Traditionally called southern butter rolls, this recipe uses biscuit dough for cinnamon rolls and is baked in a custard. The result is a cinnamon roll that’s flaky like a biscuit that’s covered in custard instead of icing. If it sounds weird, just remember that people went bonkers for cronuts. So maybe don’t knock it until you try it. Plus, there’s two full sticks of butter in there and over a pound of sugar if you count the condensed milk, how bad can it really be? If you need further convincing, read on. Or jump to the recipe below if you haven’t already.
The Dough
If you have a food processor, you might be able to prep everything in the 15 minutes the original recipe said. That wouldn’t cover making the custard though. That’s still pushing it though, cooking doesn’t always have to be a race to get done as soon as possible. Anyway, add your dry ingredients to the food processor and pulse a few times to combine. Then add the cold, cut up butter. Pulse a few more times until the butter is the size of breadcrumbs. If you do this by hand, the butter might flatten out into long skinny pieces that don’t want to break up. Either way, the dough will turn out fine. Add the milk and whisk by hand with a fork until a dough forms.
If you forgot to add the baking soda with the rest of your dry ingredients like I did. You can still add it to the dough and work it in. Just be careful to not let the dough warm up too much or the butter will start to melt.
Shaping the Dough
I don’t use rolling pins much in my baking. Not sure why since they’re fun to use. Anyway, roll out the dough to as large of a rectangle as you can manage. If you can get 12″x15″ great. If not, that just means less swirls in your buns but the dough will be thicker. So you can choose between cinnabon level thick and um, Snackwell’s? I’m not sure if there’s a snackwell’s cinnamon. Bun but I don’t know of another famous cinnamon bun that’s not super thick. Just keep in mind that you need to cut it into 12 pieces so try to get it long enough for that.
Anyway, once its rolled out, spread the butter on top. If you have an uneven spatula, use it here. Next sprinkle the sugar mixture on top. Roll it up starting from the short end so you get more swirls in your rolls. Cut it up and place in the baking tray.
The Custard
Combine all the ingredients except for the vanilla extract. Heat in a sauce pan until the custard starts to bubble. Take care to stir regularly to avoid the custard splitting. One bubbly, pour the custard over the rolls. Don’t freak out if it seems like you’re adding too much custard. The rolls are more or less poached in the custard. These cinnamon biscuit rolls are best fresh out of the oven with a spoonful of the custard on top.
Cinnamon Butter Rolls
Equipment
- 1 Food Processor optional
- Rolling Pin Wine bottle works in a pinch
- 9×13 pan metal, but glass will work, just drop the oven temp 25 degrees
Ingredients
The Dough
- 360 grams AP flour
- 18 grams granulated sugar
- 22 grams baking powder
- 2 grams cinnamon
- 4 grams salt
- 84 grams cold butter 6 tbsp
- 237 ml buttermilk or whole milk
The Filling
- 112 grams butter, room temperature 1 stick, the softer the better but not melted
- 80 grams brown sugar
- 2 grams cinnamon
- 1 gram nutmeg optional
- 1 gram salt
The Custard
- 14 oz sweetened condensed milk
- 473 ml whole milk
- 90 grams powdered sugar
- 28 grams butter 2 tbsp
- 1 pinch salt
- 5 ml vanilla extract
Instructions
Making the rolls
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
- Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in a large bowl. Cut the 84 grams of butter into small pieces and add to flour mixture.
- Using your fingers, crumble the butter until it resembles its the size of breadcrumbs, or in my case, its pancake flat and pretty much broken up. If you have a food processor, this is the place to use it.
- Pour in the milk or buttermilk and whisk with a fork until a dough forms. Place in the fridge while you make the filling.
- In a small bowl, add the brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt and stir to combine.
- Flour a work surface and turn out the dough. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out into a 12"x15" rectangle.
- Spread the soft butter onto the top of the dough and then sprinkle the brown sugar mixture on top.
- Starting on the short end of the dough, tightly roll the dough into a log and place seam side down.
- Cut the log into 12 even pieces and lay flat in the 9×13 pan
Making the Custard
- Add the condensed milk, whole milk, powdered sugar, butter, and a pinch of salt to a sauce pan. Heat over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved and the custard begins to bubble.
- Remove the pan from the stove and stir in the vanilla extract.
- Pour the mixture over the rolls in the pan. It will seem like there's too much custard, don't worry, add it all in there.
Baking Instructions
- Bake for 45 minutes or until the rolls are puffy and golden and the custard is starting to caramelize.
- Let the rolls cool for a minute and then serve with a scoop of the custard.
- Cover and refrigerate the leftovers, if any.
