Pecan Cinnamon Rolls with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Icing
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Sticky buns are my fall language
These sticky pecan cinnamon rolls with cinnamon cream cheese icing will be your new breakfast obsession for fall! They’re so soft and gooey that I couldn't even tear them apart prettily for the video. They kept falling down from my hands while dripping syrup from the brown sugar filling. I have never been happier to have my hands so sticky!
Why are these pecan cinnamon rolls the best ones ever? First, I toasted the pecans for an intense nutty flavor. Second, I brushed a cinnamon simple syrup on top of the baked rolls to make them sticky. Lastly, I added more cinnamon to the cream cheese icing. All this to say the cinnamon flavor in the rolls is intense!! It’s what you want in a decadent breakfast during a crisp fall morning!
The amazing news is that you can completely make these rolls a day before!
What makes cinnamon rolls taste good the next day
I love using the tangzhong method when baking yeasted dough. This is a method where you cook some of the flour with water until a pudding like consistency, helping the dough retain more moisture for longer.
It makes all the difference in the world. If you have already made one of my yeasted recipes you have experienced this first hand. With the tangzhong method your rolls will be really, really fluffy and will taste sweet and fresh for days.
This, plus not over baking are two keys in having sweet rolls that are super soft, fluffy and never stale when baking overnight.
The base of this recipe is my no-fail sweet dough recipe from my Blueberry Sweet Rolls and my Rum Raisin Cinnamon Rolls.
How to make these soft pecan cinnamon rolls:
Melt the butter so it has time to cool down when it's time to add it to the dough.
Mix the flours. Take out 3 tablespoons and mix with ½ cup of water to make the sponge as stated in the recipe below (tangzhong).
While the sponge is cooling down, gather the rest of the ingredients. I sometimes put it in the fridge and stir it every 5 minutes or so until it looses the heat quickly.
Make the dough according to the steps below in the recipe.
Put the dough to rise in a warm area. Treat it nicely and wrap it with a cozy throw blanket, cardigan or kitchen towel. Dough loves a nice warm environment.
While the dough is rising, toast and chop the pecans and make the brown sugar-cinnamon mixture.
Grease an 8” to 9” baking dish.
To assemble the rolls, stretch the dough, spread the softened butter, sprinkle the brown-sugar mixture and toss the chopped toasted pecans on top. Roll and slice the rolls. Arrange them in the greased baking dish.
Let the rolls second proof for about 30 to 45 minutes, until they look puffy and have grown about half its original size. This could take less time if you spend a long time cutting the rolls.
While the rolls are proofing, preheat oven to 400°.
I poured a bit of coconut milk to the bottom of the rolls pan, another trick to increase humidity in the oven and end up with ultra soft rolls. You can use heavy cream as well. If you don’t want the rolls too gooey, you can omit this step.
SUPER-IMPORTANT, after you place the rolls in the oven, wait a minute and then decrease oven temperature to 350° for the full baking time. The idea behind starting to bake at a higher temperature is to give the rolls a last rise in the oven and to accelerate the baking time, preventing excessive heat exposure.
To serve next morning, store the rolls in the completely cooled down oven overnight, NOT in the fridge. The next morning take them out of the oven and preheat your oven to 300°. This is just to warm them up so the cream cheese icing melts a bit on top of them.
You can make the glaze ahead or the same morning. If you make it ahead, take it out of the fridge so it is at room temperature when you glaze the rolls.
Because of the cream cheese, glazed rolls can be out for one day. After that, store them in the fridge and reheat in a countertop or regular oven. You can always glaze just the rolls you are going to serve that day.
What you’ll need
A rolling pin. My favorite is a French straight rolling pin like this one here.
My reliable food scale. It has the tare function, which makes your life a lot easier when measuring ingredients.
A small pastry brush.
3 recipes I think you’ll love if you’re loving this one:
Mallorca Bread Buns
Almond sweet rolls with honey glaze
Honey Lavender Scones
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You need to put a pin on these and bake them very soon!! They are so good! I kid you not when I tell you my family devoured these, and it was nighttime! They barely made it to the next morning!
Don’t forget to share and tag me in Instagram (@devamadeo), Facebook (@DevAmadeo) when you make it. Love to see my recipes in your kitchens!
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Pecan Cinnamon Rolls with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Icing
Ingredients
Sweet dough
◯ Unbleached all-purpose flour - 2 cups, 290g
◯ Unbleached bread flour - 2 cups, 290g
◯ Water - ½ cup, 118g
◯ Butter - 8 TBSP, 113.5g, melted and cooled down, plus 4 TBSP, softened
◯ Buttermilk, at room temperature - ¾ cup, about 182g
◯ Fine sea salt - 1 Tsp, 6g
◯ Eggs, large and preferably organic and cage free - 2
◯ Natural granulated sugar - ½ cup, 105g
◯ Instant yeast - 1 packet, 11 g
◯ Vanilla extract - ½ Tsp
◯ Coconut milk or heavy cream - ¼ cup
Pecan Cinnamon Filling
◯ Pecans - ½ cup, 65g
◯ Dark brown sugar - ¾ cup, 143g
◯ Natural granulated sugar - ¼ cup, 50g
◯ Saigon cinnamon - 2 TBSP
◯ Butter, softened - 6 TBSP
Cinnamon Syrup (optional)
◯ Natural granulated sugar - ¼ cup
◯ Water - ¼ cup
◯ Saigon cinnamon - ¼ Tsp
Cream Cheese Glaze
◯ Cream cheese, softened - 4 oz
◯ Confectioner’s sugar, sifted - 2 cups
◯ Butter, softened - 4 TBSP
◯ Saigon cinnamon - ½ tsp, or more to taste
Details
Yield:
8 to 10 rolls
Total time:
3 ½ hours, including rising times
Active times:
15 minutes to make the dough, 10 minutes to assemble the rolls, 5 minutes for making the filling, 10 minutes to make the glaze
Baking time:
20 minutes
Equipment: stand mixer, rolling pin, pastry brush, baking dish
Steps:
Making the dough:
In a large bowl mix the 2 cups of all purpose flour with the 2 cups of bread flour.
In a measuring cup mix ½ of water with 3 tablespoons of the flour mixture. Heat in the microwave until you have a smooth pudding-like paste. Start with two 15-second intervals and keep heating in 10-second intervals if necessary to prevent scorching the mixture. Set aside to cool down.
With a paper towel oil with vegetable oil the inside of a large bowl. Place parchment paper on baking tray (see notes above) and butter it well.
In a mixing bowl pour the 8 tablespoons of melted butter, the ¾ of buttermilk and mix the teaspoon of fine sea salt. Add the 2 eggs, the ½ cup of sugar, the instant yeast, the ½ teaspoon of vanilla extract and the cooled down sponge. Mix using the whisk attachment.
Pour 3 cups of the flour and mix until combined. Switch to the hook attachment and add the remaining flour. Knead in medium-slow speed (#2 in the Kitchen Aid) for 10 minutes. Dough should not stick to the walls but it will stick to the bottom. Transfer to oiled bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and loosely wrap bowl with a puffy kitchen towel or throw blanket. Place in a warm area of your home where there is no air draft (I always place it in my nightstand besides my bed and close the door). Let the dough rise and double in size, about 1 ½ to 2 hours depending on your home temperature.
While the dough is rising, preheat oven to 325° and then toast pecans for about 5 to 7 minutes, until fragrant. Wait until completely cooled down and finely chop them. Also mix the ¾ cup/143g of dark brown sugar, the ¼ cup/50g of natural granulated sugar and the 2 tablespoons of the Saigon cinnamon.
Stretching and making the rolls:
Grease a 9” round or squared baking dish.
When the dough is ready, dust with enough flour a clean flat surface. Punch the dough (it will deflate) and turn it out over the surface. Dust flour over your rolling pin and over the dough, it should never feel sticky to the touch. Using your hands (you may dust and rub some flour into them as well) stretch the dough into a rectangle as much as you can. Then roll it into a rectangle of approximately 20” x 18”, dusting more flour on your rolling pin and over the dough as needed.
Spread the 4 tablespoons of softened butter, leaving clear about ¼” of all four borders. Sprinkle the brown sugar mixture evenly on top. Distribute the chopped pecans.
Working from the longest side, pull up the dough and roll into a log as tight as you can. To prevent ruining the sugar mixture, I like to pull up the dough and kind of drop it over it instead of rolling in a pushing-forward motion. Pinch the seam at the end and, if not already, accommodate it below the log. Using a piece of dental floss or a very sharp knife cut rolls into 1 ½”.
Transfer each roll to the greased prepared baking tray or dish, leaving some space between them. Loosely cover with plastic paper again or a kitchen towel. Wrap again with a piece of thick cloth and put them to rise until puffy and almost doubled in size, about 30 to 45 minutes. (Note: if you see bubbles forming on the surface of the dough, they could be over proofing and it’s time to bake them.)
When approaching the last 20 minutes of proofing, preheat oven to 400°.
When the rolls are ready to be baked, pour a bit of coconut milk or cream cheese through the open spaces between the rolls.
Baking the rolls:
When ready to bake, place roll in the preheated oven. Wait 1 minute and drop temperature to 350°. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, until top is golden brown and the center looks matte and not shiny. If the rolls still look a bit raw but they’re turning too dark brown, cover with aluminum foil during the last 5 minutes of baking. Try to not bake over 25 minutes. They will still keep cooking a bit after you take them out.
While the rolls bake, make the simple syrup by combining the water and sugar in a small saucepan. Heat over medium heat and simmer until all sugar has dissolved, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and sprinkle the bit of cinnamon.
Brush the syrup while rolls are still warm. Wait a minute and then pour cream cheese icing. Wait until rolls cool down and glaze sets a bit before serving.
If making the day before:
Take out rolls and let them cool down completely (let the oven cool down completely as well). After that, let the cooled down rolls in the cooled down oven, covered with a kitchen towel.
The next morning take the rolls out of the oven and preheat it at 300°.
Place rolls in the oven (or just the rolls you are going to eat) and warm them for about 7 to 10 minutes. Pour glaze over rolls. Decorate with more chopped pecans.
Rolls with cream cheese icing should be in a dry cool place for up to 1 day. After that they should be in the fridge.
Making the cream cheese glaze:
Place cream cheese in the mixing bowl of a stand mixer and using the whisk attachment or the beaters if using an electric hand mixer, beat it in medium-slow speed, just until light and airy with no large lumps.
Start adding the confectioner’s sugar, waiting until an addition is incorporated before adding more. Scrape down the bowl to make sure all the cream cheese is incorporating well.
Add the softened butter, about a tablespoon at a time. Add the teaspoon of cinnamon.
As always, if glaze is too runny add a bit more of sugar; if it’s too stiff add a bit of liquid like drops of lemon juice or a milk. You can always check my guide on how to make a simple glaze.
Spread glaze over warmed rolls.
