Quick Cinnamon Buns

I love making cinnamon buns as a house warming to ourselves. We have done a lot of moving recently and we will continue to for the next month. This weekend we are moving out of one apartment, and in a couple of weeks we will be moving into the next. When I saw this recipe I immediately thought of the cinnamon buns I’ll be making when we are finally done with all the moving. Of course, I had to make sure that they were up to snuff, so I had a great excuse to make them.

If you have ever made cinnamon buns from scratch before, you know that it is a rather long process. One that involves lots of waiting. If you happen to be a patient person (which I’m not) then it’s not so bad, otherwise waiting for cinnamon buns can be excruciating. I’ve seen recipes using pre-made biscuit dough to cut down on the wait but those never end up tasting quite right. These just happen to be amazing and so quick to make. These cute little buns don’t need any yeast–that means no waiting time. And they are good, seriously good.

Sometimes pictures just speak for themselves.

Adapted from Jennie’s Kitchen

Ingredients

For the Filling:
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoons butter, melted

For the Dough:
2 1/2 cups, plus more for sprinkling
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
8 tablespoons melted butter, divided

For the Icing:
2 ounces cream cheese, softened
2/3 cup Confectioner’s sugar
3 tablespoons buttermilk
1 teaspoon lemon juice

Directions

Preheat oven to 425ºF. Combine filling ingredients in a small bowl and stir with a fork until blended; set aside.

To make the dough, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a deep bowl. In a separate small bowl, whisk together the buttermilk and 4 tablespoons of the melted butter. Pour over the dry ingredients, and stir together with a wooden spoon until it forms a scraggly-looking dough. Knead a few times until it becomes smooth, then divide into two equal portions.

On a lightly floured surface, gently roll each piece of dough into a 12-inch by 8-inch rectangle. Brush 1 tablespoon of melted butter on each rectangle. Sprinkle an even amount of cinnamon-sugar filling over each flattened piece of dough, leaving a 1/4-inch border. Gently pat the filling into dough with your fingertips. Roll each filled dough into a log starting from the longest (12-inch) side nearest you. Pinch ends closed. Cut each rolled log into 8 equal pieces*, you should have 16 rolls in total now.

Using a pastry brush, coat an 11-inch by 8-inch rectangular glass or ceramic baking pan with 1 tablespoon of the melted butter. Arrange cut rolls in the pan, and press down with your hand to flatten slightly. Brush tops with the remaining melted butter. Bake for 20 minutes, or until golden brown and filling is bubbling from the top. Let cool in the pan on a wire rack for five minutes.

Meanwhile, to make the icing, use a fork to mash the cream cheese and confectioners’ sugar together into a paste. Whisk in the buttermilk and the lemon juice until it forms a smooth icing. Drizzle over cinnamon rolls and serve immediately.

* I only made half the recipe and I cut my single log into 11 sort of equal sized pieces. I think 10 would be the perfect number. They are still decent size that way but there are more to share.

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