I love Christmas food! Peppermint, Eggnog and Gingerbread are more exciting to me than pumpkin, especially for my sweet tooth. If you are in need of a Christmas morning recipe, definitely try these gingerbread cinnamon rolls!
I’ve made cinnamon rolls in the past and failed. It’s easy to over bake them, let them rise for too long or not have the yeast activate correctly. However, this recipe really produces gooey, soft and flavorful cinnamon rolls, so I will be sticking with this process for a while.
When making the dough, be sure to have WARM milk. It shouldn’t be hot though – think about what you would feed a baby. If it’s not warm enough, it won’t activate the yeast as nicely, stunting the rise in the dough.
When the dough is ready to prepare, make sure it is a pliable consistency. If it’s too sticky, that’s a sign you need to knead in an additional 1/4 cup of flour. Once rolled out, I like to use my fingers to add the gingerbread filling to the dough!
These take some patience since you have to let the dough settle a couple times, but they are super worth it. We could NOT STOP EATING THESE. As you slice them, you may need to shape them with your hands to keep their circular form!
DON’T skip the part where you pour the cream on top of the rolls. These keep them SUPER moist while they bake. Make sure a little bit hits each one.
As for the frosting, I do not like heaps of it on my cinnamon rolls, and I don’t like super sweet cream cheese frosting. If you do, you may need to double my frosting recipe!
If you want to just make these regular cinnamon rolls in stead of gingerbread rolls, just leave out the ginger and all spice. Enjoy!
Looking for other breakfast goodies that can be made faster? Try my Pumpkin Spice Pancakes or my Browned Butter Espresso Banana Bread.
Need a baking dish like mine? You can get a pretty, white ceramic one from Williams Sonoma here.
Gingerbread Cinnamon Rolls
Equipment
- two mixing bowls
- measuring cups
- baking dish
- a knife
Ingredients
The rolls
- 1 cup whole milk warmed in the microwave
- 2 ¼ tsps instant dry yeast (I used Fleischmann's) or one packet
- 2 eggs at room temperature
- 4 cups all-purpose flour plus additional 1/4 cup for kneading
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup heavy whipping cream warm
- ⅓ cup salted butter melted
The filling
- ½ cup salted butter soft, but not melted liquid
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
- 1 ½ tbsp ginger
- ½ tsp nutmeg
- ½ tsp all spice
The frosting
- 4 ounces cream cheese softened
- ⅓ cup unsalted butter melted
- ½ cup confectioner's sugar
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp ginger
Instructions
- Pour the 1 cup of warm whole milk into a bowl. Sprinkle the packet of instant yeast on top of the milk. Let settle for about a minute.
- Add in the 2 eggs, ⅓ cup of butter, 1 tsp of salt, and ½ cup of sugar. Then add the 4 cups of flour. With a rubber spoon or spatula, mix together ingredients until just combined. Let the mixture rest for about 5 minutes to allow the liquid to absorb into the flour. It will look crumbly at this point.
- Knead the dough for five minutes, making sure to scrape the sides as you go. You may need to add ¼ cup more flour to ensure that the dough is the right consistency. It should be stretchy but not sticking all over the bowl and your fingers.
- Butter or grease another bowl and transfer the dough to it. Cover with wax paper or a towel and let the dough rise in a warm area for 30 minutes.
- While the dough is rising, prep the filling. In a bowl, combine the ½ cup of unsalted butter, 1 cup of brown sugar, 1 tbsp cinnamon, 1 ½ tbsps ginger, ½ tsp nutmeg, and ½ tsp all spice. Mix together with a spoon until evenly incorporated.
- Sprinkle your counter top with a generous amount of flour. Place the dough onto the counter and sprinkle more flour on top of it. With a floured rolling pin, roll out the dough into a long rectangle, about 24×12. This does not have to be exact at all, just long enough to roll up and slice into several rolls. The dough should be thin but not so thin that it's challenging to roll.
- Spread the gingerbread filling evenly on the dough. I find that using my fingers works best for this, but a rubber spoon would work too. I left about an inch or so of both short ends without filling, since we will be cutting those off (the very ends don't make very good rolls!)
- Once spread, you are ready to roll. Starting at one long end, carefully roll the dough (like a jelly roll).
- Using a non-serated knife, remove the ends (on both sides) that don't have filling. Cut the rest of the roll into 12 evenly sized rolls.
- Add each roll into a 9X13 greased baking pan.
- Cover the rolls with the wax paper or towel and let them rise for an additional 20 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 375°.
- Warm the ½ cup of heavy cream. It shouldn't be hot – microwave it for 20 seconds to take the chill off. Pour the cream over the rolls, making sure to drizzle some liquid onto each one.
- Bake the rolls in the oven, uncovered, for 20 minutes. They should be just slightly brown and the pan will look a bit bubbly and wet from the cream.
- While the rolls are baking or cooling, make the frosting. Combine the 4 oz of softened cream cheese, ⅓ cup of unsalted butter, ½ cup of confectioner's sugar and ½ tsp of vanilla extract in a bowl. Mix together with a spoon until everything is incorporated. Then add the ½ tsp of ginger and ½ tsp of cinnamon. Mix together.
- Spread the frosting over the cooled rolls. Enjoy! Store leftovers in an airtight container.
