Make YOUR Best Cinnamon Rolls: Shapes, Fillings & Toppings

Another question: Did you try out the differences between frosting/icing the way you did and icing/glazing in the pan while fresh out of the oven? A few things to suggest if you didn't

1. Try adding an icing/glaze on the top right after you take it from the oven. One of the goals of icing/glazing is to keep moisture in. Right out of the oven, you will capture and prevent a lot of moisture continuing to escape while cooling. You will also add moisture to the whole product: the icing/glaze will melt, and the bread/filling will absorb the liquid in your icing/glaze.

2. For the powdered sugar glaze, also try milk as the liquid.

3. You can also double ice/double glaze: one to "seal" and melt into the roll while warm, another when cooler to give a more finished look (and to pile on more of the glaze/icing).

You can also choose to cut the rolls differently to keep filling in. Cut rolls into pieces the length of 2 individual rolls with a sharp knife. Then use a plate with a very blunt edge to cut the double-length pieces into individual rolls of regular size. The plate will seal the roll, and you can place the sealed side on the bottom.

Souped up recipes mention!!!

i bake swedish style knots or swirl buns and egg wash helps ma prevent some of the leaking. the rest goes underneath but since i use high temperature and space them, it transforms into cinnamon/cardamom caramel. and then i add simple cardamom syrup and pearl sugar.

also technically it’s not crème brûlée, since there’s no cream, just brûlée

I love your videos, as a professional pâtissière your videos are my favorite l've ever come across!
I always learn something new.
However I was wondering (if it isn't too invasive) if you keep a lab notebook for your recipes(/ recipe development and experimentation)? And if so how you structure it. I'm struggling to find a style that quite fits my tastes. Keep up the awesome work, it always gives me a topic to dive deeper into 😊😊

this is perfect timing omg. ive been obsessed with making cinnamon rolls

Thank you for sharing your explorations in baking!

I am so tempted to test this different filling style, but I might be snowed in this weekend without the chance to distribute my extra portions. I would cave too quickly for a second helping lol

In cafe I was working, we were doing cinnamon rolls twisted knot way, like You mentioned due to the leaking of filling and overall spread through the bun.
Then we topped it with 248 syrup, but instead of water we added squeezed orange juice, and infused it with our own mix of gingerbread spices.
Perfect gloss, moist buns and a hint of orange and anise to break the sweetness.

I use the recipe from Lifehacker which is 175g brown sugar, 20 g instant clear jel, 10 g cinnamon, 1/4 tsp salt, 50 g water and 60 g softened unsalted butter. Stays in place and tastes great.

❤️

Now I'm craving caramel rolls but all I have in the fridge is a roll of reduced fat crescent rolls!

Commenting for the algorithm!

I’ve never had an issue with the filling coming out.. I use room temp vegan butter (before sprinkling cinnamon sugar) and a glass pan

8:02 omg that dunked into a glass of milk would be heavenly haha

I've typically added corn starch or corn flour (I'm in Australia rn :P) to my filling and I think this has sticking power without changing flavor much. It also can help the bun stay hydrated against staling. Now that I think about it I think gums may work ... I might try some Xantham next time.

Here in New Zealand we serve our cinnamon scrolls with a vanilla glaze, very similar to your icing you showed.
160g icing sugar
2 Tbsp milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
Makes enough to do 12 buns.
It sets slightly crusty, but not hard.

Adding some sultanas/raisins to the dough and adding raspberry essence & red colouring to the glaze then makes them into Chelsea Buns.

Interesting. Not very sweet, huh? To my Swedish sensibilities, these things are offensively sweet! An assault on the taste buds! 😂

For the filling, I/we use a lot less butter. Also, the way I was taught was to spread the butter on the dough and sprinkle sugar and cinnamon as desired. Each roll always gets its own paper tray thingy (hm, I don't know the word for them!), so that they bake individually, with plenty of space for expansion.
For that reason it had simply never occurred to me that they could squeeze out the filling in the first place as they expanded.

I’ve used Stella Parks / Bravetart cinnamon rolls (creamed butter filling) lots of times and never noticed pooling at the bottom or greasiness unless I just never looked for it?

for the scallion pancake style ones, have you heard about how some scallion pancakes mix in flour into the oil/butter they use between the layers? just a little. i wonder if adding a little of that, would help make it into like a little roux, to help the fat stay there.

edit: you didn't mention the idea from that, but of course you tried that obvious idea a few minutes later. you always cover all of the ideas so well. you think so awesomely.

wait wait wait wait wait.......... oreo cookie butter............ (breathese obesealy).

I'm still trying to figure out why the cinnamon rolls I made with cinnamon, sugar and butter stayed in tact (I didn't lose much of the filling) but the ones I made with butter, sugar and orange zest didn't. The mixture didn't stay in much and it also crystallized. You could feel the sugar granules in the mixture that did stay put though. It was odd considering how much we were told to beat the 3 ingredients together. The recipe I used was from someone who has a blog and now a yt ch. When I asked she couldn't give me an answer other than to say hers didn't come out like that lol. Now THAT was frustrating. So much time and money spent on the dough/filling only to have it turn out that way. Do you think the acid from the zest could have participated in the outcome? I could watch you talk about the science behind baking all day. You really won't give up until you've figured out the solution. Thanks for sharing your hard work with us. It doesn't go unnoticed. Wishing you and yours a Happy Holiday to come 🫶

I want to bake and experiment more, but what do you do with the massive amounts of food that you create? 😱 that’s what’s kinda stopping me from experimenting with it every day…

So glad you like to geek out on baking stuff. Want to know if margarine changes things as melting point must be diff? Butter tastes better but also too expensive when baking for 9 grandkids 😂

Cinnamon rolls without cream cheese frosting? Hard pass.

Comment to feed the algorithm.

Is it possible to stabilize the filling somehow? Your tests with buttercreams way back seemed to be pretty temperature resistant, what if you tried making like an ermine/swiss meringue/french inspired filling

Thank you so much ❤!

I use a butter filling but add an egg yolk or some flour to it. It stays in the roll, and has more body - gooey. I also make frangipane with different ground nuts.