washing machine cocoon.
• Roll the cinnamon rolls gently and leave a little border of dough without any filling so you can easily seal the log shut.
• Don’t over bake the cinnamon rolls! They should be golden brown around the edges but paler in the center so they still have that gooey texture.
• Make sure the butter and cream cheese for the frosting are very soft at room temperature before mixing so you don’t get lumps in the frosting.

Recipe FAQS:

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