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Yeast-Free Sticky Brown Butter (Cinnamon) Rolls

These yeast-free sticky brown butter rolls are the breakfast or brunch dream! It all comes together in an hour, and you can add cinnamon or go without.
Total Time 1 hour
Course Breakfast, Dessert
Cuisine American

Ingredients
  

Brown Butter

  • 1 cup unsalted butter

Brown Butter Rolls

  • 3 1/2 cups flour plus extra for flouring your workspace (1/3-1/2 cup)
  • 1 tbsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp fine kosher salt
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/3 cup melted browned butter
  • 1/4 cup white granulated sugar
  • 1 cup lukewarm whole milk can sub for 1/2 cup half and half + 1/2 cup water

Filling

  • 1 cup light brown sugar can sub for dark brown sugar, but it will have a more molasses-y taste
  • 1/3 cup softened browned butter
  • 1/8 tsp fine kosher salt

Frosting

  • 1/4 cup softened brown butter
  • 1/4 cup softened cream cheese
  • 1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk

Instructions
 

  • Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Brown Butter

  • Slice the unsalted butter into equal sized pieces. Heat a sauce pan over medium heat and add all of the butter to the sauce pan. Let it melt and stir every 15-20 seconds. After about 5 minutes, you should see golden brown deposits settling on the bottom and edges of the pan and it should begin to smell toasty/nutty (kind of like a nutty caramel smell.) If you aren't seeing this, turn the heat up slightly and let the butter bubble until you start to see this change in color and smell. Once the butter develops a deep golden brown color, remove it from the heat immediately.
  • Reserve 1/3 cup of the melted brown butter. Pour the rest into a cake pan (or any aluminum pan) and put it in the freezer to set for 8-10 minutes. Remove it from the freezer after 10 minutes and let it sit at room temperature. If its too cold, scoop it out of the cold pan and massage it in washed hands to help it warm up to become room temperature.

Rolls

  • In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.
  • In another mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, melted brown butter, white granulated sugar and milk.
  • Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredient bowl and combine with a large spoon. If using a standing mixer, mix on low with the hook attachment.
  • When most of the flour is incorporated, use clean hands to massage the flour into the wet mixture and form a dough. If your dough is too dry, add lukewarm water 1 tsp at a time and continue to mix with your hands. If the dough is too wet, add a little more flour, 1 tsp at a time and do the same thing.
  • Flour a workspace and knead your dough for 5-10 minutes until its smooth-ish. It's not going to feel perfectly smooth but it will be smoother and less sticky than when you started.
  • Lightly butter the sides of a bowl and place the dough into the bowl. Cover with cling wrap and place it near the oven (where its slightly warm.) Let it sit while you prep the filling, about 10 minutes.
  • In a bowl, make the filling. Combine the light brown sugar, salt and softened browned butter. Massage with clean hands until fully combined. Set aside.
  • Remove the dough from the bowl and flatten with a rolling pin. You shouldn't need to flour your workspace at this point, but if your dough happens to stick, only use a little bit of flour to prevent sticking.
  • Once the dough is rolled as thin as possible and cut the uneven edges. The dough should now be flat and in a large, long rectangular shape.
  • Spread the filling onto the dough, leaving about 1/2 inch uncovered at the ends. We want to roll these so they are long. So, take the long side of the dough and begin to tightly roll it towards the other end. Make sure it's as tight as possible. Roll until you've reached the end and press to seal the edge a bit.
  • Now take a knife and lightly mark even sizes for where you want to cut the rolls. Take a long piece of dental floss (you can also use a knife, but dental floss works like a charm.) Slide the middle of the dental floss underneath the log of dough. Bring the ends together and cross around the dough until the floss slides through and cuts the dough into a perfect brown butter roll. Repeat with all of the rolls! You can watch this in my video tutorial if you're wondering WTF?
  • Place the rolls into a buttered oven-safe skillet or pan. Bake 20-30 minutes, until lightly golden brown on top.
  • While they bake, make the frosting by mixing the softened brown butter, cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk in a bowl. If you don't have sweetened condensed milk, just add browned butter to any cream cheese frosting recipe that you love. If you don't have cream cheese, just mix together sweetened condensed milk, brown butter and 1/8 tsp salt for a beautiful glaze.
  • Drizzle the icing on top and serve immediately!
Keyword all purpose flour, baking powder, brown butter, brown sugar, cream cheese, salt, sweetened condensed milk, unsalted butter
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