Best Cinnamon Buns Ever

I’m so excited for Erin, our MH food editor (and managing director) to be taking over today’s recipe post! Why you might ask? Because this cinnamon bun recipe is insanely delicious and 100% her own creation. Not only are they easy to make they’re perfect fluffy, flavourful and gewy at the base, which honesty makes them perfect. You’ll want to eat an entire bun I assure you of that! Also, this is an exciting moment as she’s never shared this recipe… that’s how special it is! I’m so excited and grateful that she’s sharing it with you today!! Take it away Erin, thank you for sharing this delicious cinnamon bun recipe with all of us!

Hi everyone Erin here from Monika’s team, Monika thought it would be fun for me to take the lead on this blog post and write about one of my most requested recipes, my cinnamon buns! I make this recipe on repeat, everyone in my neighbourhood and family requests these cinnamon buns over and over again. I developed the brioche recipe years ago on a much larger scale when I used to work in kitchens and have been using it for cinnamon buns, loaves, and burger buns ever since. I prefer to make the dough the night before I bake them, I let it slowly proof in the fridge overnight as it makes for an easy roll out the next morning since the dough has quite a bit of butter in it. In the morning I pre-heat the oven, make the filling and roll out the buns, and bake them all with a coffee in hand a little Frank Sinatra playing in the background.

I hope you all enjoy this recipe, you can choose to put icing on them or not, they are delicious either way. This recipe will also double up nicely if your mixer is large enough to handle that amount of flour. I can’t wait to see you make these and I hope they become a part of your weekend rituals.

Inactive time: Overnight
Prep time: 45 minutes
Cook time 40-45 minutes

Ingredients

Brioche Dough

4 ¼ cups all-purpose flour (bread flour would work as well)
1 ½ tsp. salt
1/3 cup sugar
3 large eggs at room temperature
1 cup (250ml) of whole milk
1 1/4 teaspoon active dry yeast
1 cup of unsalted butter at room temperature cut into cubes (make sure it’s not too soft, if it is pop it in the fridge for 10 minutes)

Filling

1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
3/4 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/4 cups brown sugar + additional 1/4-1/2 cup brown sugar

Icing

2 1/4 cups icing sugar sifted
2 Tablespoons of unsalted butter melted and cooled
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 tablespoons whipping cream ( you can add more if you like it thinner)

How to Make Brioche

Brioche is an enriched dough with eggs, milk, and butter, it is honestly one of my favourite doughs to make. Do not be intimated by the steps, I have simply just broken them down to make the most sense, placing this dough in the fridge overnight makes it so much easier to work with the next morning!

1. In a medium-sized bowl whisk together the flour, sugar and salt, set aside.

2. In a medium saucepan gently heat the milk till its warn around 105 °F remove from the heat and pour into the bowl of your stand mixer. Sprinkle the yeast in, mix it around and let it stand for 5 minutes until it starts to bubble up.

4. Once the yeast mixture looks bubbled up to its activated, add in the flour mixture and eggs.

5. Using the dough hook attachment on your mixer, mix on low speed for around 2 minutes until the dough starts to come together.

6. Once the dough has formed start adding the butter cubes in (this should be done in about 7-8 steps)

7. Keeping the mixture on a lower speed, mix for 3-4 minutes in-between each addition to make sure the butter is fully incorporated into the dough. This is the key to brioche adding in the butter gradually.

8. Once all of the butter is incorporated your dough should look silky and be soft. If it doesn’t turn off your mixer and wait a couple of minutes (allowing the dough to relax) turn back on the mixer for a minute and you should have a beautiful dough.

9. Cover the mixing bowl with plastic wrap and let rest in a warm environment for about 1 hour, then place in the fridge overnight.

The next morning:

For the filling
Mix all the ingredients for the filling with the paddle attachment in your mixer, set aside.

Finishing The Buns

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F convection or 350 °F non-convection

2. On a floured surface roll out your dough to an 18×12 inch rectangle (this does not need to be perfect)

3. Spread over your brown sugar mixture, it will still be clumpy but dont worry. Sprinkle and an additional 1/4-1/2 cup of brown sugar over the top of the dough evenly.

4. Starting at one end roll the dough into a log when at the end pinch the dough together.

If the dough is really soft at this point you can pop it in the freezer on a baking sheet for 15 minutes to firm up to get nice clean cuts.

5. Using a sharp knife cut the dough into 9 equal portions, they should be around 2 inches thick.

6. Line a rectangular baking dish ( 12″ x 8″ ) with parchment paper, arrange the cinnamon buns in, they will get quite a bit bigger and fill out the pan while baking.

7. Let the buns rise for about 40 minutes. Setting them beside the oven works since its nice and well warm.

8. Bake in your preheated oven for around 40-45 minutes until the tops are golden brown, remove from the oven and let cool before icing.