Mini Cinnamon Rolls with Heavy Cream

Why you'll love these mini cinnamon rolls with heavy cream

• Soft & Pillowy Brioche: My go-to brioche recipe turns into a soft and supple dough after a slow & cold overnight rise that's so nice to roll out and shape into cinnamon rolls. As an enriched bread, it yields a buttery, yeasty flavor with a pillowy soft texture that is utterly irresistible in the form of a cinnamon roll.
• Heavy Cream Soaked: The richness from the heavy cream is soaked up by the brioche as it bakes and becomes even softer and fluffier.
• Gooey Cream Cheese Glaze: Rather than spreading a thick cream cheese frosting on top, I always opt for a glaze with a pourable consistency. There's nothing better than a gooey cream cheese icing seeping between the swirls of each cinnamon roll.

Ingredient Notes

• Flour: Use a high quality unbleached all-purpose flour for the best flavor and proper gluten development.
• Salt: Add kosher or fine sea salt to the flour to enhance the flavors in the brioche. Mix it into the flour rather than the salt to the milk, yeast mixture, or it may kill the yeast.
• Milk: Use whole milk for best flavor, and bring it to about 110 degrees F to help the yeast activate. Be careful not to make it too hot, or it can kill the yeast.
• Sugar: A small amount of granulated sugar is mixed in with the milk and yeast to help activate the yeast, as well as give the brioche a richer color on top as it bakes.
• Yeast: Feel free to use instant or active dry yeast.
• Eggs: Bring your eggs to room temperature quickly by placing them in a bowl of warm water for about 10 minutes.
• Butter: Use high quality European-style butter for optimum flavor and overall result. I recommend Kerrygold.
• Cream Cheese: For best overall flavor and results, use block-style cream cheese.

See recipe card for full information on ingredients and individual quantities.

Step by Step Instructions

Here are step by step photos and instructions on how to make these heavy cream cinnamon rolls! For the full ingredient list and method, see the recipe card at the end of this post.

STEP 1: Activate the yeast; Mix in eggs & vanilla. In a cup, heat the milk to 110 degrees F and stir in the sugar and yeast. If using active dry yeast, allow it to sit for 15 minutes for the yeast to activate. If using instant yeast, simply move on to the next step. Mix the eggs and vanilla into the milk yeast mixture.

STEP 2: Add wet ingredients to dry. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, mix the flour and salt together. Pour the wet ingredients into the flour and mix on low-medium speed for about 3 minutes, or until it forms a ball around the hook.

STEP 3: Mix in the butter. Add in a few pieces of butter at a time, allowing them to fully incorporate before adding more. Once all of the butter is incorporated, turn the mixer up to medium-high speed and mix for 8-12 minutes. The dough will eventually pull away from the sides of the bowl and have a silky smooth texture with minimal stickiness.

STEP 4: Perform windowpane test. To check if the dough is ready, use the windowpane test - tear off a small piece and carefully spread it out to see if you can see the light through it without it tearing. If it tears, mix for another minute or two and check again.

STEP 5: Proof the dough. Once the dough is ready, transfer it to a lightly greased bowl, cover, and allow to proof overnight (or at least 5 hours) in the fridge. Alternatively, you can let the dough rise in a warm place for about 1 hour or until doubled in size.

STEP 6: Roll out the dough. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to a long rectangle about 24"x5". Brush the softened butter all over the dough. Then, sprinkle the brown sugar and cinnamon evenly over the top.

STEP 7: Cut the cinnamon rolls. Roll the dough up into a log. Use a serrated knife to score lines every 1 ½” to get 15 rolls. Use unflavored dental floss to cut each roll by placing the floss under the dough, wrapping around, and pulling to cut through.

STEP 8: Arrange & proof. Arrange the rolls in a 9" round baking dish. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise for about 30 minutes or until nearly room temperature, but still slightly cool to the touch. When pressed with a finger, the dough will slowly spring back.

STEP 9: Add heavy cream & bake. Just before baking, pour the heavy cream all over the cinnamon rolls. Place the pan on top of a baking sheet, then place in the oven. Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until evenly golden on top.

STEP 10: Pour the glaze on top & enjoy. Once the cinnamon rolls come out of the oven, immediately pour the cream cheese glaze on top. Allow the cinnamon rolls to cool for about 30 minutes before serving.

Expert Baking Tips

• Proof the dough overnight: I recommend allowing your brioche dough to rise slowly overnight in the fridge. Cold dough is so much nicer to work with! But you can also let it proof at room temperature for one hour and make the brioche bread immediately. 
• Bake the dough within 24 hours: To find that sweet spot between properly proofed with a developed flavor and over-fermented, I recommend giving the dough at least 5 hours to rise in the fridge, but no more than 24 hours. 
• Cut the dough with dental floss. To get a clean cut of each cinnamon roll, use unflavored dental floss rather than a knife. 

All of the recipes on this blog are carefully developed with gram measurements so you can easily recreate them in your own kitchen with success. Volume measurements are extremely inaccurate and leave room for significant errors. Not all measuring cups are made equally, so your one cup of flour will be different from my one cup of flour. By providing precise measurements in grams (aside from minor ingredients, which are given in tsp/tbsp), you can make these recipes accurately and with less cleanup! All you need is this kitchen scale. 

If this still isn't enough to convince you, I have provided volume measurements in the recipe card. If you are interested in understanding the conversions, this is the best conversion chart.

But trust me, once you try baking in grams you'll never turn back!

Happy baking! x