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Buttermilk Cinnamon Rolls

These Buttermilk Cinnamon Rolls are gooey and tasty. The buttermilk makes them light and fluffy, and they have the ideal tang. Smothered in cream cheese frosting, these are the best treat to wake up to! Easy to make overnight so that they can be baked in the morning.

Is it a family tradition to eat cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning? They have turned into one for us! While they may take a bit longer than other recipes, they are certainly a must.

These buttermilk cinnamon buns are the best thing to wake up to on a holiday morning and any other day. You certainly don’t need a special occasion for homemade cinnamon rolls, but it will feel like one when you make these!

Why You’ll Love These Cinnamon Rolls with Buttermilk:

They taste like conventional cinnamon rolls but with a twist.This recipe isn’t quite like the classic, but adding buttermilk gives it more flavor and makes your cinnamon rolls more lighter and fluffier. The acid in buttermilk helps break down the gluten and proteins, which makes your cinnamon rolls so soft! Buttermilk should be making an appearance in more baked goods indeed.

Can be prepared ahead of time. Cinnamon rolls can be a lot of work if you decide to make them in the morning. Just a lot of waiting. You can, however, prepare these a day ahead of time so that all you have to do is let the rolls rise one last time before baking. No need to get up at the crack of dawn!

This recipe for cinnamon rolls is quite easy and clear-cut. I’ve always thought that making cinnamon rolls would be hard. But I think this buttermilk cinnamon bun recipe is incredibly simple in its own way and hard to mess up. So even a beginner can master them!

Ingredients for the recipe:

For the rolls with cinnamon:

Buttermilk is the main thing that makes these fluffy cinnamon rolls different from others. Buttermilk will make the rolls soft and fluffy and give them a tangy taste. I have used regular and low fat buttermilk and both have worked great. You can make your own buttermilk if you can’t find any. If you really need it, whole milk will work too, but the taste will be a little different.

For optimal results, use “instant active yeast.” Using the instant active dry yeast will cut out a lot of time when it comes to the dough and allowing it to rise.

Salted butter: In this buttermilk cinnamon roll recipe, I use salted butter. It adds a lovely touch to the taste. You could use unsalted, but I don’t like the taste when I do.

sugar: white sugar is used in the cinnamon roll dough

Salt: either sea salt or table salt will do.

Eggs: big eggs that are at room temperature

flour: all-purpose flour, spooned out and smoothed. If the dough is too sticky, make sure you have extra to roll it out or add more during kneading.

brown sugar: light or dark brown sugar, whatever is your preference.

Cinnamon: your favorite kind of cinnamon, so don’t hold back!

Heavy cream: This is what you brush on top of the cinnamon buns before baking. If you want, you can use whole milk instead.

For the frosting using cream cheese:

Salted butter: We like salted butter better. If you use unsalted, that is fine, just add a pinch of salt into the frosting.

Cream cheese: full fat is recommended because it will taste and feel the best in the dish.

Vanilla: Real vanilla extract is better than counterfeit vanilla. You can change the flavor a little by adding a little maple or almond essence.

powdered sugar: adjust the amount of this ingredient to desired thickness

For the Dough:

1 c buttermilk , warmed to 90°F
1 pack instant active yeast, (.25 oz or 2 ¼ tsp), (also called “rapid rise)
1/2 c salted butter, very soft or somewhat melted
1/3 c white sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 large eggs
4 c all purpose flour, more as needed
¼ c heavy cream, for brushing the tops, or whole milk

For the Filling:

1/2 c salted butter, very soft
1 1/4 c brown sugar
2 T cinnamon

Cream Cheese Frosting:

5 T salted butter, softened
4 oz cream cheese
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 ½ – 2 c powdered sugar

Prepare the Dough:

To start warm the buttermilk slightly. Warm it on low over the stove until it hits about 85°F and then remove it from the heat so it doesn’t go over 90°F when it curdles. You DON’T want to cook the buttermilk too much since it will curdle. You may also microwave in about 20 second increments at 50% power level.
Transfer the warmed buttermilk to the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle the instant yeast over and whisk together. Allow it to sit for about 7-10 minutes. It will become slightly frothy and bubbly which will let you know it is activated.
Add the room temperature eggs, soft butter and sugar to the yeast mixture and beat with the paddle attachment on medium until smooth and incorporated. (**If you see small clumps, don’t be worried. Sometimes the butter will clump slightly from the variance in temperatures)
Add the 4 cups of flour and salt and beat until incorporated. Remove the paddle attachment from the mixer and replace it with the dough hook. Knead the dough for about 5-7 minutes on low speed. If the dough seems to be very sticky and sticking to the sides of the bowl, add more flour, about 1-2 tablespoons at a time. The dough should form a nice smooth ball and be tacky and pliable, but not sticky when it is ready. If you don’t have a stand mixer, you can knead the dough by hand instead.

Transfer dough to a large bowl that has been sprayed with oil. Cover with a towel and set in a warm place to let the dough rise. It should double in size. (You can set your oven to preheat to 350°F and allow it to warm up for about 2-3 minutes and then turn the oven off. Then allow the dough to sit in the warm oven to rise.)

Assemble the Cinnamon Rolls:

Mix together the very softened butter, cinnamon and brown sugar for the filling.
Place the risen dough on a lightly floured surface. You can start to form it in a slightly rectangular shape to help when rolling it out. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough out to about 24 inches long and about 16 inches wide. It does not have to perfect, promise.
Use a rubber spatula to spread the butter, brown sugar and cinnamon mixture over the dough leaving about 1/2 inch border. You can also use a spoon here. You don’t have to cover all the way to the edges. I normally leave a border that is a little less than 1/2 inch wide.
Start to roll the dough from the 24 inch side and roll to form a tight log. Try to roll the dough tight, but not overly tight or the centers can pop up when baking. Trim the ends off if desired.
Use unflavored dental floss or a sharp knife to cut the cinnamon rolls about 1 3/4 inches (if you trimmed the ends or 2 inches if not). I like to place an indentation where that is by measuring before cutting. Before I cut, I prefer to make a mark where it is.
Place the cut cinnamon rolls in a greased 9×13 inch metal or glass baking pan. If you want, you can put parchment paper on the bottom of the pan. (If doing an overnight version, seal and refrigerate here). Cover the rolls and allow them to sit in a warm spot until they about double in size. This can take about 1 hour. You can speed it up by turning on the oven for about 2 minutes and then shutting it off. Place the rolls in the oven and they should rise in about 30 minutes.

Bake:

Preheat the oven to 350°F. While the oven preheats brush the tops and sides of the rolls with heavy cream (or whole milk).
Bake the buttermilk cinnamon rolls for approximately 25 minutes, checking at 20 minutes and then adjusting as needed. Cinnamon rolls are done when tops are golden brown and the internal temperature of the center roll reads about 190°F – 200°F. You can also pull out the center cinnamon roll and make sure it is not undone or overly wet and gooey, as in not baked, to test doneness.

Prepare Cream Cheese Icing:

While the cinnamon rolls bake, prepare the cream cheese frosting. You can use another icing of your choice if you don’t prefer a cream cheese variation.
Cream the softened butter and cream cheese until smooth.
Add in the vanilla and beat to combine.
Slowly add the powdered sugar until desired consistency. Some prefer their icing on the thin side and others like it nice and thick–do what works for you!
Allow baked cinnamon rolls to cool for about 5-10 minutes. Then spoon equal amounts of cream cheese icing over top of each cinnamon roll. I am a huge icing fan so this makes a fair amount of the cream cheese frosting. You can be a bit more conservative in frosting these if desired.
Allow it to sit for about a minute or two. This will make it so easy to spread.
Once icing is warmed up a bit use an offset spatula or knife to spread over top of the rolls and allow it to spill over to the sides.
Serve cinnamon rolls immediately. Store leftover cinnamon rolls for 1-2 days sealed at room temperature or refrigerated for up to 5 days.

Overnight Cinnamon Roll Instructions:

It is super easy to make these overnight cinnamon rolls. Follow all instructions up until the buttermilk cinnamon rolls are cut and placed in the prepared pan.

Once they are in the pan, do not allow them to rise. Instead cover and seal with plastic wrap tightly and refrigerate for up to 24 hours.

The next morning, about an hour or so before baking, remove the rolls and allow them to warm up and then rise. From there, all other directions are the same!

Recipe Tips and Notes:

Do not worry if the mixture of buttermilk, butter and eggs looks curdled. This scared me the first few times making these cinnamon rolls. While the mixture may look slightly curdled, it is more likely just the butter clumping up slightly from the difference in temperature between the buttermilk and butter. Your dough will still look smooth in the end.
You can make this cinnamon roll dough without a stand mixer. It will take a bit more effort as you will have to knead the dough, but it is still perfectly doable. Knead the cinnamon roll dough until smooth and you can poke your finger into it without dough sticking to it. It should be a little tacky but not super sticky.
You can tent the cinnamon rolls with aluminum foil to avoid the tops getting too dark while baking. If you don’t want the tops of your rolls to be too browned, after about 12 minutes of baking, loosely tent a piece of foil over the cinnamon rolls and bake until done.
Depending on how cool your home is, the rise time for your dough may vary. Try to find a very warm spot in your house. A spot near a vent, in a warm (but not on) oven, or another cozy spot for the quickest time.

Storage:

You can technically keep these buttermilk cinnamon rolls at room temperature for 1-2 days but I find it best to refrigerate them sealed well in an airtight container for about 4-5 days and then reheating before eating.

You can freeze baked and iced cinnamon rolls as well. Allow the cinnamon rolls to cool completely. Arrange in a single layer in a pan or on a plate and freeze for about 1-2 hours before transferring them to a freezer safe airtight container. Separate layers with wax paper for best results.

Nutrition Information

Calories: 494kcal, Carbohydrates: 78g, Protein: 7g, Fat: 25g, Saturated Fat: 15g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 6g, Trans Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 91mg, Sodium: 333mg, Potassium: 141mg, Fiber: 2g, Sugar: 29g, Vitamin A: 798IU, Vitamin C: 0.3mg, Calcium: 81mg, Iron: 2mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.