4 variations of my favourite cinnamon rolls
This isn’t the first (and likely won’t be the last) time I am writing about this excellent cinnamon roll recipe from King Arthur Flour. The truth is that all cinnamon roll recipes are amazing when they first come out of the oven. Sadly, when you come back to eat another one later in the day or the next morning you are going to be disappointed that the soft rolls have turned dry and hard. The King Arthur Flour recipe was made to specifically fix that problem and I promise that it works! The tangzhong technique it uses is actual magic. If you make these rolls in the evening then they will still be soft when you wake up in the morning.
Since I love this recipe so much, I’ve used it to make a variety of other rolls. I’ve listed below the the little changes to make for four different variations of rolled buns. Refer to the original recipe for the rest of the instructions. All of the variations use the same baking temperature and time as the original recipe.
Pizza Buns
When I was a kid my mom would take my siblings and I to a beach in the summer. Sometimes we would stop at a bakery on the way and she would pick up these big soft pizza pretzels for us. I still think that a pizza pretzel plus some watermelon is the perfect beach snack! This is my attempt to replicate those in a roll form.
Use only 1T of sugar
(optional) Sub half of the flour for whole wheat flour
Mix tomato paste with a pinch of salt, some basil, and a few table spoons of water until it’s a thick sauce consistency
Spread this sauce all over the rolled out dough
Add grated mozzarella cheese all over the sauce
(optional) Sprinkle pepperoni on top too
Cheese Buns
I love a grocery store cheese bun! The tunnels of cheese as you unroll it make me so happy. The homemade version has better ingredients also makes everyone happy!
Use only 1T of sugar
(optional) Sub half of the flour for whole wheat flour
(optional) Sub half of the butter for bacon fat
Sprinkle grated sharp cheddar cheese all over the rolled out dough instead of cinnamon and sugar
Once the rolls have done their second rise, add more grated cheese to the top of each bun before putting them into the oven.
Raspberry Rolls
In Provo, UT there is a bakery called Shirley’s that makes incredible raspberry sweet rolls! They’re basically cinnamon buns with raspberry jam inside and that’s exactly how you make them!
Spread raspberry jam all over the rolled out dough instead of cinnamon sugar. If you are planning on using seedless jam, I have only had success with this brand. Other ones were too slippery and just turned into a mess. I personally don’t mind using a jam that has seeds in it. You could also make a batch of raspberry compote and spread that inside.
Top with a generous amount of cream cheese icing!
Nutella Rolls
I made these for afterschool snack after seeing a picture of kids in France enjoying a baguette and chocolate goûter
Spread nutella all over the rolled out dough instead of cinnamon sugar.
I opted to leave icing off these ones for a little bit but not super sweet snack.
I’d love to see a picture if you try out any of these recipes! Happy baking!
Mary-Margaret