You guys. I totally took cooler pictures of these and then deleted them off my camera like a real amateur. BUT let me tell you about them. I’ll paint word pictures. So for these guys, I simply halved my mom’s cinnamon roll recipe. And then I divided that dough in half again to make 2 dozen mini cinnamon rolls (a dozen for each half). I’m just going to say that I couldn’t have done that if I tried, but in my casual, sleepy-eyed, Saturday morning way I was able to cut exactly 12 rolls out of each half, and I was all “Whoa, Elliot check that out, man.”
I used parchment squares like my girl over at The Fauxmartha. It makes it so easy to snatch a cinnamon roll for the drive to work, the walk to get coffee, or to pass out to your neighbor and his girlfriend, or to mostly just give to a hottie. BUT just know, that these rolls come together so quickly! Just one minor detail… make the dough the night before. It has to rise in the fridge for 8 hours, but in the morning, once they’re rolled out, it’s all wam-bam (30 minuter rise time) thank you, ma’am.
So make these for the next person who walks into your life loving cinnamon rolls. I promise, it’s a winner.
P.S. Unrelated… I keep listening to this song. Sad love, man. But it’s a good one anyhow.
Mini Cinnamon Rolls (makes 24)
Recipe adapted from my mom’s recipe
Ingredients:
proof that yeast –
- 1/4 cup warm water
- 1/2 t sugar
- 1/2 pkg. active dry yeast
dough f’sho –
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 t salt
- 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter (cold is fine)
- 1/2 cup boiling water + 1/2 cup cold water
- 1 egg, beaten
- 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
roll up in it –
- 1/4 cup ( 1/2 stick) butter, softened
- 1/2 cup brown sugar, but more like a couple handfuls
- generous amount of cinnamon
Directions:
- In a small bowl, proof the yeast. Whisk together 1/4 cup warm water, 1/2 teaspoon of sugar and 1/2 of a active dry yeast in a small bowl. Allow to sit for 10 minutes, until all puffy and bubbly. Now we have proof that yeast is working.
- In a large bowl stir together 1/4 cup sugar, 1/2 t salt, 1/2 a stick of butter, 1/2 cup boiling water, 1/2 cup cold water and 1 egg. Stir until the butter is mostly melted. Add yeast water, and lastly add 3 1/2 cups of flour. Stir, stir, stir. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in the fridge for 8 eight hours, or overnight.
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line two dozen muffin cups with liners. I like to use parchment squares.
- Divide dough in half and roll into a rectangle, and about 1/4 inch thick. Spread evenly with a 2 tablespoons of softened butter using a spatula. Sprinkle generously with cinnamon and top that with a generous amount of brown sugar. Gently pat the brown sugar down into the dough a little. Roll up, slice into twelve equal pieces and divide among the muffin cups. Repeat with other half of dough. Cover with a towel and allow to rise in the pan for 30 minutes.
- Bake the rolls for 15-25 minutes, or until set and baked throughout. Allow to cool slightly. Frost.
Simple Vanilla Buttercream
- 1 1/2 -2 cups powdered sugar
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
- 1 t vanilla
- 2 T milk
Directions:
- Mix butter and powdered sugar until combined. Add vanilla and milk 1 Tablespoon at a time until a thick consistency. Top cinnamon rolls!
Yay! Click HERE for a printable pdf of the recipe above.
We can still tell how delicious those are from the pictures you did keep though 🙂 Buttercream for breakfast sounds like my kind of plan.
These make me want to scream!! LOVE!
Don’t worry about the pictures, these were successful in making my tummy grumble! Their work here is done!
Mini cinnamon rolls! In parchment! Love these.
I ADORE the idea of giving these out to everything because of the single servingness thanks to the parchment. CUTE. FRIENDLY. Very obviously delicious because mama’s know best.
in list of ingredients you have 1/2 cup boiling water + one cup cold water. In the directions you have 1/2 cup boiling water 1/2 cup cold water. Which one is right?
thanks
It’s 1/2 cup boiling + 1/2 cup cold. Sorry about that! <3
Sorry about your pics! I’m always afraid that will happen to me! These pics, though, still capture all of the carby goodness, though. I hope Elliot high-fived you for your measuring skillz 🙂
ooh these are too cute and LOVE the Melissa’s parchment paper idea 🙂
The pics you kept do the job, I want to make this. I like the mini version.
If I don’t have packets of yeast (I split a big bag of active dry yeast from Costco with my mom), what is the equivalent needed for the recipe in tablespoons/teaspoons?
Thanks in advance! 🙂
Hey! Each 1/4 oz. packet contains approximately 2 1/4 teaspoons of yeast, so you’ll need a heaping teaspoon. 🙂
Your last sentence of this post — the caption for your instagrams — SO MUCH WIN. I love you for it!!
I love these little guys too! The parchment is also a fabulous touch, cinna-buns-on-tha-go!
I’m one of those people who’s usually too lazy for yeast, but I might have to get over that for these. Your recipes are really really ridiculously good-looking, Zoolander-style.
I swear, you can do no wrong. Adorable, lady. from now on, every cinnamon bun I make will always be made in a cute little rustic parchment cup!
So adorable and yummy, and the title alone speaks for how delicious they must be! I’ve reached that point in my life too, so it must be the done thing, right?
This recipe looked so good I had to try – this was my second time working with yeast. The recipe was easy and well-written and the dough turned out perfectly – even for a rookie!
I did one pan with cupcake liners and the second dozen with parchment squares — when the rolls were finished baking (they smelled soooo good!) they were impossible to get out of the the liners AND the parchment squares!! We tried right out of the oven -because we couldn’t wait to taste – and the paper was stuck to the bottom of the roll, we had to just tear off the bottom of the roll. The same thing happened with the cupcake liners. When I let the rolls cool slightly and tried again, the same thing happened – the bottom of those rolls were not coming out of the liners/parchment.
I must’ve cut the rolls thinner because I had approx 5-6 left over and I put them in a buttered aluminum round pan I had picked up at the store and this worked perfectly! No sticking, no mess – perfect. The buttercream frosting is perfect as well – thank you!MGy5
Is there a way to shortcut around the 8-hour fridge rising? Can I let ’em rise at room temp for a certain amount of time for the same effect??