Recipe Review

Why I’ll Never Make Alton Brown’s Cinnamon Rolls Again

Meghan Splawn
Meghan Splawn
Meghan was the Food Editor for Kitchn's Skills content. She's a master of everyday baking, family cooking, and harnessing good light. Meghan approaches food with an eye towards budgeting — both time and money — and having fun. Meghan has a baking and pastry degree, and spent the…read more
published Dec 18, 2019
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Credit: Photo: Joe Lingman; Food Styling: Brett Regot; Design: Kitchn

Alton Brown’s cinnamon rolls and I have a bit of a history. I worked for Alton Brown for 10 years, during which time I made his cinnamon rolls a number of times for various events and television appearances. My first year working for him, as an intern on Good Eats, I also made these cinnamon rolls for Christmas, in my crappy apartment kitchen. They completely destroyed my hand-me-down stand mixer.

Still, Alton Brown’s Overnight Cinnamon Rolls are one of the most popular cinnamon roll recipes on the internet. They have a five-star rating on FoodNetwork.com, hundreds of glowing reviews, and some fans of the recipe have even shared the results with Brown on Twitter. So you can see why we had to include them in our cinnamon roll recipe showdown.

Here’s my honest review of Alton Brown’s Overnight Cinnamon Rolls, and why (spoiler alert!) I won’t be making them part of my holiday tradition — or ever again.

Credit: Photo: Joe Lingman; Food Styling: Brett Regot; Design: Kitchn

How to Make Alton Brown’s Overnight Cinnamon Rolls

Alton Brown’s recipe starts out easy enough. You’ll begin by using a stand mixer to mix up an enriched yeast dough made with egg yolks, buttermilk, and sugar, which you’ll then let rise for 2 1/2 hours at room temperature. This dough calls for the most flour of the four recipes I tried, and it came out a little dry from the mixer, despite the fact that I used the minimum amount suggested.

When the dough is ready, you’ll roll it out into a rectangle, brush it with melted butter, then press in a mixture of brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt. You’ll roll it up, slice the log into rolls, arrange them in a greased baking dish, and refrigerate overnight.

Here’s where things get fussy: Brown insists that you proof the cinnamon rolls in a cold oven, on a rack set above a pan of boiling water. You then heat the oven, remove the water, and bake the rolls. I don’t know about you, but boiling water and gently steaming cinnamon rolls is the last thing I want to do at 7 a.m. before breakfast.

After they bake, these cinnamon rolls get slathered with a generous amount of icing — a simple mixture of cream cheese, powdered sugar, and a little milk. The icing set more than any of the other icings I tried, creating a wonderfully crackled but soft texture.

Credit: Joe Lingeman; Food Styling: Brett Regot

My Honest Review of Alton Brown’s Overnight Cinnamon Rolls

I did my best to go into this recipe with an open mind, but as soon as I began mixing up the dough, I was reminded of that fateful mixer incident 10 years prior. Because this dough has so much flour (about four cups) it’s extremely heavy and on the drier side. That being said, the fact that it broke my mixer was definitely a fluke. The dough is tough, but it did mix up just fine this time around.

Although these cinnamon rolls look picture-perfect, they disappointed me when it came time to dig in. They were dry and bland. Honestly, the icing was their only saving grace. Brown’s recipe just doesn’t seem worth the extra effort. In fact, the fussy proofing step seems to dry out the dough even further, instead of helping to make the rolls lighter and fluffier.

Credit: Meghan Splawn

If You’re Making Alton Brown’s Cinnamon Rolls, A Few Tips

1. Hold back on the flour. Alton has you begin the dough with two cups of the flour, then add all but 3/4-cup. My suggestion is to begin the dough with the two cups as instructed, but then begin adding in 1/2-cup increments. I found a total of just three cups to be ideal.

2. Plan for the long proofing time in the morning. The oven-proofing step takes nearly 30 minutes. Give the rolls a jump start by pulling them out of the fridge to warm while you boil the water, which will help make them more tender.

3. Double down on the icing. Because Alton’s cinnamon rolls have the leanest, driest dough of the four we tested, make 1 1/2 times the amount of icing, which will add the flavor and moisture these rolls so desperately need.

Rating: 5/10

Have you ever made Alton Brown’s cinnamon rolls? Tell us what you thought! 

Credit: Photo: Joe Lingman; Food Styling: Brett Regot; Design: The Kitchn