On a lazy weekend morning, it’s hard to compete with a still-warm, freshly baked cinnamon roll… light, soft, sweet, tall. For more than a decade, our go-to recipe has been the version in our cookbook Artisanal Gluten-Free Cooking. This new-and-improved version updates our original recipe to make it even better. A slow overnight rise in the refrigerator and a few other tweaks make these the tenderest cinnamon rolls we’ve ever had.
Cinnamon Rolls
Ingredients
For the dough:
- 3/4 cup milk
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) salted butter (cut into pieces)
- 1/2 cup sugar (plus 1 additional tbsp for activating the yeast)
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/3 cup warm water (about 110º F)
- 4 1/2 tsp active dry yeast (2 packets)
- 3 eggs (room temperature)
- 4 1/2 cups (563 g) Artisan Gluten-Free Flour Blend (https://nogluten-noproblem.com/recipes/artisan-gf-flour-blend)
- 2 tsp xanthan gum
For the filling:
- 1 cup packed brown sugar (225 g)
- 2 tbsp ground cinnamon
- 1 stick salted butter (8 tbsp, cut into pieces)
- 1/2 cup milk or heavy cream
For the glaze:
- 1 cup (120 g) confectioners sugar
- 3 tbsp heavy cream
- 1/2 tsp pure GF vanilla extract
Instructions
To make the dough:
- Heat the milk, butter, ½ cup sugar, and salt in a saucepan over medium-high heat until the butter begins to melt. Remove from the heat and stir, then let sit until the butter has completely melted and the mixture is cooled to lukewarm.
- In a large bowl, combine the warm water, the remaining 1 tbsp sugar, and yeast and let stand until the mixture is foamy and the yeast is activated, about 5 minutes.
- Whisk the eggs into the yeast mixture. Then whisk in the cooled milk mixture.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour and xanthan gum. Then add the flour mixture to the egg mixture and stir vigorously until the dough is smooth. It will be sticky.
- Roll out the dough between two large sheets of plastic wrap to form a rectangle that is about 18 inches wide by 12 inches.
To make the filling:
- Stir together the brown sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. Add the butter and use your fingers to squeeze the butter into the sugar until it is a uniform paste consistency.
To prepare the cinnamon rolls:
- Remove the top piece of plastic wrap from the dough, and break the filling into pieces and evenly distribute on top of the dough. Spread the filling to the edges of the dough on three sides, but leave a one-inch naked border along the top edge of the dough farthest from you.
- Use the bottom sheet of plastic wrap to lift and roll up the dough into an 18-inch long roll. Peel the plastic wrap back as you roll, but try not to roll the bottom of the dough off the plastic wrap, as it will stick to the work surface.
- Cut the roll into 2-inch segments, making 9 cinnamon rolls.
- Grease a 9×9-inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray or butter and arrange the 9 cinnamon rolls in the prepared pan. Cover and refrigerate overnight or at least 8 hours.
To finish the cinnamon rolls:
- Remove the covered pan from the refrigerator and place in a warm location. Allow to rise for at least 1 hour and up to 2 hours. Near the end of the rise, preheat the oven to 350º F.
- After the rolls are risen and before they go into the oven, remove the cover and pour the 1/2 cup milk or heavy cream over the dough.
- Then bake for 30–35 minutes, until golden brown on top. Remove from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes.
- While the cinnamon rolls are cooling, make the glaze by combining the confectioners’ sugar, heavy cream, and vanilla extract in a small bowl and whisk together.
- Drizzle the glaze with a spoon or piping bag on top of the cinnamon rolls. Serve warm.
Hello. I’m not sure what the artesian flour blend is and where to get it? Thanks!
Sorry about that. Looks like we need to fix a missing / broken link. Here’s the blend: https://nogluten-noproblem.com/recipes/artisan-gf-flour-blend
I’ve made these and they are EXCELLENT. Curious, how long do you think I can “hold” them in fridge before baking them off?
The cold temps in the fridge hold back the rising, but the dough WILL continue to slowly ferment. So 48 hours is probably the max before you’d want to bring them to room temp and bake them off.
I own the Artisanal cookbook, made the cinnamon buns a few times, this updated recipe is even better! No one could tell they are gluten free, husband and in-laws approved. Looks like I’ll be on yearly Christmas cinnamon bun duty! Thanks so much!
Yay! We’re so happy to hear!
I’m confused. Under filling ingredients it list heavy cream/milk but then in the directions for making the filing the milk nor cream is listed. Or am I missing something.
The milk / heavy cream is called for in the “finishing” section of the method. Pour over the cinnamon rolls before baking. Sorry for the confusion by listing the ingredient in the “filling” section.
Thanks for this delicious recipe– the rolls were rich and fluffy, and are still good on the second day. I wouldn’t have thought to pour milk over cinnamon rolls before baking, but it worked out well.
I cut back on the butter in the filling (down to 2TB) and upped the cinnamon (3TB) to our tastes, with no ill effects. In the future, I might try using this dough to make an orange marmalade variation 🙂
Any adjustments for high altitude needed?