Eggnog Cinnamon Rolls

Yield: 12 cinnamon rolls
Preparation: 2 hr.
Bake time: 20 min.

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Hello and welcome to the ultimate holiday cinnamon roll!

A couple of notes about these rolls:

For a lot of people, yeast dough can be intimidating. But I’m here to tell you that these rolls are super simple to make and you have nothing to worry about! In fact, once all of your ingredients have come to room temperature, the mixer practically does all of the work for you. Here are a couple of important things to remember while making these eggnog cinnamon rolls:

1. The ingredients MUST be at room temperature: The butter and egg yolk MUST be at room temperature prior to being added to the dough. If the butter and eggs are cold, they will not properly incorporate into the dough and the dough will not turn out. The butter should be very soft to the touch. A trick to make the egg warm if you forget to take it out is to let the egg sit in warm water for 10 minutes.
2. Measure the ingredients correctly: It is important that the ingredients in this dough be measured correctly, especially the flour, or you may end up with dough that is too tough or too sticky. I highly reccomend using a kitchen scale! Not only does it help with measuring out ingredients correctly, but it also makes cleanup easier! In this recipe specifically, you can measure all of the ingredients straight into the bowl. The only thing you’ll need is measuring spoons for the spices! This is the scale that I use. It’s a little on the pricier side, but you can also use this scale here, which is only $15 and served me well for many years!
3. Do NOT exceed 110°F on the eggnog: The eggnog needs to be heated to 100°F in order to “activate” the yeast. If the temperature on the eggnog exceeds 110°F, wait for it to cool down before adding it to the mixture or it will kill the yeast and your dough will not rise.
4. Keep the extra egg white: The dough calls for one egg yolk, but don’t throw away the egg white! We’ll use that for the egg wash on the rolls prior to baking.

The ingredients that you will need for these eggnog cinnamon rolls are:

All-purpose flour: This gives the cinnamon rolls their structure. Be careful to not over or under- measure the flour or the dough will be too tough or too sticky.

Instant Yeast: This gives the cinnamon rolls their rise.

Salt: For balancing out the sweetness and controlling the yeast. Never skip on salt!

Unsalted butter: The butter makes the cinnamon roll dough tender.

Light brown sugar: For sweetness and helping the yeast out in making the dough rise.

Eggnog: The eggnog lends its classic flavor to the dough and helps create a rich, tender product.

Egg yolk: Helps bind the dough together.

Vanilla bean paste: For flavor! My absolute favorite brand of vanilla bean paste is Heilala Vanilla (which you can find here). You can also substitute vanilla extract for the vanilla bean paste.

For the spiced filling:

Unsalted butter

Light brown sugar

Ground nutmeg

Ground cinnamon

For the eggnog cream cheese frosting:

Cream cheese

Powdered sugar

Eggnog

Ground nutmeg

Keeping the cinnamon rolls fresh:

In order to maximize the freshness and life of the cinnamon rolls, I recommend storing the cream cheese frosting and the cinnamon rolls separately. Store the cinnamon rolls in a sealed container at room temperature, and store the cream cheese frosting in a sealed container in the fridge. Prior to serving, heat up the cinnamon rolls for a couple seconds in the microwave and then top with the cream cheese. They’ll taste as though you had just baked them!

Making these scones ahead of time:

The dough for these cinnamon rolls can easily be prepped ahead of time. There are two routes you can take for pre-making the dough:

1. Only make the dough: The dough can be made the night before baking off the cinnamon rolls. After mixing the dough, roll it into a ball and place in a large bowl that has been sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. Place the dough into the bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and set in the fridge to rise overnight. When ready to bake, simply take the dough out of the fridge, punch it down to release excess air, and continue with the recipe.
2. Prep the dough and filling: The cinnamon rolls can be completely prepped and ready to bake the night before baking. Once you have rolled all of the rolls and placed them into the pan, cover tightly with plastic wrap and put in the fridge overnight. Take the cinnamon rolls out of the fridge at least 45 minutes prior to baking to let them double in size and come to room temperature prior to baking.

Some products I used for this recipe:

• 9 x 13″ pan
• Measuring spoons
• Kitchen Scale – This one ($50) or This one ($15)
• Vanilla bean paste

Now – let’s make some cinnamon rolls!