cinnamon bun recipes!

April 12, 2019 11:47 AM

I just read this delightful FPP. And now that I read the Beard-nominated piece about how shitty Batali's cinnamon roll recipe was, I would like personal recommendations for a good one. :D

I'd probably prefer "reliably good" to "incredible but finicky". But if they're truly incredible cinnamon buns, I'll give it a shot.

Years ago, I made the Pioneer Woman's as a baking newbie, and they were not as good as I thought they should be, given the amount of fat in them. But if it's a good recipe, let me know, because maybe I just needed more baking experience/tears of male abusers?

posted by joyceanmachine to Food & Drink (15 answers total)

I generally trust Binging With Babish for things. Here's his take.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:56 AM on April 12, 2019

These Ann Sather style buns come pretty close to the real thing (if you’re ever in Chicago, definitely stop by Ann Sather for the real thing). Just make sure that when the buns are all risen and ready to pop in the oven, they are close together / touching so you get the soft sides.
posted by sallybrown at 11:58 AM on April 12, 2019 [1 favorite]

I've always had good luck with Alton Brown's recipe.
posted by General Malaise at 12:34 PM on April 12, 2019 [2 favorites]

I’ve used the UBC cinnamon bun recipe with success!
posted by SpaceWarp13 at 12:48 PM on April 12, 2019

I've been meaning to try King Arthur Flour's Soft Cinnamon Rolls recipe for a couple of weeks now.
posted by impishoptimist at 12:56 PM on April 12, 2019 [1 favorite]

I'm almost certain I used Stella Parks' recipe last time I made cinnamon rolls and it was a big hit. Probably can't go wrong Alton Browns take from General Malaise either.
posted by DJWeezy at 12:56 PM on April 12, 2019 [4 favorites]

I've been making the Sticky Caramel Rolls from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day for the past few years as our family's traditional Christmas Eve Cinnamon Roll Breakfast and they are consistently lovely. (The recipe in the book suggests several of their bread recipes as dough choices - I prefer the brioche.)
posted by darchildre at 1:09 PM on April 12, 2019

The Pancake Princess recently-ish had a cinnamon roll bake off where she tested some of the most popular recipes on the web.
posted by BeeJiddy at 2:09 PM on April 12, 2019

I use Pioneer Woman’s recipe and have family literally hounding me to make them. They have been consistently good (to us! Tastes vary!) but I’m now looking forward to trying some of these other suggestions.
posted by hilaryjade at 4:26 PM on April 12, 2019

Can confirm Stella Park's recipe linked to above is both easy and tasty.
posted by noneuclidean at 6:42 PM on April 12, 2019

This Finnish-based take is decidedly not standard American cinnamon roll, but so freaking good, with cardamon dough, not overly sticky/sweet and freezable once baked. Do bear in mind this makes 30+ rolls, but again, freeze whatever you don't eat immediately.
posted by I claim sanctuary at 11:37 PM on April 12, 2019

I recently tried this Better Than Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls recipe. They were fantastic! The method used for the cinnamon filling (make a paste from the butter/sugar/cinnamon to spread on your rolled out dough instead of layering the butter/sugar/cinnamon) worked really well.
posted by fourpotatoes at 8:50 AM on April 13, 2019

or... you *could* take a bag of pizza dough from Trader Joes, and roll it up with cinnamon and let it rise and bake it. They're not the fluffy fall-apart ann sather's rolls, they are serious cinnamon rolls for serious people. Also they are wicked fast to come together.
Make sure you use plain dough, nothing flavored.
posted by Vatnesine at 10:12 AM on April 13, 2019

I mean, to clarify, roll up the dough with cinnamon and sugar and butter and then put icing on the top when they're done. Basically pick a recipe and follow it except use premade dough.
posted by Vatnesine at 10:40 AM on April 14, 2019

I have served the cinnamon buns from Judith & Evan Jones' The Book of Bread to company with lots and lots of praise. The orange sticky buns are also amazing. Judith Jones was Julia Child's cookbook editor and wrote several of her own cookbooks.
posted by carrioncomfort at 7:05 AM on April 15, 2019