These brown butter cinnamon rolls contain browned butter in not one, not two, but three different places in the recipe! They are extra soft, fluffy, and have a rich and nutty flavor, making them them some of the best cinnamon rolls I’ve tried.

A few years ago, I decided that I wanted to become really good at making homemade cinnamon rolls. I think it was honestly spurred on by an episode of The Great British Baking Show where they were making enriched dough, and I wanted to be just like them. So with lots of practice and some failures (I made a batch once that didn’t rise, like at all, even after I held out hope and waited two hours), they’ve become one of my favorite pastries to make.

Since browned butter makes everything better, I wanted to develop an extra fluffy and decadent browned butter cinnamon roll recipe. It took a couple tries to get these just right, but they turned out amazing!

These would be perfect to serve on a cozy weekend morning or for a brunch.

Brown Butter Cinnamon Rolls

As I was developing the recipe for these particular cinnamon rolls, the main question I asked myself was “how I can I incorporate browned butter into as many parts of this recipe as possible?”. The answer to that was to put it in the dough, the filling, and the icing. Yes, my friends, there is browned butter in three places in this recipe. This makes for ultra-rich, nutty, and delicious cinnamon rolls.

I love these cinnamon rolls because they are extra soft and fluffy. Don’t you just love digging in to a cinnamon roll that just kind of melts in your mouth? I make them with a little extra yeast than many traditional recipes call for to give them an extra lift. The result? Only the best cinnamon rolls out there. 😉

Ingredients for Cinnamon Rolls

First and foremost, let’s talk equipment! What pan should you bake these in? Truly use whatever your heart desires. I actually divided mine up into two pans, one of them being this pie dish. This recipe makes 8 large rolls. A large baking dish like this also works great.

I break the ingredients out for this recipe into three parts: the dough, the filling, and the icing. Here is what goes into each of them:

Cinnamon Roll Dough

• All-purpose flour: do not use cake flour, but you can substitute a portion of the flour in this recipe with bread flour.
• Milk: use whole milk for the richest dough, but skim milk works as well. I’ve even made with with almond milk before and it worked great!
• Active dry yeast: make sure that you are using active dry yeast and not instant rise/rapid yeast. The two are different! As an additional note, this recipe calls for 2 ½ tsp of active dry yeast. Most standard packets of yeast contain 2 ¼ tsp. It is completely fine just to use a packet if that’s all you have and the rolls will still turn out great. However, if you buy your yeast in a jar, measuring out that extra ¼ teaspoon just gives these rolls a little extra oomph.
• Granulated cane sugar
• Browned butter
• A large egg, at room temperature
• Fine sea salt

Cinnamon Roll Filling

• Browned butter
• Dark brown sugar: you can substitute light brown if that’s all you have
• Ground cinnamon
• Fine sea salt

Browned Butter Icing

• Browned butter
• Powdered sugar
• Milk
• Vanilla
• Salt

How to Make Browned Butter

Even though the three different components of these rolls requires browned butter, we make it all at once at the beginning, and then measure out exactly how much we need for the dough, filling, and icing.

Browning butter super easy to do and takes less than 10 minutes! Here is a step by step.

1. Start by cutting your butter into slices to ensure they melt evenly.
2. Place your butter into a thick-bottomed skillet and melt it over medium heat, stirring occasionally.
3. After the butter has melted, it will begin to crackle. Stir it frequently at this stage.
4. After the sizzling subsides, the butter will start to foam up. Continue stirring and keeping a close eye on it. Meanwhile, be on the lookout for a nutty aroma, an amber color, and brown flecks.
5. Once the butter has reached this stage, remove it immediately from heat and pour it into a heatproof bowl to prevent burning.
6. Let the butter cool down before using it.

The most important part is just to keep your eyes and nose on the butter (don’t actually put your nose in the butter, I mean this in a ‘watch out for smells’ type of way haha). It can quickly go from brown to burnt, so make sure to remove it from the heat as soon as it’s ready.

Tips & Frequently Asked Questions

Should the dough be sticky?

It should be tacky but not necessarily sticky. When you are first bringing all the ingredients together to form the dough, you may notice that it is quite sticky. However, as you continue kneading it, it should become more and more elastic as the glutens build up. Your final dough should pull cleanly from the sides of the mixing bowl, but still stick a little bit at the base. Add more flour if needed throughout the process if you find that the dough is too sticky and unmanageable.

Should the butter be melted or solid?

After browning the butter, it should be cooled down before using. Just warm to the touch is a fine temperature with which to begin baking. If you let the butter sit out on the counter, it will eventually turn into a solid. You can always quickly put it in the microwave to melt it again if needed though! The dough and the filling require the butter to be melted. However, the icing requires the butter to be solid but soft.

Can I knead by hand?

Yes, you certainly may do so! However, an electric mixer certainly makes it easier to knead and allows to you to control how much flour goes into the dough much better. This dough also only needs around 5 minutes of kneading in a mixer. If you are kneading by hand, start by using a wooden spoon to beat the ingredients together in a bowl until they start to form a dough. Then, dump the dough out onto a flat, floured surface and begin kneading until the dough is elastic. You will likely need to add extra flour to prevent it from sticking to your hands.

How do I know when the yeast is ready?

First and foremost, to activate the yeast, follow these steps:

1. Heat milk in the microwave until it is just warm to the touch (around 110 degrees F). Too hot and it’ll kill your yeast.
2. Whisk in a tablespoon of sugar. I use a fork as a whisk here since I usually do this in a small liquid measuring cup.
3. Sprinkle the yeast on top and gently stir it.
4. Let it sit for 5-10 minutes.

You will know the yeast is ready when it starts to bubble and form a creamy foam at the surface of your milk. It’ll also smell pretty…yeasty for lack of a better word. If you don’t see any foam, then your yeast is probably dead (sorry). Just start over, no big deal!

If you need any other tips or help, feel free to ask below in the comments or shoot me an email via my contact page!

How to Store Cinnamon Rolls

Tightly wrap any cinnamon rolls, or keep them in an airtight container. They will be good on the counter for 3-4 days. I would highly recommend warming them for 10-15 seconds in the microwave if you are eating them leftover!

Did You Make This Recipe?

If so, I’d love to hear from you! Feel free to leave a comment, rating, or take a picture and share it with me on Instagram @toppedwithhoney. Looking forward to seeing your wonderful cinnamon rolls!

If you’re not ready to bake yet, no problem! Simply hover over any image in this post (pick your favorite), or tap if you’re on mobile, and click the pin icon in the corner to save for later.

Have fun baking and check out some other breakfast recipes here! I’m a big fan of these roasted strawberry banana muffins or maple bourbon banana coffee cake.

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Brown Butter Cinnamon Rolls