The quintessential Christmas morning breakfast: overnight cinnamon rolls with mascarpone icing. Decadent, buttery rolls filled with the sweetest brown sugar & cinnamon filling. They’re stored in the fridge overnight so that come Christmas morning, they’re ready to bake until golden brown and fluffy. Topped with a simple icing and made special with creamy mascarpone cheese. It’s the most comforting breakfast recipe that everyone will love…plus, your kitchen will smell absolutely amazing!
Keeping this post short & sweet because Christmas is almost here and there’s still so much to do! Hopefully you’re all cozied up inside, baking away and watching your favorite Christmas movies. We’re always doing things last minute in my family, so we’ve just finished up our shopping and are about to start on our many, many batches of cookies.
But I just had to share these overnight cinnamon rolls in case you needed a last-minute Christmas morning breakfast recipe!!
overnight cinnamon rolls – the quick details
We have two sweet breakfasts that we love for Christmas morning – lemon ricotta pancakes and these overnight cinnamon rolls. They’re both festive, special, and of course a little bit indulgent.
The cinnamon rolls start the night before to make it really simple in the morning. You’ll make the dough, let it rise, roll it out, fill it with the sweet & buttery cinnamon filling, roll it up, cut the “log” of dough into pieces, and line them up in a baking dish.
Into the fridge they go and in the morning, all you have to do is let the dough sit out for an hour or so and then bake them off. You can even make the mascarpone icing ahead of time, too, and just let it come to room temperature before serving.
The result? The most delicious, extremely addicting cinnamon rolls. Christmas morning nostalgic comfort food at its best!
PrintOvernight Cinnamon Rolls with Mascarpone Icing
decadent, buttery overnight cinnamon rolls with a sweet mascarpone icing drizzled over top
yield: 12 rolls
Ingredients
Overnight Cinnamon Rolls
- ¼ cup warm water
- 1 tbsp instant yeast
- 1 ½ sticks (6 oz) unsalted butter
- ¾ cup whole milk
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
- 4 cups all-purpose flour (sifted), plus more as needed for rolling
- 2 tsp kosher salt
- 1 egg yolk + 1 tbsp whole milk
- 2 tbsp raw (or brown) sugar
For the filling…
- 1 ½ sticks (6 oz) unsalted butter, softened
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp kosher salt
Mascarpone Icing
- 8 oz mascarpone cheese, at room temperature
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
- ¼ cup water
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
Instructions
Overnight Cinnamon Rolls
- Combine the warm water and instant yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer. Let sit for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, add the butter to a small saucepan over medium heat and allow to melt. Turn the heat to low and continue to cook until the butter is browned and fragrant. Let cool slightly.
- While the butter browns, add the milk and cinnamon sticks to another small saucepan over low heat. Let steep for 10 minutes. Remove the cinnamon sticks.
- Add the sugar and eggs to the bowl with the yeast. Whisk to combine. Whisk in the browned butter, steeped milk, and vanilla extract. Pour in the sifted flour and salt. Using a dough hook, mix on medium-low speed for 5 minutes until the dough is smooth and starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl.
- Turn the dough out onto a floured surface. Form it into a ball. Place it into a lightly floured bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Allow to rise in a warm place (a 100°F oven or by the fire are ideal spots) for 1 hour until doubled in size. Punch the dough down and dump it back onto a floured surface. Roll into a 12×18” rectangle.
- For the filling, mix the butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt together in a bowl. Spread it onto the dough in an even layer. Roll the dough lengthwise into a log. Use a sharp knife to cut the dough into 12 even pieces. Place the pieces, filling-side up, into a 9×13” baking dish. Wrap and chill overnight.
- In the morning, let the rolls sit in a warm place for another hour (they should rise a bit). Combine the egg yolk and milk. Brush this onto the rolls and sprinkle with the raw sugar.
- Bake at 350°F for 30 minutes, or until golden brown. Serve warm with the mascarpone icing (recipe below) drizzled over top.
Mascarpone Icing
- Combine the mascarpone, powdered sugar, water, and vanilla in a mixing bowl.
- Whisk well until smooth.
- Serve at room temperature.
