Flaky Buttermilk Biscuit Cinnamon Rolls {No Yeast, No Rising}

All the gloriousness of homemade cinnamon rolls with no yeast and no rising? These amazing, flaky biscuit cinnamon rolls will make you fall in love with cinnamon rolls all over again.

Hello! Welcome back from all the chaotic gloriousness of the Christmas holiday! I hope you had a great weekend; our holidays were filled with lots of PJ’s, lots of lego-building, lots of movies, lots of food.

We had a few, shall we say, issues, over the break, like freezing water leaking inside through our kitchen windows (home improvement catastrophes bite big time) and our family car dying a slow death.

But…if there’s one thing I’ve learned in my long 3.8 decades of life, it’s how to sort of roll with the punches (even if it includes screaming in my pillow every once in a while and consuming large quantities of dark chocolate).

Thankfully Camryn scored a My Little Pony umbrella for Christmas (her only Christmas wish), and so she felt very well prepared to step in and help shield Brian’s head as he crouched in the kitchen trying to figure out why water was streaming in from outside. Cam to the rescue (theme of our family’s lives, especially when it comes to breaking up wrestling matches between brothers).

But…let’s talk cinnamon rolls (so much more exciting than warped and water damaged windowsills!).

I was really hoping to share this cinnamon roll recipe with you before Christmas, but instead, let’s pretend like cinnamon rolls are THE breakfast to make on New Year’s Day! Or New Year’s Eve?

Or maybe just tomorrow. Because Thursdays are awesome, too.

I love traditional cinnamon rolls. That adoration is very apparent based on the number of cinnamon roll recipes I’ve posted over the years. I love ’em. I do.

But these flaky, tender biscuit cinnamon rolls…they have completely taken my cinnamon roll-loving world and flipped it upside down.

I showed you them on Instagram, and you went crazy (for good reason). I’ve made them no less than a dozen times since then because my family (and the scads of people I’ve shared them with) absolutely cannot get enough.

No yeast.

No rising.

They are so fast. And so easy. And they can be made days in advance (or even longer if you freeze them).

A huge thanks to my virtual friend, Laurel, for giving me the idea for these rolls (actually she and I met in real life a couple years ago when she cheered me on when I ran my half marathon and I hugged her at BYU in November when I spoke there – so let’s rephrase: my real life friend).

She makes biscuit cinnamon rolls every morning at the bakery she works at. She makes them often enough and loves them so truly that she confessed on Instagram a while back she’s never made classic, yeast cinnamon rolls.

I kind of thought she was missing out. I mean, how can you NOT make a fluffy, sweet, traditional cinnamon roll when they are so terribly delicious?

The minute I tried my hand at biscuit cinnamon rolls…and even better…the very second I ate one of these amazingly tender and flaky cinnamon rolls, I understood.

I got it. 

Using a homemade buttermilk biscuit dough and sweetening it up just a little is pure cinnamon roll brilliance.

I honestly have been making these right and left.

They are such a no-brainer when you want a delicious cinnamon roll fix but may not have the time to let dough rise or figure out how to time the rising and baking for a warm breakfast.

Although, admittedly, it isn’t that hard with traditional cinnamon rolls, as you and I have discussed hundreds of times in the comments of all my cinnamon roll recipes – I’m just really trying to sell you on these biscuit babies.

Cinnamon rolls are a fairly standard Christmas morning breakfast around here – with some other deliciousness thrown in there over the years.

This last weekend was definitely a cinnamon roll Christmas, but I made these biscuit cinnamon rolls instead of our go-to cinnamon rolls, and I don’t regret it.

I even made them 2 1/2 days in advance when life was a little less crazy, popped them in the refrigerator, and baked them up in 20 minutes flat the morning of (bless the fact that they didn’t require any rising).

Brian is a self-professed cinnamon roll snob.

Quick sidenote, he actually told me the other day, in shocking fashion, that he doesn’t like the maple frosting on these glorious cinnamon roll standbys; I legit had a moment of “who am I and how did I get here” because…I mean…how could he?

But we’re healing and moving on like real adults.

Anyway, he, Brian, looooooves these biscuit cinnamon rolls. And based on the above revelation, I have no doubt now that he would tell me his true feelings.

It’s hard not to love them. They are buttery and flaky and soft and perfect.

Because I’m kind of anti-doughy anything…these divine cinnamon rolls speak to my soul. I’ll never turn my back on a classic cinnamon roll (unless it’s doughy, of course), but this biscuit version has won my heart.

If homemade biscuit dough stresses you out, never fear! It’s not hard (especially if you have a food processor…and simple, even if you don’t).

I’ve included a step-by-step picture guide below the recipe to show you the ins and outs of transforming the dough from a shaggy mess into deliciously divine cinnamon rolls.

How to make these cinnamon rolls ahead of time

This post on making cinnamon rolls ahead of time applies perfectly to any sweet roll!

One Year Ago: Streusel-Topped Cranberry White Chocolate Bread
Two Years Ago: Maple-Spice Cashew Brittle {Super Easy Microwave Version}
Three Years Ago: Homemade Eggnog

Flaky Buttermilk Biscuit Cinnamon Rolls {No Yeast, No Rising}

Yield: 15 Cinnamon rolls

Prep Time: 1 hour hr 10 minutes mins

Cook Time: 15 minutes mins

Total Time: 1 hour hr 25 minutes mins

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Ingredients

BISCUITS:

• 4 ½ cups (639 g) all-purpose flour
• ⅓ cup (71 g) granulated sugar
• ¾ teaspoon baking soda
• 2 ½ tablespoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 13 tablespoons (184 g) very cold salted butter
• 2 cups buttermilk, plus a few tablespoons more, if needed

FILLING:

• 4 tablespoons (57 g) salted butter, melted
• ½ cup (106 g) light brown sugar
• ½ to 1 tablespoon cinnamon, depending on how cinnamon-y you like them

ICING:

• ½ cup (57 g) powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoon salted butter, melted
• 2 tablespoons heavy cream
• Splash of vanilla extract

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Instructions 

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
• Combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a bowl, or in the bowl of a food processor (you can easily do the following steps in a bowl by hand, using a pastry blender to cut in the butter). Cut the butter into the flour mixture until the mixture is like coarse meal and the butter is in small, pellet-sized pieces (slightly smaller than a pea). This will take a few short pulses in the food processor.
• Pour in the buttermilk and mix/pulse only until just combined. The dough should start to come together but you don’t want to overmix the dough. If there are lots of dry patches throughout the dough, add a bit more buttermilk, just a tablespoon or two at a time until the dough comes together (it’s ok to have dry bits here and there).
• Scrape the dough out of the food processor or bowl onto a lightly floured counter.
• Gently pat (do not roll with a rolling pin!) the dough to about 1/2-inch thick. Gently fold the dough in thirds (see visual below), repeating three times and pressing gently to 1-inch thick after each fold. These folds, combined with the cold butter, are what help to create flaky layers.
• With a lightly floured rolling pin (or pressing quickly with your hands), roll the dough into a 1/4-inch rectangle, about 18X10 or thereabouts. Roll quickly – the more the dough is worked with and processed, the less flaky and tender the rolls will be.
• Spread the melted butter over the top. Combine the sugar and cinnamon and spread evenly over the butter.
• Start rolling up the cinnamon rolls, beginning with one long edge, rolling tightly without pulling and stretching the dough.
• Reposition the long roll until it is seam side down.
• Use a serrated knife, dental floss, or a bench knife/scraper to cut into 1- or 1 1/2-inch rolls. Tuck the loose end of each roll underneath and place an inch or so apart on the prepared baking sheet(s).
• At this point the rolls can be covered and refrigerated for up to two days. To bake immediately, bake for 12-15 minutes. If baking straight from the refrigerator, add a couple minutes to the baking time.
• Let the rolls cool for 10 minutes or so before drizzling with the icing.
• For the icing, whisk together the powdered sugar, melted butter, heavy cream and vanilla until smooth and creamy.

Notes

Buttermilk: I usually champion the homemade buttermilk solution, but it has failed miserably when I’ve used it in this recipe (dough too wet, rolls flattening while baking). I think it COULD work, but I’d suggest using a modified homemade version: half sour cream and half milk to equal the amount in the recipe so it’s a thicker homemade buttermilk than just adding lemon juice to milk.

Make-Ahead: this post details how to make sweet rolls ahead of time.

Author: Mel

Course: Bread

Cuisine: American

Method: Bake

Serving: 1Cinnamon Roll, Calories: 346kcal, Carbohydrates: 47g, Protein: 5g, Fat: 16g, Saturated Fat: 10g, Cholesterol: 42mg, Sodium: 502mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 17g

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Recipe Source: from Mel’s Kitchen Cafe

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