Homemade Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls with Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

Are you ready to make the BEST cinnamon rolls you've ever tasted? After years of making homemade cinnamon rolls from scratch, these have become our family's favorite. This sourdough cinnamon roll recipe is made with simple, traditional ingredients, but is unlike recipes you may have seen before. The method for making these Homemade Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls with Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting results in a gooey, chewy, soft, sweet, buttery, flaky, rich, somewhat tangy and savory cinnamon roll all at the same time.

The best part is that these cinnamon rolls are easy to make and only require a few staple ingredients you probably already have in your kitchen. You'll begin by making the dough in the evening and allowing it to sit overnight at room temperature. In the morning, you'll make your brown butter cream cheese frosting, roll out your dough, make the cinnamon roll filling, cut, shape and bake them. I'm a big fan of any recipe I can do in stages so it feels like less work and less mess in the kitchen all at once, especially when making cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning or when hosting guests.

Browning your butter for the frosting is a step you won't want to skip. The rich, unique quality this adds will give your cinnamon rolls a depth of flavor that cannot be matched.

Homemade Sourdough Cinnamon Roll Ingredients

• 100g Active Sourdough Starter or Sourdough Discard  (1/3 cup) I prefer using active sourdough starter, but discard will work just fine.

• 1 stick Grass-fed Butter (1/2 cup or 8 TBSP) or any butter you use for baking.

• 240g Whole Milk (1 cup)

• 300g All-Purpose Flour  (2 1/2 cups) I use Organic Unbleached.

• 25g Sugar  (1 TBSP plus 1 tsp.) I use raw organic cane sugar.

• 4g Salt (3/4 tsp.) I typically use Fine Pink Himalayan, any salt will do.

Cinnamon Roll Filling

• 3/4 cup Light Brown Sugar

• 1/2 stick Butter (4 TBSP)

• 3 TBSP Cinnamon

Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

• 1 Stick Browned Butter

• 1 8 oz. Block of Cream Cheese

• 1-2 TBSP Whole Milk

• 1 1/2 cup Powdered Sugar

How to Make Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls with Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

Start by Making the Dough the Night Before Baking

1. Dice cold butter into a mixing bowl, add the flour and use a pastry cutter to cut the butter into the flour. The flour and butter will become crumbly.

2. Add sourdough starter (or sourdough discard), milk and sugar to the mix. Combine ingredients with a spatula until well incorporated.

3. Cover the bowl and allow dough to rest on the counter overnight for 10-12 hours.

The next morning...

Prepare Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

1. Brown 1 stick (8 TBSP) of butter in a saucepan. Melt on low-medium heat stirring occasionally. Butter will begin to foam just before it's ready to remove from the heat. When you see brown specs appearing and the butter has a delightful nutty smell, remove butter from heat and allow it to cool at room temperature.

2. Place softened cream cheese in stand mixer bowl, add your room temperature brown butter. Mix on a low-med speed until combined.

3. Slowly add in sifted powdered sugar and milk.

4. Mix ingredients at medium-high speed until frosting becomes smooth and fluffy. If frosting becomes too thick, it can be thinned by adding more milk. Set frosting aside.

Next, make the cinnamon roll filling, construct cinnamon rolls and bake...

1. In a saucepan on low heat, melt butter for cinnamon roll filling, add brown sugar and cinnamon. Combine well and let filling sit at room temperature.

2. Preheat oven to 375° and butter a 9x13" baking dish.

3. Remove dough from mixing bowl onto a well floured surface.

4. Sprinkle flour atop the dough and use a rolling pin to roll the dough out to a 12x24" rectangle.

5. Spoon cinnamon roll filling onto the dough and spread filling evenly with a spatula all the way to the edges of the dough.

6. I have a very non-traditional way of cutting cinnamon rolls so please use whichever method you find works best for you. My preferred method: Rather than rolling the dough into a log and cutting cinnamon rolls the traditional way, (after step 5) I use a pizza cutter to cut the dough into 1"x24" strips. I then begin at one end of each strip to roll each individual cinnamon roll before placing it into the buttered baking dish. When placing into baking dish, leave room between for the cinnamon rolls to expand while baking.

7. Bake at 375° for 30-40 minutes until tops are golden brown.

8. Allow cinnamon rolls to set and cool slightly for five minutes before frosting them.

9. Frost and serve warm.

I truly hope your family enjoys these cinnamon rolls as much as ours does. Leave a comment if you decide to give them a try or if you have questions.

Love always,

Sara