Cinnamon Rolls and Sticky Buns - Bake-Off XVI

[Kerry Beal]

There seems to be a number of people were very interested in recipes for cinnamon rolls over the last day or so and I realized that this would be a great topic for an eG Bake-Off.

Let's start with a quick and dirty cinnamon bun idea - one created by Amy Rosen and documented here on her blog. Doesn't get any faster than this.

The Cinnamon Bun Topic is a long standing eG topic - running several pages.

Monkey Bread, Not Using Refridgerated Rolls another source of good information.

eG recipeGullet recipes for Cinnamon Buns here and here.

Here is a not very good picture of my favorite sticky bun - and the dough that I generally use for cinnamon buns as well. It's Cook's Illustrated from 2004. It starts with a caramel in the bottom of the pan, a nice rich brioche like dough, then a filling in the rolls, then another sticky mixture gets applied to the top after baking. It doesn't get any stickier than this.

So let's get baking (now that it's officially diet time of year) and see what we can do with any basic or variation on a nice cinnamon bun, sticky roll, monkey bread...

Edited January 5, 2009 by Kerry Beal (log)

[Shelby]

I love making cinnamon rolls. It makes me feel cozy! One thing that I do is put a layer of the yummy filling in the bottom of the pan and then a few squeezes of maple syrup on top of that! Makes the bottom of the rolls extra gooey.

[jackal10]

The best sticky buns in the world are made by Fitzbillies.

http://www.fitzbillies.co.uk/v2/index.php

Note how thin the dough is.

I don't make them as I can't mach theirs

[Marmish]

Dammit. There goes my NY resolution. It's what, the 5th? Whoo hoo, I made it to the 5th. Now where's the cinnamon?

I like Pioneer Woman's cinnamon rolls with coffee icing. Super easy to make, makes a ton, yummy and freezes well. What more could you want?

[Aza]

I usually use Alton Brown's Overnight recipe- I usually make them to take into work, and the recipe works well for that. Not to mention they're quite tasty, if loaded- egg yolks and buttermilk, yikes.

I'm going to try to hold off till weekend to do this if my willpower allows. I've got lots of chocolates left to finish up and ship.

[isomer]

Purely in the interests of Science (and not at all because they might be delicious), I decided to try the Easy Sticky Buns recipe from Barefoot Contessa - Back to Basics. Here's how they look:

They're "easy" because they're made from frozen puff pastry. Prep time is about 25 minutes, and cooking is another 25-30 minutes. That's pretty darned good. And they're pretty darned tasty. Crispy on the exposed edges, and soft and doughy inside. They're not made with a brioche dough, but hey... for 50 minutes and they're on the table, they are pretty hard to beat.

[ElsieD]

Purely in the interests of Science (and not at all because they might be delicious), I decided to try the Easy Sticky Buns recipe from Barefoot Contessa - Back to Basics. Here's how they look:

They're "easy" because they're made from frozen puff pastry. Prep time is about 25 minutes, and cooking is another 25-30 minutes. That's pretty darned good. And they're pretty darned tasty. Crispy on the exposed edges, and soft and doughy inside. They're not made with a brioche dough, but hey... for 50 minutes and they're on the table, they are pretty hard to beat.

←

Thank you Anthony for sending me the recipe. So I got up this morning and made these. I decided after 30 minutes of baking that they were not brown enough and left them in for another 5 minutes. Big mistake. They were way too crispy on the outside and the insides weren't very soft and doughy either. But, they did taste delicious. They also did not "puff" very much - in fact, hardly at all. They sort of looked like tight little spirals. So what, other than leaving them in too long, did I do wrong? Did I maybe roll them up too tight, preventing them from expanding properly? I used a non-stick muffin tin, is that part of the problem? My dough was fresh, so I don't think that is the problem. Any thoughts?

Thanks!

[isomer]

Thank you Anthony for sending me the recipe.  So I got up this morning and made these.  I decided after 30 minutes of baking that they were not brown enough and left them in for another 5 minutes.  Big mistake.  They were way too crispy on the outside and the insides weren't very soft and doughy either.  But, they did taste delicious.  They also did not "puff" very much - in fact, hardly at all.  They sort of looked like tight little spirals.  So what, other than leaving them in too long, did I do wrong?  Did I maybe roll them up too tight, preventing them from expanding properly?  I used a non-stick muffin tin, is that part of the problem?  My dough was fresh, so I don't think that is the problem.  Any thoughts?

Thanks!

←

Hmm... I double checked what I sent you, and it is exactly the recipe in the book, and what I followed. And I rolled mine fairly snugly like you did. I don't know why yours didn't puff up... mine were bursting out of the muffin cups and sputtering sugary deliciousness all over the place as they baked.

For what it's worth, I slightly underbaked mine - 23 minutes. But I just moved into a new place, and I'm still getting the hang of the oven, so I'm erring on the side of caution (having already ruined 2 loafs of bread and 3 batches of cookies so far). Might be the overbaking that did your batch in

[BAKED453]

Hi everyone,

The quick and easy cinnamon bun on the BAKING BITES website is really good and super quick.It took me 1hr from start to finish.

Baking Bites

I drizzled half the buns with the icing from the recipe and the other half with a caramel crisp topping (the one you use on ice creams) and sprinkled pecans over.It was very moreish and yummy.

[Desiderio]

I was wondering, my favorite recipe for cinnarolls uses vanilla pudding, I have to say that is the best cinnamon rolls I have ever had and that I was about to give up making cinnamon rolls right before I found this recipe. The question is, could I make a vanilla custard ( creme englaise) and use it instead of the vanilla pudding, the reason is to make it completely from scratch without the use of processed ingredients. I will probably give it a try next time and I will post the results, but I figured maybe someone knows the answer already.

[prairiegirl]

I was wondering, my favorite recipe for cinnarolls uses vanilla pudding, I have to say that is the best cinnamon rolls I have ever had and that I was about to give up making cinnamon rolls right before I found this recipe. The question is, could I make a vanilla custard ( creme englaise) and use it instead of the vanilla pudding, the reason is to make it completely from scratch without the use of processed ingredients. I will probably give it a try next time and I will post the results, but I figured maybe someone knows the answer already.

←

At the pastry shop where I do chocolates, the pastry chef uses his croissant dough recipe and he uses creme englaise. So yes, you can use creme englaise. He was taught this in France when he went for training.

[oli]

This one is well worth at least taking a look at.

http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2009/05...lls-recipe.html

[Lior]

I demo - ed this (kind of), a while back. I think they are the same as cinnamon rolls. Sometimes I fill with cinnamon and sugar, sometimes I add nuts, other times I use chocolate spread as a filling and sometimes I add nuts to that!

Bulkalakch

[Desiderio]

I was wondering, my favorite recipe for cinnarolls uses vanilla pudding, I have to say that is the best cinnamon rolls I have ever had and that I was about to give up making cinnamon rolls right before I found this recipe. The question is, could I make a vanilla custard ( creme englaise) and use it instead of the vanilla pudding, the reason is to make it completely from scratch without the use of processed ingredients. I will probably give it a try next time and I will post the results, but I figured maybe someone knows the answer already.

←

At the pastry shop where I do chocolates, the pastry chef uses his croissant dough recipe and he uses creme englaise. So yes, you can use creme englaise. He was taught this in France when he went for training.

←

Thank you much for the info! I will try next time and post the results.

[CanadianBakin']

I don't have pictures but I made cinnamon buns recently with the Brioche dough in Zoe Francois's book discussed in this thread. They were fabulous! I think it's best to make them with the dough either the first day or the next as I'm not as fond of the sour flavour in cinnamon buns.

[CKatCook]

I thought it would be interesting to make some batches then freeze them and have them on hand to bake at a later time. I was wondering though at what point would someone freeze the batch? Right before they go into the oven?

I made some a while back but they didn't turn out that great, I cannot wait to try some of these recipes!

[CanadianBakin']

I thought it would be interesting to make some batches then freeze them and have them on hand to bake at a later time. I was wondering though at what point would someone freeze the batch? Right before they go into the oven?

I made some a while back but they didn't turn out that great, I cannot wait to try some of these recipes!

←

I think you're supposed to freeze them after shaping but before the final rise. Thaw in the fridge over night and then bring to room temp on the counter. Bake when they've risen.

[Ciao Ling]

Kerry: Thanks so much. The recipes are similar to how I have made them and after seeing the pics, it is probably what I will be making this weekend!

This made me start thinking about the best sticky bun I have ever had. When I used to live in Boston about 20 years ago, I used to get "morning buns" from the Clear Flour Bakery. To me, absolutely incredible and I have never had a bun similar to them. Apparently the bakery is still in business as I found their website. The texture was very different from the typical sweet dough. A chowhound discussion said they used their brioche or croissant dough. I couldn't find a recipe for their buns. Does anyone else know of a recipe that might come close to what is described?

[Kerry Beal]

Kerry: Thanks so much. The recipes are similar to how I have made them and after seeing the pics, it is probably what I will be making this weekend!

This made me start thinking about the best sticky bun I have ever had. When I used to live in Boston about 20 years ago, I used to get "morning buns" from the Clear Flour Bakery. To me, absolutely incredible and I have never had a bun similar to them. Apparently the bakery is still in business as I found their website. The texture was very different from the typical sweet dough. A chowhound discussion said they used their brioche or croissant dough. I couldn't find a recipe for their buns. Does anyone else know of a recipe that might come close to what is described?

Can you check those links - I'm getting amazon.

[Ciao Ling]

APOLOGIZE TO ALL- used the wrong link symbol when composing.

Clear Flour Bakery link is here.

Chowhound discussion of Clear Flour morning buns is here.

[Kerry Beal]

Check out this link. Looks like croissant dough it is.

[dhardy123]

Here is a video of Joanne from Flour bakery make her sticky buns:

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=26073024019

[Darienne]

Here I come a very late joiner to the bread making set. Just about to turn 69 and today I made my very first bread not in a machine and I made sticky buns using my confectionery partner, Barbara's tried and true recipe. Of course, Barbara has been making bread her whole life and learned at her Mother's knee, Mother being a professional cake decorator. My Mother had no knees.

Yesterday I had two semi-disasters making bread machine sticky buns. The first dough was so dry I ended up dumping more and more water into it and then an egg in a non-measuring panic with no idea of how much longer the kneading cycle would last. Decided not to continue the sticky bun recipe, but to make the dough into little rolls instead of just chucking it. The rolls were not perfect, but they were fine. We ate them today with my first ever Pulled Pork.

The second disaster was of a different kind. The buns turned out well...but my DH said he didn't like them. Not enough goo, not sweet enough. The dough was all wrong...way too bready. So I began to look through my non-bread machine cookbooks: Corriher, Beranbaum, Joy of Cooking, Bittman...my head was swimming and I had no idea where to start. And not only were buns of any kind a first for me, now the bread machine recipes were not working either and I was going to leave that safe world behind.

Then Barbara called and suggested that I simply try her recipe. Scribbled it down and they just are a few minutes out of the oven and pronounced by him who is wont to pronounce as "excellent". And so they are. Gooey as all get out and the dough is just right.

So now begins the great foray into real bread making. This learning how to cook is amazing!

[iguana]

One of the problems I have with regular cinnamon rolls is that they are too sweet for my husband. I was making brioche dough for the Fine Cooking Cook the Issue 2010 contest (http://www.finecooking.com/recipes/authentic-brioche.aspx) and I had some extra dough. So I rolled it out, spread it with brown sugar and cinnamon, rolled, sliced, and voila:

These were just right for us-- rich and cinnamony, but not too sweet. For my 5-year-old, I would add some glaze!

Jen

[Pierogi]

...I was making brioche dough for the Fine Cooking Cook the Issue 2010 contest (http://www.finecooking.com/recipes/authentic-brioche.aspx) and I had some extra dough. ...

Jen

*WHAT* a great idea !! I made that brioche recipe about a month ago (my first ever, she says, chest bursting with pride)and it was great (she says again, chest bursting with pride). That seems like a really low-stress way to make cinnamon/sticky buns. Thanks, Jen !