Cinnamon Rolls with Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese Frosting
Pillowy soft cinnamon rolls with a ridiculously luscious vanilla bean cream cheese frosting. It's perfection, just the way you'd want it to be.
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Servings: 9 rolls
Ingredients
Dough
- 580 grams cake flour
- 75 grams sugar white or light brown
- 6 grams fine salt sea salt or pink salt
- 85 grams butter softened
- 235 grams full cream milk lukewarm
- 7 grams instant yeast
- 2 large eggs
Brown Butter-Cinnamon Sugar Filling
- 85 grams butter browned, see notes
- 145 grams sugar white or light brown
- 2 tbsp cinnamon
Base Coating
- 80 grams cream optional, see notes
Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese Frosting
- 250 grams cream cheese room temperature
- 120 grams milk
- 130 grams powdered sugar
- ½ pod vanilla bean paste or 1 tsp vanilla bean paste, see notes
Instructions
Dough
- In a large glass bowl or stand mixer, add flour, sugar and salt together. Give it a quick mix.
- Add the softened butter. Mix it in using your finger tips until mixture resembles bread crumbs.
- In a separate jar or bowl, add lukewarm milk and instant yeast together. Mix and add it to the flour mixture. Add the eggs and mix using a spatula or wooden spoon until mostly combined (by hand) or fully combined (stand mixer).
- Tip the dough onto a clean working surface and knead until the dough comes together (a stand mixer would've already done most of the kneading for you). The dough will be quite sticky but resist adding any additional flour. Shape into a bowl and place in a clean glass bowl. For the first rise, cover with plastic wrap or a clean cloth and place in the warmest area in your kitchen for 1 hour 30 minutes or until doubled in size. Note: I like setting the oven to around 35°C/95℉ with any type of heat setting. Let the appliance heat up for 5 minutes and then switch off the oven. Then put the bowl with the yeast dough in the oven cavity.
- Meanwhile, prepare the filling, frosting and baking dish. Note: I add a layer of cream to the base of the oven proof baking dish. This helps the base of the cinnamon rolls become caramelized and gooey. You can add less or more cream, depending on your preference.
- Once the dough has risen, lightly oil a clean surface and tip the dough onto the surface. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough into a rectangular shape about 35cm x 28cm x 8cm. Spread the brown butter-cinnamon sugar filling.
- Using a very sharp, non-serrated knife, cut the dough into 9 strips. Roll each one up and place in an oven proof dish on top of the cream (if using). You should have 3 rows of 3. For the second rise, cover with a dry clean cloth and allow to rise for 30 - 45 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven.
- Bake at 190℃/375℉ for 20-30 minutes. This will depend on how brown and crispy you'd like the rolls to be. Allow to cool for 15 minutes before pouring over the frosting.
Brown Butter-Cinnamon Sugar Filling
- First brown the butter (see note 1). To a small bowl, add the brown butter, sugar and cinnamon together. Mix and set aside until ready to use.
Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese Frosting
- Beat the cream cheese and milk together until smooth using an electric mixer or by hand using a spatula. Add the powdered sugar and slowly mix it in until fully combined. Cut the vanilla pod in half, length wise, and slide the tip of a knife along the pod, scraping off the vanilla bean paste. Add the paste or vanilla essence to the cream cheese frosting. Mix until well combined. Set aside until ready to use.
Video
Notes
- Browned Butter: Using browned butter is optional. You could just use regular butter but the brown butter impart great flavor. How to make brown butter: add butter to a small saucepan and melt on a low heat. Melt until the milk solids in the butter turn light brown. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
- Cream: You can add 80ml cream to the base of your baking dish and place the cinnamon rolls on top. This'll create a brown butter-cinnamon layer at the bottom of your rolls - adding the cream is optional.
- Vanilla Bean Paste: half a fresh vanilla bean pod is generally equivalent to 1/4 tsp. If using vanilla essence, use 1 tsp. If using store bought vanilla bean paste, use 1 tsp.
- Oven Baked Dish: I used a dish sized 35cm x 28cm x 8cm. Be careful to not overcrowd the dish, otherwise the rolls won't have enough space to rise and bake properly.
- Storage: Baked rolls can be frozen up to 2–3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and warm up before enjoying. You can also freeze the unbaked rolls and here’s how: bake the rolls in step 6 for only about 10 minutes at 190°C/375°F. Cool completely, then cover tightly and freeze. To serve, take the pan of rolls out of the freezer and put into the refrigerator a few hours before serving. Then, finish baking them for the remaining 15–18 minutes.