Two easy cinnamon roll recipes are put to the test. Here is our virtual bake-off.
My husband, Scott, had surgery last week. I wanted to bake something as a treat and incentive for him to eat breakfast. Scott loves anything that is sweet and frosted, so I decided to bake fresh cinnamon rolls with cream cheese frosting. When I mentioned my plan to Liz, she suggested we do a throw-down of two different cinnamon roll recipes. Below are our recipe picks and how they turned out.
Melissa’s Choice:
Homemade Cinnamon Rolls courtesy of Tastes of Lizzy T. This recipe was fairly easy. The big difference is the warm cream or milk that is poured over the rolls just before baking. I did follow this step but I also made a few adjustments.
- I let my dough rise the first time for 1 hour vs. just 30 minutes
- Skip the melted butter for the filling. Just let it soften entirely so it’s more like a paste. I found it ran out of the roll and did not keep enough of the cinnamon mixture inside my rolls.
- I let my rolls rise in the pan 3 hours which made the rolls super fluffy on top and more gooey and delicious at the bottom.
These rolls were a huge hit. I shared a few with my new neighbors and my husband ate one every day post surgery until they were gone.
Liz’s choice:
I tried overnight cinnamon rolls from one of my favorite cooking blogs, Half Baked Harvest. This blog by Tieghen Gerard is one of my absolute favorite go-to places for any delicious recipe. She has several cinnamon roll recipes, but I wanted this yeast dough sensation and it did not disappoint. The chai frosting is to die for.
- Double the cinnamon brown sugar mixture and generously cover your cinnamon roll layers. I also added some of the mixture to the bottom of the greased pan to add a nice carmelized, delicious coating on the base of each role.
- Cut your cinnamon rolls to the right size. When you cut each cinnamon roll from the rolled out log, I suggest about 2.5 to 3 inches in height. Make sure also that you have a few cinnamon swirls inside the roll to balance the perfect bread/cinnamon roll bite.
- Like Melissa, I recommend letting it rise a long time. I made my rolls around 8 pm and let them rise overnight. They almost doubled and baked perfectly.
- I used a round baking pan rather than a loaf pan.
Tell us which you think is the best. What adjustments did you make? Find more of our favorite recipes from us here.
