Cinnamon Rolls with Eggnog Frosting

Happy Christmas Eve, for those who celebrate Christmas! Happy Saturday for those who don’t!

Sooooo, I was planning on making English toffee, another of my grandma’s Christmas recipes. But, my BFF asked me if I had a cinnamon roll recipe. So I dug through my recipes and dusted it off to write it up.

The dough for cinnamon rolls is very similar to brioche dough. Basically, it’s enriched with an egg and butter. And because of that, it takes a long time to work the dough to form the gluten. DO NOT BELIEVE ANY BLOGGER THAT SAYS ENRICHED DOUGH IS READY TO ROCK AND ROLL IN 10 MINUTES!!!! Sorry to yell at you 🤪. I find it so frustrating reading popular food bloggers who tell their readers that working their enriched dough is super quick. It’s not. I’ve worked enriched dough up to an hour before!

Using a stand mixer is a lifesaver for making enriched dough. I’m posting up some videos on Instagram so you can see how the dough comes together (I haven’t set myself up with Vimeo yet for my website! I’ll get there!). The scariest thing about making enriched dough is that it starts as a very wet dough and your inclination is to add more flour. Don’t! Let the stand mixer do the work for you. It’ll start off very loose and slowly start to form gluten. As the gluten forms, the dough starts to firm up and slowly form a ball.

Once the dough forms a ball, you will need to babysit the machine because it will start to walk and it will walk right off of your counter! I’ll grab my phone and sit on the counter with an arm resting on the machine and catch up on the news, or play a game, or listen to a podcast. I’ll set the timer and just chill.

I find letting the machine work anywhere from 20 to 30 minutes gets the dough to where it needs to be, or almost there. I’ll usually still knead the dough for an additional 10 minutes or until it passes a windowpane test. The purpose of the windowpane test is to ensure the gluten has formed so you have a nicely textured bread. Now, I’ve made a lot of bread, but this was the first time I’ve been able to perform such an amazing windowpane test! Check this baby out! 😂

Now, my friend wanted a recipe where she could pop the rolls in the oven Christmas morning. So I performed a couple of tests. I let the dough rise, rolled it out, made the rolls and then popped it in the refrigerator overnight. I pulled it out the next morning and waited for it to perform the second rise. It took almost two hours! I did some research to see what other food bloggers said, and they all said the same thing ~ 2 to 3 hours. So, what’s the point when you can make the recipe start to finish within 3 hours!

So, two options if you want to prep the rolls a day ahead, and I’ll let you know which I prefer and why. Your first option is to let the dough perform its second rise and then refrigerate it. The downside to this is that the filling, inevitably, will leak slightly. When you cook it, it gets hard and sticky on the bottom of the dish. If you don’t mind that, then don’t let that deter you. BUT, even though the dough is refrigerated, the yeast will continue to be slightly active, and you risk over-proofing your dough. What does that mean for your cinnamon rolls? Well, you might get some unwanted air bubbles or your rolls will collapse some when you bake them. These really aren’t things you want for your cinnamon rolls! Will this definitely happen? No, it might not. So, it’s your call if you want to attempt this route!

Option two, is to make the cinnamon rolls completely the day before, all the way through baking them. Hold off on frosting them. Just let the dish cool and wrap tightly with plastic wrap. The next morning, heat the oven to 250°F. Replace the plastic wrap with tightly sealed aluminum foil and let the rolls reheat for 20 to 30 minutes. They retain their moisture, and as they reheat, you can make the frosting and be all set to go by the time they’re at your desired temperature. You could also microwave them covered with the plastic wrap. I microwaved them at 50% power for 5 minutes and they were perfect!

The “hardest” part of this recipe is waiting for the dough to come together and form enough gluten. It takes time, so don’t stress if it takes a bit longer than you think it should. Just let the machine keep working it. The dough might feel tacky when it’s done, but it shouldn’t stick to your hands; it should come cleanly off of your hands.

I made these with chopped walnuts and it was soooo good! And that eggnog frosting! YUM! 😋

Tag me on Instagram if you try these and let me know how they turned out!

Cinnamon Rolls with Eggnog Frosting

• Author: the old woman and the sea
• Prep Time: 40 minutes
• Cook Time: 30 minutes
• Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes plus 2 hours for rising
• Yield: 9 rolls 1x
• Category: Baking, Breakfast, Desserts

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

Dough

400 g all-purpose flour, room temperature

¾ cup buttermilk

2¼ tsps yeast

3 TB granulated sugar

1 TB molasses (substitute with brown sugar)

1 large egg, room temperature

¼ cup butter, softened

½ tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

Filling

2 to 3 TBs butter, softened

1 cup chopped walnuts

2 tsps ground nutmeg

1 TB ground cinnamon

½ cup brown sugar

Frosting

¼ cup butter, softened

4 oz cream cheese, room temperature

3 TBs eggnog

1 cup powdered sugar

Additional Ingredients

~1 TB butter to grease the baking dish

1 large egg

1 TB heavy whipping cream

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Instructions

Make the Dough

In a microwaveable small bowl or measuring cup, heat the buttermilk to 105°F to 115°F. I do this by microwaving it for 45 seconds, taking the temperature, and then continuing to microwave on 5 to 10 second increments. Whisk in the sugar, molasses, and yeast until fully incorporated. Let sit until frothy ~ about 5 minutes. Add the vanilla extract and whisk to incorporate the froth.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix together the flour and salt with the dough hook. Add a large egg and turn the mixer to low. Slowly pour the buttermilk around the edges of the bowl. As the dough starts to come together, increase the speed by increments until it’s at a medium-high speed.

Drop the butter into the bowl and let the machine run until the butter is fully incorporated. Increase the speed to its highest setting and let the machine run for about 20 to 30 minutes. The dough will seem very loose at first; that’s okay. As the dough continues to work, the gluten will start to form and eventually it’ll start to form a ball. Keep an eye on your machine. Once it forms a ball, the stand mixer likes to walk and it will walk right off of your counter!

Remove the ball of dough from the bowl and perform a windowpane test (see above). If the windowpane test fails, knead the dough on a bread board or very lightly floured surface for another 5 or 10 minutes. Perform the test again. Once the dough passes the windowpane test, tuck it into a ball and place it in a lightly oiled bowl. Cover the bowl with a towel, lid, or plastic wrap. Place in a warm area, ideally your oven heated to under 100°F. Let sit until the dough has doubled in size ~ about 1 hour.

Form the Cinnamon Rolls

In a medium bowl, mix together the brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Set aside.

Lightly flour your work surface and dump the dough out on it. Lightly flour the top of the dough and roll the dough out to about 21” by 14”, give or take. Using the back of a wooden spoon, spread the butter out evenly across the dough. Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar evenly across the butter then sprinkle the walnuts on top. Tightly roll the dough up width-wise so it will form a 14” log. If desired, cut the ends off to create straight ends.

Using a dough cutter or, ideally, unflavored dental floss, cut the dough evenly into 9 pieces (I measure the log and divide it by 9 to try to have more evenly sized pieces).

Butter your 9X9 baking dish. Place the rolls in the dish. Cover with plastic wrap and let the dough rise again ~ about an hour.

Bake & Frost

Preheat the oven to 350°

Make the egg wash by whisking together 1 large egg and 1 tablespoon of heavy whipping cream. Brush evenly on top of the rolls. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the cinnamon rolls read 195°F internally.

While the rolls cook, make the frosting. In the bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, whisk together on high the butter and cream cheese until fully incorporated. Lower the speed to medium and add the eggnog. Stop the machine and add the powdered sugar. On low, start to whisk in the sugar, increasing the speed to medium to fully blend the frosting.

Once the rolls are done, spread the frosting over the top and serve!

NOTE: If you are making the rolls a day ahead, wait to prepare the frosting until the day you will be having the rolls. You can reheat the rolls in the microwave at 50% for five minutes or in the oven at 250° for about 20 to 25 minutes.

Enjoy!

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