No Yeast Brown Sugar Cinnamon Rolls

Perfect for Mother’s Day, these No Yeast Brown Sugar Cinnamon Rolls are based on the Violet Bakery cinnamon rolls and are an amazing treat when you want cinnamon rolls but don’t want to wait two hours for dough to rise.

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These No Yeast Brown Sugar Cinnamon Rolls are based on the Violet Bakery cinnamon rolls and are an amazing treat when you want cinnamon rolls but don’t want to wait two hours for dough to rise.

I’ve spoken before about my fear of baking with yeast on the blog, and while I’ve definitely started getting past that, I still don’t love baking with yeast.  One reason for that, is that I’m an incredibly impatient person, and waiting for dough to rise just isn’t my thing.  I have a hard time turning that part of my brain off, so instead of setting dough to rise, and then going and doing another productive thing, I basically just sit and wait for the dough to rise.  Some days I have the time for that, but most of the time I really don’t.

My ADHD aside though, these cinnamon rolls are amazing, and because they don’t use yeast, you can put them together for an easy Sunday morning breakfast or brunch.  Because of the lack of yeast they do lack a traditional cinnamon roll’s incredibly soft and pull apart-y(technical baking term) dough,  but they are still astoundingly good.   The insides of the roll are soft and bursting with brown sugar and cinnamon, and the cardamom in the dough adds just the right little touch.  I would highly recommend eating these right out of the oven, as they’re best warm.  Room temp is still good, but you wont get quite the same effect. 

What are Yeasted Breads:

Yeasted breads are breads that use yeast as a leavener (to help them rise).  The yeast causes formation of carbon dioxide through the fermentation process of the sugars in the dough.  This causes gas bubbles, which makes the dough rise, and also makes it light and airy.

What are Quick Breads:

Quick breads are breads that use baking soda or baking powder as a leavener.  Some typical quick breads include banana bread and zucchini bread, muffins, biscuits and cornbread. 

To Make No Yeast Brown Sugar Cinnamon Rolls

• Start off by mixing the brown sugar and cinnamon together until no lumps remain and set aside.

• Preheat your oven to 390 and generously butter a large 12 cup muffin tin.

• In the bowl of a stand mixer (and you really do need a stand mixer here – there is a LOT of dough) mix together the flour, baking powder, salt, cardamom, and cinnamon, and add the cubed butter.  Turn the mixer on low, holding a towel over the bowl if necessary for the first few seconds to make sure the flour doesn’t go flying, and let the flour and butter mix together until the butter is broken up a bit, and the mixture looks like coarse meal.  With the mixer still running, slowly drizzle in the milk.  The dough will firm up into a ball and pull away from the sides of the bowl.

• Remove the dough from the bowl of the mixer, and let it rest on a lightly floured counter for about 5 minutes.  Then fold the dough in over on itself a few times and let it rest for another 10 minutes.

• In the last minute of the resting time, melt the ⅓ cup of butter in the microwave, and set aside until ready to use.

• Once the dough has rested, roll out into a large rectangle – about 18x20 inches and about ¼ inch thick.  Brush the dough with the melted butter, and sprinkle the brown sugar cinnamon mixture over the butter. 

• Start rolling the dough on the long side, tugging the dough towards you to get a taught roll.  Once the dough is fully rolled up, squeeze and shape the log as necessary to ensure it’s as even as possible.

• Divide the dough into 12 even slices.  Take the end of each roll and pull it away from the roll by an inch or two and tuck it under the bottom of the roll.  Then place the roll into the cup of the muffin pan.  Repeat with all the rolls.  Pour ¼ cup of granulated sugar into a bowl and set aside.

• Bake for 25 minutes, and immediately turn the pan out onto a cooling rack.  Carefully dip each roll into the bowl of sugar and eat the rolls immediately.

If you like this recipe, try these:

• No Yeast Apple Pecan Sticky Buns

• Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread

• Chai Spice Apple Fritters

Yield

12

Author

Sara Rauckhorst

Prep time

35 Min

Cook time

25 Min

Total time

1 Hour

Print

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No Yeast Brown Sugar Cinnamon Rolls

These No Yeast Brown Sugar Cinnamon Rolls are based on the Violet Bakery cinnamon rolls and are an amazing treat when you want cinnamon rolls but don’t want to wait two hours for dough to rise.

Ingredients

No Yeast Brown Sugar Cinnamon Rolls - Rolls

• 4 ½ cups all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon fresh ground cardamom from pods*
• 1 cup + 1 tablespoon cold, unsalted butter cut into cubes
• 1 ¼ cup cold milk
• sugar and butter as needed

No Yeast Brown Sugar Cinnamon Rolls - Filling

• ⅓ cup butter, melted
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Instructions

To Make No Yeast Brown Sugar Cinnamon Rolls - Rolls

1. Preheat your oven to 390 and generously butter a large 12 cup muffin tin.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix together the flour, baking powder, salt, cardamom, and the cubed butter. Turn the mixer on low, holding a towel over the bowl if necessary for the first few seconds to make sure the flour doesn’t go flying, and let the flour and butter mix together until the butter is broken up a bit, and the mixture looks like coarse meal.
3. With the mixer still running, slowly drizzle in the milk. The dough will firm up into a ball and pull away from the sides of the bowl.
4. Remove the dough from the bowl of the mixer, and let it rest on a lightly floured counter for about 5 minutes. Then fold the dough in over on itself a few times and let it rest for another 10 minutes.
5. Roll out the dough into a large rectangle – about 18x20 inches and about ¼ inch thick. Brush the dough with the melted butter, and sprinkle the brown sugar cinnamon mixture over the butter.
6. Start rolling the dough on the long side, tugging the dough towards you to get a taught roll. Once the dough is fully rolled up, squeeze and shape the log as necessary to ensure it’s as even as possible.
7. Divide the dough into 12 even slices. Take the end of each roll and pull it away from the roll by an inch or two and tuck it under the bottom of the roll. Then place the roll into the cup of the muffin pan. Repeat with all the rolls. Pour ¼ cup of granulated sugar into a bowl and set aside.
8. Bake for 25 minutes, and immediately turn the pan out onto a cooling rack. Carefully dip each roll into the bowl of sugar and eat the rolls immediately.

To Make No Yeast Brown Sugar Cinnamon Rolls - Filling

1. Mix the brown sugar and cinnamon together in a small bowl until no lumps remain.
2. Melt the butter when a few minutes remain of the 10 minute resting time for the dough.

Notes:

*if you use pre-ground cardamom use 2 teaspoons instead of 1.

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