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These brioche cinnamon buns can be made the day before serving, stuck in the fridge, and baked the following morning or made entirely the same day. It’s a simple no-knead dough, but the result is outstanding: a light but rich cinnamon bun blanketed with the most delicious cream cheese frosting. Kids and adults alike go wild!
About this time last year, someone messaged me on Instagram telling me she had used the brioche recipe from Bread Toast Crumbs to make cinnamon buns.
Inspired by this Washington Post article, she also assembled the pans of buns the night before and baked them in the morning.
It worked like a charm, she said, which inspired me to try it immediately. The method worked beautifully for me as well—an overnight Christmas miracle!
Overnight Brioche Cinnamon Buns How-to
Make the brioche, Bread Toast Crumbs-style: whisk together the dry ingredients; mix together the wet ingredients, combine the two, and let rise — no kneading, no fuss!
After 2 hours, turn the dough out onto a floured work surface and divide into two equal portions. Roll out each portion into a large rectangle.
Spread a cinnamon-brown sugar-butter mixture evenly over top.
Roll each rectangle into a tight coil. Cut each into 9 equal portions. Space each coiled bun equally in an 8- or 9-inch pan.
Transfer the pans to the fridge to rise overnight; then bake in the morning. Or let the buns rise at room temperature for another hour (or so) and bake immediately.
Stir together dry ingredients. Stir together wet ingredients. Mix to form a sticky dough ball.
Let rise in a warm spot for about 2 hours or until doubled.
Turn dough out onto a floured surface and divide into two portions. Shape each into a ball.
Roll each round into a large rectangle.
Spread with a brown sugar-butter mixture.
Roll into a coil.
Cut coil into 9 pieces.
Transfer to 9-inch square baking dish. At this point, you can let it rise for about 30-40 minutes, then bake. Or you can transfer the pan to the fridge and bake the following morning.
Bake buns for 25 minutes.
Beat cream cheese with confectioners’ sugar, vanilla, and salt until smooth.
Frost the buns in the pan or … … turn the buns out onto a board and frost on the board.
Serve!
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The assembled pans of buns can rise in the fridge overnight and baked directly from the fridge (no additional rising on the counter top) in the morning.
The assembled pans can also be frozen. Thaw at room temperature about 6 hours before you plan to bake. Then bake as directed in recipe.
*For lukewarm water: Mix 1.5 cups cold water with .5 cups boiling water. Or, simply, use 2 cups warmish tap water.
Ingredients
for the dough for 18 rolls:
6 cups (768 g) all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1/3 cup (77 g) sugar
2.5 teaspoons instant yeast
2 egg
2 cups lukewarm water* (see notes above)
1/2 cup milk, 2% or whole
6 tablespoons melted butter
for the dough for 9 rolls:
3 cups (384 g) all-purpose flour
1.5 teaspoons kosher salt
3 tablespoons sugar
1.5 teaspoons instant yeast
1 egg
1 cup lukewarm water
1/4 cup milk
3 tablespoons melted butter
for the filling (halve these quantities if making 9 rolls):
1.5 cups packed brown sugar
1/4 cup cinnamon
pinch salt
12 tablespoons melted butter
for the glaze (halve these quantities if making 9 rolls):
8 oz cream cheese, softened
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
pinch salt
milk or cream to thin
Instructions
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, sugar and yeast.
In a separate large bowl, beat the eggs. Add the water, milk andmelted butter. Whisk to combine. Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry and mix with a rubber spatula until combined; the mixture will be wet and sticky. Cover the bowl with a bowl cover or tea towel and let rise until doubled, 2 hours.
Flour a work surface generously and have more flour nearby — use as much flour as you need to prevent sticking to your hands and work surface. I can’t emphasize this enough: this is a sticky dough, and if you don’t use enough flour, it will stick. (Watch the video if you’re looking for visual guidance.)
Turn dough out onto work surface. Divide into two equal portions. At this point, you could transfer one half to a buttered loaf pan and simply bake a brioche loaf. Or, you can make two pans of cinnamon buns.
Form each half into a rough ball, using flour as needed for the board and your hands. Let rest while you make the filling.
Make the filling: Place the brown sugar, cinnamon and salt in a medium bowl. Pour the melted butter over top. Mix with a fork or spoon to combine. Set aside.
Butter or grease with nonstick spray a 9×9- or 8×8-inch baking pan.
Working with one round at a time, pat or roll out dough into a rectangle about 15×11 inches — it doesn’t have to be exact, but don’t go larger than that. Spread the filling over top, using your hands to spread if necessary. Starting at the short end, roll the rectangle into a tight coil. Cut into 9 equal pieces. Transfer to prepared pan. Repeat with remaining dough and filling. Cover each pan with plastic wrap or a bowl cover or tea towel and transfer to the fridge.
The following morning, heat the oven to 375ºF.
Transfer pans to the oven and bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden. Meanwhile, beat the cream cheese with the sugar, vanilla, and salt until light. Thin with milk if desired.
Remove pan from the oven. Let buns cool briefly. Spread frosting over top or turn buns out onto a serving platter, and spread the frosting over top. Serve warm with more frosting on the side.
I had to make two batches because my siblings ate all of them before I could try one! I will definitely be making these from now on!!! These are the best cinnamon rolls I’ve ever had!
I’ve made these 3 or 4 times now, love the taste but I have a quick question though – why is my dough always so soft and difficult to work with? It definitely doesn’t form a lovely roll like yours, its a floppy mess. It still tastes great but they come out looking terrible.
I’m wondering, because I’m not in the US, if it’s a problem with the cups and tablespoons? You give a gram measurement for the flour but the liquid and all other dry goods measurements are only in cups/spoons and the butter measurements are in tablespoons. The cup measurements are slightly different in other countries, could this be the issue? I’m normally working with the 9-roll recipe and would consider myself a fairly experienced baker.
Hi Sha and thanks so much for writing. I can’t believe I don’t have gram measurements for the liquid ingredients! I will try to update this recipe very soon. In the meantime, it does sound as though you simply need to reduce the amount of water or milk. For the 9 cup recipe, you could try 3/4 cup water until I update the recipe with gram weights. So sorry about this!
A simple and delicious recipe. The rolls are pillowy soft and sweet enough to skip the frosting. I didn’t bother waiting overnight and they turned out beautifully.
Really love that you provide the smaller quantity option too. Will definitely make again when the craving strikes me.
Hi Ali, like your other reader I also had great difficulty with wet dough and once rolled out and filled I couldn’t wait to put them away in the fridge! They look awful and nothing like the rolls in your video. Adding all that flour at a late stage didn’t make much sense to me, but I did as in your video. The dough was way too fluid so will use less water next time. p.s I have to say your oatmeal maple bread recipe is soooo yummy, have made it several times, likewise the peasant bread!…So sorry about the three stars!
Hi Ali….good morning from Broadstairs in Kent, UK. I sent a message yesterday about the wetness of the cinnamon brioche dough but baked it this morning. Wow! How fantastic! We loved every last crumb though we didn’t finish it all as it was too much for us. I take back the 3 stars and give it a definite 5. Love your website and have tried most of your bread recipes, all have been great! So just wanted to say thank you and keep up the good work. All the best, Jackie
Hi! And no worries at all — this brioche dough is very wet and can be tricky to handle. Also, I do think the UK flour absorbs water differently. When I’ve troubleshooted with people in the UK about bread recipes, so often the solution has been to hold back some of the water. So even though those brioche buns turned out well for you — which I’m so happy to hear! — you might still be able to hold back some of the water, which will make the process easier for you and will likely not affect the outcome noticeably. Thank you for your kind words and thanks for reporting back 🙂 🙂 🙂
These are amazing!! Have you ever considered using a sourdough starter in these and if so, how much? I’d love to make these with a little sourdough tang to them.
I have not, but someone left this comment on my brioche roll recipe, which is basically the same base dough:
“I wanted to drop you a quick note to tell you that I ‘Frankenstein-ed’ this recipe of yours by adding 100g of sourdough discard (and subtracted 50g of flour and 50g of water from the original recipe). Then I divided the dough into regular loaf pans instead of making buns. It made the perfect little sandwich loaves! So delicious! Thanks again for the recipe!”
Maybe try that? Or use 50 grams starter and subtract 50 grams each flour and water?
OR: simply add 50 grams of starter without making any other adjustments. This dough is on the wet side, so I think subtracting water and keeping flour as is will probably work, too.
371 Comments on “The BEST Overnight Brioche Cinnamon Buns”
I had to make two batches because my siblings ate all of them before I could try one! I will definitely be making these from now on!!! These are the best cinnamon rolls I’ve ever had!
★★★★★
Great to hear, Anna! Thanks so much for writing 🙂 🙂 🙂 Love reading this.
Oh. My. Goodness. These are the best cinnamon buns I’ve ever made!!! Thank you for this delicious recipe.
★★★★★
Great to hear, Stephanie!
Hi there!
I’ve made these 3 or 4 times now, love the taste but I have a quick question though – why is my dough always so soft and difficult to work with? It definitely doesn’t form a lovely roll like yours, its a floppy mess. It still tastes great but they come out looking terrible.
I’m wondering, because I’m not in the US, if it’s a problem with the cups and tablespoons? You give a gram measurement for the flour but the liquid and all other dry goods measurements are only in cups/spoons and the butter measurements are in tablespoons. The cup measurements are slightly different in other countries, could this be the issue? I’m normally working with the 9-roll recipe and would consider myself a fairly experienced baker.
Hi Sha and thanks so much for writing. I can’t believe I don’t have gram measurements for the liquid ingredients! I will try to update this recipe very soon. In the meantime, it does sound as though you simply need to reduce the amount of water or milk. For the 9 cup recipe, you could try 3/4 cup water until I update the recipe with gram weights. So sorry about this!
A simple and delicious recipe. The rolls are pillowy soft and sweet enough to skip the frosting. I didn’t bother waiting overnight and they turned out beautifully.
Really love that you provide the smaller quantity option too. Will definitely make again when the craving strikes me.
★★★★★
Great to hear, Irene! Thanks for writing 🙂 🙂 🙂
Hi Ali, like your other reader I also had great difficulty with wet dough and once rolled out and filled I couldn’t wait to put them away in the fridge! They look awful and nothing like the rolls in your video. Adding all that flour at a late stage didn’t make much sense to me, but I did as in your video. The dough was way too fluid so will use less water next time. p.s I have to say your oatmeal maple bread recipe is soooo yummy, have made it several times, likewise the peasant bread!…So sorry about the three stars!
★★★
Hi Ali….good morning from Broadstairs in Kent, UK. I sent a message yesterday about the wetness of the cinnamon brioche dough but baked it this morning. Wow! How fantastic! We loved every last crumb though we didn’t finish it all as it was too much for us. I take back the 3 stars and give it a definite 5. Love your website and have tried most of your bread recipes, all have been great! So just wanted to say thank you and keep up the good work. All the best, Jackie
★★★★★
Hi! And no worries at all — this brioche dough is very wet and can be tricky to handle. Also, I do think the UK flour absorbs water differently. When I’ve troubleshooted with people in the UK about bread recipes, so often the solution has been to hold back some of the water. So even though those brioche buns turned out well for you — which I’m so happy to hear! — you might still be able to hold back some of the water, which will make the process easier for you and will likely not affect the outcome noticeably. Thank you for your kind words and thanks for reporting back 🙂 🙂 🙂
These are amazing!! Have you ever considered using a sourdough starter in these and if so, how much? I’d love to make these with a little sourdough tang to them.
★★★★★
Hi Sara! And great to hear 🙂
I have not, but someone left this comment on my brioche roll recipe, which is basically the same base dough:
“I wanted to drop you a quick note to tell you that I ‘Frankenstein-ed’ this recipe of yours by adding 100g of sourdough discard (and subtracted 50g of flour and 50g of water from the original recipe). Then I divided the dough into regular loaf pans instead of making buns. It made the perfect little sandwich loaves! So delicious! Thanks again for the recipe!”
Maybe try that? Or use 50 grams starter and subtract 50 grams each flour and water?
OR: simply add 50 grams of starter without making any other adjustments. This dough is on the wet side, so I think subtracting water and keeping flour as is will probably work, too.
Thank you so much for the advice! I will definitely try this! 🙂
I would love to make these, but how many grams of butter is required to result in 3 & 12 tbs of MELTED butter? Thanks so much…
3 tablespoons melted butter = 42 grams
12 tablespoons melted butter = 170 grams (If you’re making 9 rolls, you’ll need 6 tablespoons melted butter = 84 grams)
Wonderful, thank you!