Name: Cinnamon Walnut Raisin Sweet Roll Recipe
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 45 min
Ingredients: 3 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour (I like King Arthur's); 2 teaspoons Instant Yeast ((not active dry -- and not the whole package)); 3 tablespoons sugar; 2 tablespoons nonfat dry milk; 1 1/4 teaspoons salt; 1 large egg + water to make one cup; 1 teaspoon vanilla extract; 2 tablespoons butter (at room temperature); 3/4 cup light brown sugar; 1 tablespoon cinnamon; 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves; 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg; 1/4 teaspoon ground vanilla ((optional)); 3/4 cup golden raisins; 1/2 cup toasted walnuts or pecans (chopped); 1/4 cup unsalted butter (softened); 3 tablespoons heavy cream; 1 cup confectioners sugar

If you’ve ever wondered how to make cinnamon rolls from scratch or thought it would be too difficult to bother, these easy cinnamon buns are a great starting point. This amazing sweet roll recipe is made with a soft yeast dough that’s filled with sweet cinnamon walnut and raisins. The yeast dough requires a double rise (as most do) but the steps are easy for these yummy breakfast buns.

You’ll want to start with the dough for this sweet roll recipe. It comes together in the stand mixer very quickly, but you can also mix the dough by hand.

Dough ingredients for breakfast buns

All Purpose Flour
Sugar
Yeast
Nonfat Dry Milk
Salt
Egg
Water
Vanilla
Butter

Making dough for sweet roll recipe:

For the stand mixer, blend until the dough is soft, smooth and elastic.
If you’re mixing and kneading by hand, it’ll take a few minutes longer and require a bit of elbow grease, but it’s not difficult.
When the dough is blended, form it into a ball and place it in a greased bowl.
Cover the bowl with a clean towel and put it in a draft free place to rise for about 1 1/2 hours or until doubled in bulk.

While the dough is rising, assemble the ingredients for the easy cinnamon buns filling.

Ingredients for cinnamon walnut raisin filling:

Brown Sugar
Cinnamon
Cloves
Nutmeg
Powdered Vanilla
Golden Raisins (or regular raisins)
Walnuts (or pecans)
Soft Unsalted Butter

Preparing the cinnamon walnut filling:

In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and powdered vanilla (if using).
Spread the nuts on a baking sheet and toast in a warm oven until fragrant and lightly browned.
Measure out the raisins and set aside.
Allow the butter to come to room temperature.

Tips for rolling the dough

The yeast dough for this sweet roll recipe is really easy to work with (which is why I like it). The only “exacting” part in making these easy cinnamon buns, is rolling the dough into an 11 x 20″ rectangle. It doesn’t have to be 100% perfect, but you’ll want to achieve those dimensions, thereabouts to have roughly equal sized breakfast buns. I use a ruler to make sure I’m on track.

Assembling easy cinnamon buns

Roll out the sweet roll dough into the required size.
Brush the dough with softened butter, I used an offset spatula to make it easy to spread. (Pro Tip: Try to leave a half inch border around the edge of the dough so it can be sealed when you roll it up — if you butter it to the edge, the dough won’t stick together.)
Sprinkle the brown sugar-cinnamon mixture evenly over the butter.
Sprinkle the toasted, chopped nuts and golden raisins over the cinnamon sugar mixture.
Roll the long edge of the dough over on itself and continue to roll the breakfast buns into a relatively secure spiral. (Don’t squeeze too hard or you’ll lose your filling, too loose and the rolls won’t hold together.)
Cut the easy cinnamon buns into 1″ slices and transfer to a prepared 13 x 9″ baking pan. For the two end pieces place the “outside ends” down on the baking sheet so that the interior spiral is showcased.
Cover with a clean dish towel and let the sweet roll recipe rise again.

Want to make these sweet buns ahead of time?

Assemble the buns up to step 7, then cover and refrigerate overnight. The next morning, take the pan out of the oven and let them rest and rise for two hours. Then continue with the rest of the recipe.

After the second rise, bake the rolls until they’re golden and smell out-of-this-world-good. (That’s a technical baking term.) The last step is the glaze.

Glazing cinnamon walnut breakfast buns

Mix together cream and powdered sugar until smooth.
Drizzle and gloop the glaze over the baked sweet rolls.
Yes, I said gloop. Don’t try to achieve perfection. They should look rustic, it’s more inviting that way.

Even if you’ve never been a big baker, you can see how to make cinnamon rolls from scratch is pretty easy when you break it down into small, manageable steps. I guarantee these easy cinnamon buns won’t last long if you’re serving them for breakfast or brunch. No one can resist a warm gooey cinnamon walnut raisin roll with sweet glaze. Am-I-Right?

More breakfast buns & sweets:

Print Pin

5 from 7 votes