Cinnamon Roll Wreath

Delicious fluffy, pull-apart cinnamon rolls, shaped in a festive Christmas wreath makes for the ultimate Holiday treat! Serve it for breakfast or dessert - everyone will love pulling off their own piece as you gather around the table!

5 from 1 vote

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Prep Time: 3

Cook Time: 20

Total Time: 3 20

Servings: servings (2 cinnamon roll wreaths, 30 ounces each)

Ingredients

US Customary - Metric

Dough Ingredients:

2 cups warm water (about 115°F)
¼ cup nonfat powdered milk
½ cup boxed potato flakes (aka instant mashed potatoes)
½ cup granulated sugar
1 Tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon instant yeast*
1 ½ teaspoons salt
¼ cup unsalted butter softened to room temperature
½ cup butter flavored shortening
2 large eggs
5-6 cups bread flour

Filling Ingredients:

¼ cup salted butter melted
¾ cups dark brown sugar
4 Tablespoons ground cinnamon

Frosting:

Frost with my Cream Cheese Frosting adding 1 extra Tablespoon of milk to thin it out

Instructions

Prepare the dough.

In a large bowl, combine warm water, powdered milk, potato flakes, sugar, yeast and salt. Mix well with a wire whisk. Pour into the mixer bowl and secure the dough hook attachment to your mixer.
Add the butter, butter flavored shortening and eggs. Add 3 cups of the bread flour. Mix for about 30 seconds until ingredients are incorporated. Stop the mixer and scrape down sides of bowl with a spatula.
Turn mixer on low and add 2 more cups of the bread flour, 1/2 cup at a time. After adding the 2 cups of flour, let dough continue to mix for about 1 minute. Stop and scrape the sides of the bowl as needed. If dough is not mostly cleaning sides of the bowl, add more flour 1/4 cup at a time until it cleans the sides of the bowl. Stop the mixer and check the dough by gently pressing your finger into it. If the dough does not stick to your finger, it should be ready to knead. *When in doubt, it’s always best to go lighter on the flour. You can always add more flour, but you can’t take flour away. Too much flour in your dough will give you dry, dense rolls.
Knead on low speed for 5 minutes.
Remove dough from mixer and place in a greased bowl. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let rise until doubled in size, about 60-90 minutes.

Prepare the filling.

Melt ¼ cup salted butter in microwave safe dish and set aside. In separate bowl combine the brown sugar and cinnamon.

It’s time to roll.

Divide dough into two 28-30-ounce portions. If you don’t have a scale, you can eyeball it. Round each portion to an oval shaped piece of dough by pulling and tucking it under. This will make it easier to roll it out into a rectangle.
Flour your work surface and roll dough out to a rectangular shape, about 10 inches by 18 inches.
Spread half of the melted butter on the dough, leaving an inch border on the top side of the rectangle. Sprinkle about 1/4 - 1/3 cup of brown sugar on top of the melted butter, continuing to leave the inch border at the top edge. Leaving this border will help in sealing the dough shut when rolled up.
Start with the long side closest to you, and working from left to right begin to roll dough up. You can tug and pull as you go which will tighten the roll and make more swirls.
Once it’s all rolled up, pinch the seam shut.
Using kitchen scissors, cut 1-inch pieces at a 45-degree angle, cutting only 3/4 of the way through the roll. Each roll will have about 15-18 cinnamon rolls. *Make sure the roll is seam side down when you do this.
Repeat with second ball of dough or see Notes for other options to use this dough.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place a 4-inch oven safe bowl or ramekin in the center. Spray the outside of it with nonstick spray. Arrange the roll around the ramekin with the cut side facing outwards. The ramekin will ensure that you get a perfectly round center for your cinnamon roll wreath! Fan the rolls out, laying them slightly on top of one another. Use your scissors to make the cuts a bit deeper if needed when spreading the cinnamon rolls out. (Be sure to watch my video showing this in more detail)
Let the cinnamon roll wreath rise, covered until it increases in size about 50%. This should take about 30-45 minutes, depending on how warm your kitchen is.

Bake

Preheat oven to 350°F. Bake on the center rack for 16-20 minutes, until edges are golden brown. Internal temperature should read 195°F. Once you remove it from the oven, place on a wire cooling rack. Let it cool for 20 minutes before removing the ramekin from the center.
Frost with my Cream Cheese Frosting, adding about one extra Tablespoon of milk to make it a bit runnier. Frost the cinnamon roll wreath while it's still slightly warm - this will make the frosting melt a bit, revealing all of the beautiful cinnamon swirls.
Serve by either pulling apart each roll or cutting with a serving spatula. Store any leftovers, covered for up to 3 days.

Video

Notes

This recipe makes two cinnamon roll wreaths. If you are only wanting to make one, you can use the rest of the dough for Crescent Dinner Rolls, Orange Rolls or another one of my sweet roll recipes. It's the best dough!

Make ahead instructions:

If you're serving this Cinnamon Roll Wreath in the morning, you can prepare some of the steps ahead of time. Here are a couple of options:

This first option is my preferred method. Make the dough the night before. Place it in a large bowl, cover it with plastic wrap. Put it in the refrigerator overnight. The cold temperature will slow down the rising process until you're ready to roll it out the next morning. Let the dough sit out about 15 minutes before rolling it, allowing it to warm up a bit. Shape as usual and let rise one more time - again, this last rise only takes about 30-45 minutes. *If you are refrigerating this dough, use it within 24 hours - any longer than that and it will begin to alter the flavor to more of a yeasty taste.
The second option is to shape the cinnamon roll wreath the night before and refrigerate. This can be really convenient if you're serving it first thing in the morning. Preheat your oven and take them straight from the refrigerator to the oven. This is my second choice of the two...mainly because sometimes the rolls can overproof overnight, even in the refrigerator. If you notice your rolls are shrinking and collapsing after being baked or have a yeasty flavor, you've most likely over proofed them. Make a note, and next time reduce the proof time. Even though I prefer the first option, I have successfully proofed this cinnamon roll wreath in the refrigerator overnight. The message here - do whichever works best for your baking and serving schedule.

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