Overnight Whole Wheat Cinnamon Roll Recipe

These overnight whole-wheat cinnamon rolls are the type of recipe you want to make the night before to reward the beginning of a great weekend!

Last Friday, the entire family had dental check ups and teeth cleanings. Yes, all of us (except baby G) got our teeth cleaned. I think my husband got appointment happy and booked the dentist and his hygienist for a 2.5hour block to take care of our family.

Don’t let Alex’s pouty lip fool you, the kid was finished first and didn’t make a peep!

Sofia on the other hand… well, let’s just say that each step took twice as long as her brother.

Baby G also visited his doctor -again, but this time it was for “nothing.”  If you have kids, you know what I mean here. If you don’t, imagine your child sick for 2-3 days with nasty boogies, a bad cough and seriously whiney 24/7. You finally think: well, it’s Friday. I should take him to the doctor in case it gets worse and then I can’t catch anyone over the weekend.  You go to the doctor, doctor evaluates and tells you it’s nothing. You tell doctor that it’s great he seems healthy and secretly wonder what the heck?!? How could it be nothing? Has she been to your house the past three days? Obviously NOT.

In all seriousness, I am glad it’s “nothing”… but he is still waking up in the middle of the night a few times and is whiney. Teething, it must be teething.

Our Friday afternoon adventures continued having lunch together at Zoës Kitchen. I love their fresh meals and great service. Their hummus is really good and the kid’s menu is very healthy. Yes, having a Greek stepdad has made me a bit of a hummus snob. I bought some hummus back home and he even said it was quite good! I ate their famous chicken salad sandwich. I love their chicken salad so much that I made my own recipe for a MOMables’ menu. It’s got a smooth nearly creamy texture that even the pickiest of eaters will love.

Adventurous days make for some tired children in the evening. I was in the kitchen (right behind his chair) getting together the ingredients for my overnight whole wheat cinnamon rolls and within 5 minutes I found Alex like this!

If you are wondering why I use an “overnight” recipe is because I am not a morning person. I need serious amounts of caffeine to get me out of bed in the morning and I am usually not in the mood to wait 2 hours for my dough to rise. I altered a classic overnight brioche recipe (with a lot less butter) into a recipe I could stretch into cinnamon rolls. I am sure there are other recipes out there but I’m too lazy to use the google and try them out. Plus, this isn’t too different from my king cake recipe; familiarity with a recipe = success when baking.

I will tell you this: if you can mix, roll and refrigerate… you can make delicious cinnamon rolls from scratch for your family in the morning. I let my mixer do the work, let it rise while I clean the dishes from dinner, then quickly roll out the dough.

What I love about this recipe is that I put the cinnamon rolls into the refrigerator (covered) and in the morning they are ready to bake. While the oven is preheating, I usually have my first or third cup of coffee and we can hang out in our pjs while they bake.

Seriously, who wants to get out of their pjs (mom included) when the fireplaces are going and the house smells like warm cinnamon rolls?

A quick glaze is all they need and they are ready to be devoured.

Please don’t tell me you are too busy to make cinnamon rolls from scratch. The mixer did all the heavy lifting for you and the hardest part of this recipe is stopping at eating just one!

If the house smells too delicious and you get impatient like I did then your glaze will instantly melt and fall into the crevices between the rolls. Yummo! Then you’ll stick your finger in the little well so you can taste it and you’ll burn yourself and possibly let out a bad word. This will follow by “mommy said a baaaadd worddd!!!.” No, the hot dish burned mommy and it made mommy say something she shouldn’t have. Of course, this isn’t from experince… I am just saying…

My wish for you in 2013 is that you enjoy a delicious breakfast with your family. That you make time to hang out in your pjs and enjoy each other on the weekends. Life happens way too fast and weekdays seem to be filled with scheduled activities.  May this new year bring you love, health and happiness.

From my family to yours, Happy New Year!

Easy Whole Wheat Cinnamon Roll Recipe

★★★★★

5 from 6 reviews

• Author: Laura Fuentes - SuperGlueMom
• Prep Time: 2 hours 30 mins
• Cook Time: 30 mins
• Total Time: 3 hours
• Yield: 8

Ingredients

• 1 Tablespoon active dry yeast
• 1/2 cup warm water (105 deg F)
• 21/2 cups whole wheat flour*
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1teaspoon kosher salt
• 4 large eggs (at room temperature)
• 1/4 cup honey or sugar
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) real butter at room temp

Filling:

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) real butter at room temp, divided
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 Tablespoon cinnamon

Glaze:

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 2 Tablespoons butter, melted
• 2 Tablespoons milk or cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, pour warm water, add yeast and a teaspoon of the sugar or honey. Mix with a spoon and wait 10minutes for yeast to activate.
2. Add 1/2 cup of flour (white or whole wheat) and mix until you have a paste. Cover with plastic wrap and let stand in a warm spot for about 30 minutes.
3. Add the eggs, sugar, butter, salt, and remaining 4 cups flour to the yeast mixture. Fit the mixer with the dough hook and knead on medium speed until smooth 10-12 minutes. Add a bit more flour to reduce stickiness if needed.
4. Cover with plastic wrap, set in a warm spot and let rise until doubled, about 2 hours.
5. Butter a 9×13 baking dish. Transfer the dough to a floured work surface. Roll out into a rectangle about 15×10 in. Set 2 Tablespoons of butter on the side. Spread butter onto rolled dough, sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. Immediately, roll dough lengthwise.
6. You can cut the rolls to your liking. This will make 12 small rolls, 10 medium ones, or 8 large rolls. With a knife, cut the roll in half through the middle, then proceed to cut each side.
7. Place cut side up in baking dish. Melt the reserved 2 Tablespoons of butter and brush on top of rolls. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and place in the fridge overnight.
8. The next morning, remove from refrigerator, preheat oven to 350F. While oven is heating, let rolls rise.
9. While rising mix glaze ingredients until combined.
10. Bake until golden brown, about 30 minutes.
11. Let cool in the pan for a few minutes and top with glaze.

Notes

You may use spelt instead of whole wheat flour. I find that this recipe doesn’t rise well if you make it 100% whole wheat or 100% spelt. You will need to add 4 teaspoons of vital gluten to the recipe in order for the flour to rise well.
Alternatively, you can make this recipe with 100% all purpose (white) flour without any changes.