Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls Copycat Recipe
An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott
Prep time: 30 minutes plus 1 hour 45 minutes rising time
Cooking time: 23 minutes per batch
Makes 6 XL cinnamon buns
- 20g/0.7ozs bread flour
- 1/2 cup/125ml/4floz water
- 50g/1.7ozs butter, softened
- 210ml/7flozs cream or milk
- 60g/2ozs brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 500g/1.1lbs bread flour
- 1 tablespoon/8.5g instant dried yeast
Cinnamon sugar
- 200g/7ozs butter, softened
- 200g/7ozs brown sugar
- 3 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice mixture (or ground cinnamon)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 125g/4ozs cream cheese, softened
- 80g/2.8ozs butter, very soft but not melted
- 330g/11.6ozs icing or powdered sugar, sifted
- 1/2 cup/125ml/4flozs milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Step 1 - Make the tangzhong roux mixture. Whisk 20g/0.7ozs of flour and half cup of water in a small saucepan and heat until it becomes a smooth roux (around 65C/149F). Whisk in the butter, cream or milk, brown sugar, egg, vanilla and salt until there are no lumps.
Step 2 - In a mixer bowl whisk the 500g/1.1lb bread flour and the yeast together to distribute the yeast in the flour. Mix the tangzhong roux into the flour until you get a shaggy mixture and knead with a dough hook for 10-12 minutes until you get the windowpane effect (where you can pull apart the dough without it breaking).
Step 3 - Place in a greased bowl (I use the mixer bowl) and cover and allow to rise to triple the size, around 1-1.5 hours. In the meantime mix the softened butter, brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice and salt together in a large bowl to form a cohesive mixture.
Step 4 - Punch down the dough and flour a large surface. Line 2 large baking trays with parchment. Roll out the dough to a large rectangle 80x28cms or 32x11inches. Spread all of the cinnamon filling generously across the entire dough. Mark the dough at both ends in 5cm/2 inch increments and using a pizza cutter slice long ribbons of dough that are 5cm/2inches wide. Roll up the dough from one end. Use a little water to seal the end piece well to the roll. Place three rolls per tray. Allow to rise to double the size in a warm area (and don't let your dog eat the dough!) for 30 minutes.
Step 5 - Preheat oven to 170C/340F and bake each tray of buns for 23-25 minutes. While the cinnamon buns are baking make the cream cheese glaze. In a mixer beat the cream cheese and butter together until smooth. Then on low speed add the sifted icing sugar, milk and vanilla and beat until combined. It should be soft and spoonable. Thermomix directions: place the icing sugar in the TM bowl and set to 15 seconds speed #10. Add the cream cheese, butter, milk and vanilla and set to 20 seconds, speed #6.
Step 6 - When the buns are out of the oven, let them rest on the tray for 15 minutes to absorb all of the caramel butter. Then spoon 60g/2ozs of cream cheese frosting on each bun. Serve warm.