I’d always enjoyed a good Cinnamon Bun but one of the girls at work seems to have brought out an obsession within me. It started with Starbucks – delicious but bloody expensive! Then a Greggs opened up across the road from work and their Cinnamon Buns are just as good and only 90p! What more could you ask for? I’ll tell you what more – an entire tray of Cinnamon Buns, home baked and fresh from the oven. Can you blame me for being obsessed?
I have searched for the perfect Cinnamon Bun recipe for quite a while now, usually being disappointed to find that they are either incredibly tedious or in American units (ie. cups). So I decided to take it upon myself to try some out and come up with a fool-proof UK recipe for Cinnamon Buns that although does require a couple of dough rises, is not impossible for your average home baker to achieve without the aid of professional bakery setting.
The dough on these Cinnamon Buns (or Cinnamon Rolls, as some know them) is delicious, so much so that I reckon they would be just lovely on their own. But with the simple, yet well established buttery, cinnamon-sugar filling the dough transforms into a the beautiful buns that I find myself obsessed with. In terms of the icing, I like to keep it simple but I found a lot of recipes that opt for a cream cheese icing if you fancy something a little richer.
You might notice my recipe is also lacking in raisins, which is a personal choice. Not that I don’t enjoy a raisin filled Cinnamon Bun but these are optional and when it comes to making your own, you can mix things up however you please – more raisins, no raisins, even changing up the filling…not a cinnamon fan? Try smothering with Nutella instead!
Whatever you do with these classic Cinnamon Buns, you’re sure to be onto a winner!
Granny’s Top Tips
♥ For perfectly neat buns, instead of cutting your dough with a knife, use a piece of thread. Simply place under your sausage of dough and pull around in a circle for nice neat, even buns.
Ingredients
For the Dough
- 240 ml Milk
- 140 g Granulated Sugar
- 2 Packs of Easy Yeast 14g
- 115 g Butter at room temperature
- 2 Eggs
- 300 g Plain Flour
- 250 g Strong White Flour
For the Filling
- 90 g Butter at room temperature
- 100 g Granulated Sugar
- 1½ tbsp Ground Cinnamon
For the Icing
- 100 g Icing Sugar
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 2-3 tbsp Milk
Instructions
For the Dough
- In a small pan warm the milk until it's lukewarm. Pour the milk into a large bowl.
- Add the sugar and yeast to the milk and gently stir with a spoon until the sugar has dissolved. Cover the bowl with a tea towel and let the mixture sit until the yeast is foamy - this should only take 5-10 minutes.
- Using a dough hook (or a spoon if not using an electric mixer) beat in the butter on a low speed until it has broken into little pieces.
- Still on a low speed, add the eggs one at a time. Then gradually add the flour.
- Once all ingredients are added, beat on a medium speed until you have a soft dough - about 6 minutes. (If you are not using a mixer you can knead the dough by hand for this step).
- Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead it by hand for 1 minute. Form the dough into a ball and transfer into a lightly greased bowl and cover loosely with a piece of lightly greased cling film. Leave to rise in a warm place until it has doubled in size (around 1 to 2 hours).
- Lightly grease a baking tray with butter and line with grease-proof paper - a 9x13 inch tray is perfect.
- Once your dough has doubled in size, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and using a rolling pin, roll it into a rectangle around 13x18 inches in size. It's important to make sure your dough is of even thickness all over to ensure you have nice neat buns.
For the Filling
- Spread the butter over the dough (I find using my fingers to be the easiest way to do this!) right up to the edges.
- In a small bowl, mix the sugar and cinnamon together and then sprinkle evenly all over the buttered dough.
- Roll the dough tightly and evenly to create a 18 inch sausage. Cut the sausage into 12 individual rolls - I tend to cut in half, quarters and then thirds to make sure I get even rolls. Arrange the rolls in your pre-prepared tray and cover loosely with lightly greased cling film.
- Leave to rise in a warm place for 1-2 hours until they look light and puffy.
- After your buns have gone through their second rise, remove the cling film and place the tray in a pre-heated oven at 180°c and bake for around 20 minutes until golden brown.
For the Icing
- Mix together the icing sugar, vanilla extract and milk to create the icing. You can add more or less milk depending on your personal preference.
- Spread evenly across the buns shortly after the come out the oven. Leave your cinnamon buns to cool a little until they are just warm and enjoy.
Notes
I adore cinnamon buns and have tried many recipes, including a ‘dangerous’ 30 minute recipe which I have on my blog. These look absolutely lush. Perfect for lazy Sunday mornings.
Made these and stored overnight for baking in the morning for taking in to work as a treat for colleagues. Everyone said they were delicious. I did use dark brown sugar with the cinnamon.
Absolutely delicious. These were great fun to make and even though they say they take about 5 hours to make a lot of that time is proving so it’s really not that bad. Also, I found if you put mixed spice in instead of cinnamon it makes something equally delicious or dare I say better .
Thank you for sharing this recipe – I have a cinnamon bun obsession and this has made my day! And great tip on Greggs, I’ve been a Starbucks devotee but could be turned for that price! Can’t wait to try these :) #foodiefridays x
These look amazing! I love cinnamon buns. Cinnabon do fantastic ones, albeit a tad enormous. I’m very much a novice baker so not sure if I’ll be brave enough to try this myself just yet though!
Love love cinnamon buns! I always struggle with making yeast doughs in the past, but these look so good that I may have to give it another go. Great share and one I’ll definitely book mark #foodiefriday
These look amazing. I’m not sure I would have the patience though! Maybe for a rainy day :D #foodiefriday
Omg these look amazing I will definitely be giving these a try !!!
Thank you for linking up with #foodiefriday
OK, so it;s a bank holiday weekend so an extra lazy (ish) day so i am definitely going to take some time out to try this recipe, I can almost smell them. mmmmmmm
Thank you for linking to #foodiefriday
Hi Amy,
I really like the Cinnamon Buns recipe and wanted to say thanks. If I had one comment to make though, I doubled the amount of Icing Sugar for the topping and thought this gave a better amount of Icing on top of the Buns:-)
Has anyone made the dough the day before and baked them at a later stage?
Hello Pam. I’ve had great success in prepping these the evening before and baking for breakfast in the morning. Follow until “For the Filling: step 3” and as opposed to leaving the buns to rise in a warm place for a couple of hours, pop them in the fridge (ensuring they are well covered). In the morning, bring them out, allow them to warm to room temperature and until they look light & puffy. Then bake as normal! I often find you get a better tasting bun with this method too as it gives the dough an extending proving period.
Hi, I’ve been looking for an easy to follow and reliable cinnabon recipe for ages and I can’t wait to try these. Just wanted to clarify, if making the dough the night before, should I put the buns in the fridge after the second proof or before the second proof?
I’ve got 6 kids of my own and they had friends to stay last night so made these and popped uncooked in fridge overnight, I was up before the kids this morning took out of fridge and put on open over door whilst oven was on, 1/2 hour later popped in oven (and closed door) and they baked beautifully. Happy kids waking to fresh cinnamon buns!! Thank you
These look awesome – going to give them a try!
http://www.lisainwonderland.com
Just made these and was amazed at how easy the recipe was. I replaced the milk in the icing for the juice of a clementine with a little of the rind – delicious xx
Hi these are fab but to much for us to eat in a couple of days, can the dough be frozen or maybe the buns before icing?
Thanks.
Thank you!!! As a fellow cinnamon bun obsessive I was very grateful to find a UK recipe I could have a go at. These are brilliant. They turned out so well and were much lighter and fluffier than the shop bought versions I’ve tried. I will definitely be making these again. I think I might add a little warmed apricot jam as glaze before the icing next time to make them extra sticky!
I tried this recipe this morning and could not make a workable dough, mine was to wet but followed to the letter the weights and measures. Would have loved to have had these at the end of my efforts. I tried twice
The dough is extremely wet. Not holding out much hope for these!
This is by far the best cinnamon bun recipe I have ever tried, I make these buns quite a lot, sometimes I make them with a nut-filling, family/friends eat them as fast as I make them, Thank you, all the best
Made these yesterday. The dough is very wet but keep kneading on a well floured surface and the dough comes together in the end. They turned out really well. Next time I will cook them a few minutes less as the ones on the inside were definitely the best & those on the outside a little drier. Really yummy. I will also cut into 16 not 12 as they were really big.
This cinnamon bun recipe is amazing, they tasted 10 times better than any store bought ones and the recipe is much easier than I previously thought, thank you!
Can I freeze these please and at what stage would be best
As our local Coles store stopped selling the Cinammon buns in West Australia as I was baker for the US Navy but never baked buns for them,searched here & will try tomorrow but never heard of the strong flour only plain.We have self raising,,plain ,wholemeal &corn flour.
HI Coles and Woolies sell strong bread flour “Lighthouse Brand “ works a treat
Hi Made these this week to take to work on an early morning shift, wanted them to be warm , so did I did the second prove in the fridge overnight ,then baked them in the morning .
Great compliments from my colleagues, one said “ best cinnamon bun they had ever eaten”
First time I had made them won’t be the last.
Thank You ❤️
please could you advise if it is possible to use fresh yeast with this recipe? If so, what would the quantities be? Thank you
This did not start out well. The yeast mixture and the butter don’t mix when you do it by hand. I had to add part of the flour to the mixture early to make something workable enough to blend.
I ended up with a very sticky dough to which I had to add more flour to be able to actually get it off the worktop and into the bowl.
I think it probably would be fine if you have a food processor, but if you’re doing it by hand, the way the ingredients combine is tricky.
I left the dough to prove for 2hrs each time, and the buns have come out really well. Just need to find a fix for the initial mixing process.
Love making these now. Essentially all in the bread maker after dissolving the sugar in the milk. Job done. Yum
Oh my these are amazing – well worth the waiting.
Oh my these are amazing – well worth the waiting.
Hi I made these and they turned out great. Just wondering how I can make the dough a bit more chewy/doughy ?
Thanks again for the great recipe :)
Fab recipe producing soft yummy cinnamon buns. I add a tsp of cinnamon to the dough too.
Lovely and moist dough but did need more sugar and cinnamon for my family’s taste. I would melt the butter and brush generously as well as spot with butter next time. They took 30 minutes and the centre ones were undercooked, so would use a larger deep tray next time. Didn’t ice them… not a great fan of iced cinnamon buns but I am guessing this would have addressed the sweetness issue. They’re going down well and the tips on overnight proofing were spot on – thanks.