With Easter on our doorstep, I thought I would share this recipe for the best cinnamon buns a friend gave me that I have so lovingly tweaked. These are perfect for Easter morning, brunch, or any time you're craving something soft and cinnamony.
Now between you and I, the secret to making the best cinnamon buns is adding the vanilla pudding mix package. This not only gives the dough much more flavour but it makes it softer. I am only sharing this with y'all because I know you can keep a secret.
The Best Cinnamon Buns
Dough
¼ cup warm water
2 ¼ teaspoons active dry yeast or one package
¾ cup whole milk
⅓ cup softened butter
2 eggs at room temperature
⅓ cup granulated sugar
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon allspice
3 tablespoons ground cinnamon
4 tablespoons of vanilla extract
4 ¼ cups all-purpose flour divided
1 package of vanilla jello pudding
Filling
½ cup butter softened
½ cup of white sugar
⅓ cup of brown sugar
3 tablespoons of vanilla
3 tablespoons ground cinnamon
Instructions
Combine the water, yeast, 1 teaspoon of sugar, and 1 teaspoon of salt in a small bowl. Let the mixture sit for 10 minutes or until it becomes foamy.
Next, you mix the wet and dry ingredients together but in separate bowls.
Place all the wet ingredients such as the milk, butter, remaining sugar, vanilla extract, and salt in either a pan or microwave. Warm the mixture up to approximately 46-49℃. Not hot, just warm enough to melt the softened butter. (the eggs are not added in this step)
In another bowl, mix all the dry ingredients; the flour, jello vanilla pudding package, allspice, and ground cinnamon.
Add the room-temperature eggs to the milk, butter, sugar, salt, and vanilla extract mixture and mix well.
Combine the wet and dry ingredients and knead the dough until it is soft and smooth. Once the dough pulls away from the side of the bowl, knead it into a ball.
Gently sprinkle flour on the bottom of a bowl and place the kneaded dough ball in the middle. Cover with a cloth and place in a warm place to rise. The dough should double in size which could take approximately 1-2 hours.
Once your dough has risen, gently sprinkle flour on the surface you're going to be rolling the dough out on. It should be about the size of a 17’’ x 14’’ rectangle to give you lots of room for rolling.
In a small bowl mix the softened butter, cinnamon, sugar, vanilla, and brown sugar.
Roll the dough into a rectangle about 15’’ x 12’’ or so. Then spread the filling evenly across the dough but not too close to the edges.
Roll the dough lengthwise and cut slices that are 1.5 wide.
Line a pan with parchment paper and place the slices into the pan to rise for another hour. When putting the slices in the pan it is best to stagger them because they double in size.
Preheat the oven to 370F, brush rolls with milk, and bake for 25 minutes.
I don't add icing on the top because it is sweet enough but my kids disagree and use vanilla cake icing sometimes.
Enjoy!
