These mini sourdough cinnamon rolls with caramel cream cheese drizzle are often requested for birthday breakfasts, the start of the school year, and Easter morning. Because they’re fermented with natural leaven (or sourdough), these cinnamon rolls are nutrient-rich and dense, though moist and flavorful. You can make this recipe with active or unfed sourdough starter. 
I usually set up this recipe before bed and roll them out in the early morning to bake right before we sit down to breakfast. They are equally delicious as a dessert!
You can make full-sized sourdough cinnamon rolls or mini rolls, which I actually prefer because of how rich they are. The use of coconut sugar in the recipe gives these cinnamon rolls their distinctive caramel-like flavor.
You can use brown sugar but the flavor will change; they’ll still be delicious, just not caramel flavored.
The following is an explanation of how to make sourdough cinnamon rolls and then a printable recipe follows along in about the middle of the article.
More Sourdough Recipes
Autumn Sourdough Maple Sandwich Loaf
Sourdough Bread Beginner Recipe
To keep track of your sourdough recipes, as well as ferment times and baking details, please join our newsletter family and receive our super simple Sourdough Worksheets!
How to Make Mini Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls
If culturing a dough overnight with egg concerns you, use pasteurized commercial eggs. I use my farm fresh eggs because bad bacteria are usually found on the shell, and they are easy to wash well. Use whichever you prefer.
Also remember that you can switch up the spices in this recipe to suit your tastes!
Ingredients for Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls
- 1/2 Cup Butter, softened
- 1/2 Cup Coconut Sugar (or Brown Sugar)
- 1/2 Cup Cooked, Mashed Sweet Potato (or regular potato), about 3/4 of a cup
- 1/2 Cup Buttermilk (or Sour Cream)
- 3 Eggs*
- 2 Tbsp. Vanilla
- 1/2 Cup Starter (active or unfed)
- 5-6 Cups of Flour**
- 2 tsp. Sea Salt
- 1 tsp. Cinnamon
- 1 tsp. Nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp. Cloves
- 1/2 tsp. Ginger
Sourdough Cinnamon Roll Filling
- 3/4 Cup Melted Butter
- 1/2-3/4 Cup Coconut Sugar (to taste)
- 1 Tbsp. Cinnamon
- 1 tsp. Nutmeg
Cream Cheese Caramel Drizzle
- 1 8 oz. package Cream Cheese
- 1/2 Cup of Cream
- 1/2 Cup of Coconut Sugar
- 1 tsp. Vanilla
- Dash of Sea Salt
Basic Instruction to Set Up the Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls
- Cream the 1/2 cup of butter and the 1/2 cup of sugar. Add the 3 eggs one a time and mix well between additions.
- Add the cooked, mashed sweet potato to the 1/2 cup of buttermilk and whip until smooth. You can use a blender if that’s easier.
- Combine the butter mixture with the sweet potato mixture until combined. Add the 2 Tbsp. vanilla and 1/2 cup starter and mix well.
- Add the 5-6 cups of flour, 2 teaspoons of salt, and spices.
Don’t add extra flour even if you’re tempted. Mix until all the flour disappears into the wet ingredients.
I usually mix by hand because it’s easier for me to feel rather than time when the dough is all mixed, but you can use a mixer with the dough hook attachment.
- Place the dough into a well-oiled or buttered bowl, cover, and allow to culture for 6 hours or overnight.
- Allow it to rise as long as it takes to double in size and be poofy.
Your dough is done culturing when it slowly return a finger indent, though not completely.
- When ready, remove the dough from the bowl and roll it out into a rectangle that is 1/8” – 1/4” thick. Make sure its as even as it can be from one end to the other.
- Cut the dough with a pizza cutter or sharp knife in three sections horizontally, to you have three long strips 6” – 8” wide.
- Make the filling and spread it evenly over the strips to the edge.
Make the Sourdough Cinnamon Roll Filling
You can use brown sugar, if you don’t have coconut sugar. You may also switch up the spices to suit your taste.
Also, please note that, as per most cinnamon roll recipes, you can spread super soft butter equally all over the dough, and then sprinkle the sugar and spice over the top of the butter.
I always, always, always forget to pre-soften my butter. Always. So, I learned how to make the filling with melted butter.
- Melt the 3/4 cups of butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Once melted, remove the butter from the heat.
- Add the coconut sugar and spices to the pot and stir until combined.
- Spread this mixture equally over the three strips of dough.
Allow a few moments to pass for the butter to begin to reconstitute at room temperature – it will be easier to mix when it’s a little more stiff. Use the back of a spoon or even your fingers to evenly distribute the filling.
Roll the Sourdough Cinnamon Roll Logs
- Starting at one end of a dough strip, roll the dough tightly and evenly in a horizontal line creating a tight log of cinnamon roll. Do this for all three sections of dough. Pinch the ends of each log.
- Cut each log in 1/2” – 1” wide pieces. The smaller the width, the more mini the cinnamon rolls. Do this for all three logs.
- Place each roll in a parchment paper covered jelly roll pan or baking dish.
- Allow for 1/2” between each roll.
This recipe makes roughly 40 mini cinnamon rolls, FYI.
To cut the sourdough cinnamon rolls, you can use a sharp knife but it does depress the dough a bit at the point of impact. You can loosen the rolls and you place them in their pan to rise.
However, you can also use a piece of dental floss run under the log and drawn up and across to cut each cinnamon rolls. This process won’t alter the shape of the roll every much at all.
If you’d like to achieve a perfect shape, you might like this method. I could really care less what they look like and use a knife because it’s faster.
Raising and Baking the Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls
Use a foil tent to cover the pan to allow for the rolls to rise. I like to place mine inside my oven with the oven turned off but the light on if it’s the winter to warm the inside a bit. This part isn’t necessary because the rolls will rise in a cold house given enough time.
The rolls are ready to bake when they have doubled in size and nearly or completely filled the spaces between each roll.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F/76°C and bake the rolls covered in foil (to prevent scorching the sugar) for 25 minutes.
- Remove the foil and bake for another 10-15 minutes.
Thoroughly baked cinnamon rolls do not have doughy insides and have begun to brown on top. You might have to taste one just to be sure they’re baked. Poor you.
Plate the rolls immediately and scrap the melted buttery sugar off the parchment paper and onto the cinnamon rolls.
- They’re delicious just like that, but if you’d like to make the cream cheese glaze, it’s quick to whip up and the instructions are below.
Make the Caramel Cream Cheese Glaze
- Place all the ingredients into the pot you used for the filling and melt the cream cheese over medium heat, whisking constantly to prevent scorching.
- Drizzle warm over the cinnamon rolls and serve immediately.
You can refrigerate and leftovers in a covered container for up to a week. At least, I think you can; we’ve never had any leftovers.
The printable version of this recipe is just below…
Mini Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls Recipe
Mini Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls with Caramel Cream Cheese Drizzle
Ingredients
Sourdough Cinnamon Roll Dough
- 1/2 Cup Butter softened
- 1/2 Cup Coconut Sugar or Brown Sugar
- 1/2 Cup Cooked Mashed Sweet Potato (or regular potato), about 3/4 of a cup
- 1/2 Cup Buttermilk or Sour Cream
- 3 Eggs*
- 2 Tbsp. Vanilla
- 1/2 Cup Starter active or unfed
- 5-6 Cups of Flour**
- 2 tsp. Sea Salt
- 1 tsp. each Cinnamon & Nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp. Cloves & Ginger
Sourdough Cinnamon Roll Filling
- 3/4 Cup Melted Butter
- 1/2-3/4 Cup Coconut Sugar to taste
- 1 Tbsp. Cinnamon
- 1 tsp. Nutmeg
Cream Cheese Caramel Drizzle
- 1 8 oz. package Cream Cheese
- 1/2 Cup of Cream
- 1/2 Cup of Coconut Sugar
- 1 tsp. Vanilla
- Dash of Sea Salt
Instructions
Basic Instruction to Set Up the Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls
- Cream the 1/2 cup of butter and the 1/2 cup of sugar. Add the 3 eggs one a time and mix well between additions.
- Add the cooked, mashed sweet potato to the 1/2 cup of buttermilk and whip until smooth. You can use a blender if that’s easier.
- Combine the butter mixture with the sweet potato mixture until combined. Add the 2 Tbsp. vanilla and 1/2 cup starter and mix well.
- Add the 5-6 cups of flour, 2 teaspoons of salt, and spices.
- Don’t add extra flour even if you’re tempted. Mix until all the flour disappears into the wet ingredients.
- I usually mix by hand because it’s easier for me to feel rather than time when the dough is all mixed, but you can use a mixer with the dough hook attachment.
- Place the dough into a well-oiled or buttered bowl, cover, and allow to culture for 6 hours or overnight.
- Allow it to rise as long as it takes to double in size and be poofy.
- Your dough is done culturing when it slowly returns a finger indent, though not completely.
- When ready, remove the dough from the bowl and roll it out into a rectangle that is 1/8” - 1/4” thick. Make sure it's as even as it can be from one end to the other.
- Cut the dough with a pizza cutter or sharp knife in three sections horizontally, to you have three long strips 6” - 8” wide.
- Make the filling and spread it evenly over the strips to the edge.
Make the Sourdough Cinnamon Roll Filling
- Melt the 3/4 cups of butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Once melted, remove the butter from the heat.
- Add the coconut sugar and spices to the pot and stir until combined.
- Spread this mixture equally over the three strips of dough.
- Allow a few moments to pass for the butter to begin to reconstitute at room temperature - it will be easier to mix when it’s a little more stiff. Use the back of a spoon or even your fingers to evenly distribute the filling.
Roll the Sourdough Cinnamon Roll Logs
- Starting at one end of a dough strip, roll the dough tightly and evenly in a horizontal line creating a tight log of cinnamon roll. Do this for all three sections of dough. Pinch the ends of each log.
- Cut each log in 1/2” - 1” wide pieces. The smaller the width, the more mini the cinnamon rolls. Do this for all three logs.
- Place each roll in a parchment paper covered jelly roll pan or baking dish. Allow for 1/2” between each roll.
Raising and Baking the Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls
- Use a foil tent to cover the pan to allow for the rolls to rise. The rolls are ready to bake when they have doubled in size and nearly or completely filled the spaces between each roll.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F/76°C and bake the rolls covered in foil (to prevent scorching the sugar) for 25 minutes.
- Remove the foil and bake for another 10-15 minutes. Thoroughly baked cinnamon rolls do not have doughy insides and have begun to brown on top.
- Plate the rolls immediately and scrap the melted buttery sugar off the parchment paper and onto the cinnamon rolls.
Make the Caramel Cream Cheese Glaze
- Place all the ingredients into the pot you used for the filling and melt the cream cheese over medium heat, whisking constantly to prevent scorching.
- Drizzle warm over the cinnamon rolls and serve immediately.
Notes
Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls FAQs
If you’re new to baking sourdough cinnamon rolls, it’s common to have a few questions. Fortunately, even if you have a “failed” batch, they’re probably still taste delightful.
To help you achieve success with presentation as well as taste, here are a few FAQs and their answers that might help.
Why Didn’t My Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls Rise?
It can be hard to be patient with the rise time for sourdough bread products, especially when it’s sourdough cinnamon rolls for which you’re waiting. However, there’s no way to rush the rise time for these sourdough cinnamon rolls!
This is a rich, heavy egg dough that we’re trying to bake up light and fluffy and it needs time to culture for all those sourdough strains to eat up the grain and release the gas necessary to raise your rolls.
The best way to know if your dough is ready to shape and rise the final time is to:
- wait until it has doubled in size
- looks loose and puffy
- slowly returns a gentle finger press, but not all the way
If your dough is still the same size and quickly returns a finger press, it’s just not ready. Although you don’t want to push the culturing time with extreme heat, you could give it a little help by placing your covered bowl inside your cold oven with the light on.
I will also place my bowl next to (not on!) my woodstove in the winter. I don’t have central heat, so my house can get quite chilly sometimes; the woodstove is a very hospitably warm place to culture sourdough cinnamon rolls.
Is Sourdough Good for You?
While not everyone can eat grain, if you do eat it, sourdough is a healthy way to consume it! The sourdough basically pre-digests the grains making them easier on our tummies, but also more nutrient dense.
Cultured Guru has a fantastic article entitled, “What Makes Sourdough Healthier and Easier to Digest?” that is worth a read to learn more about how sourdough is actually good for you.
- You may also enjoy our post Healthy Bread & Naturally Leavened Sourdough, which discusses the journey we had to find bread that was actually good for us.
What is the Difference Between Sourdough Discard and Starter?
This recipe can be made with an active, recently fed sourdough starter or one that is unfed. Your sourdough starter is the collection of yeast and lacto-bacilli that come together to raise your sourdough bread products, negating the need for commercial yeast.
This sourdough starter is a collection of living things and needs to be fed flour and water to stay alive and healthy. It is good practice to remove some starter every time you feed it.
Occasionally, it happens that you end up with more sourdough starter than you need for the recipe you’re preparing, though. This extra starter is called discard.
There’s no need to actually throw your extra sourdough starter away, though! Sourdough discard can be use to make
- Macaroni and Cheese Roux
- Sourdough Crackers
- Sourdough Brownies
- Sourdough Cookies
And so many more recipes, including these cinnamon rolls and even loaf bread! Pretty much any recipe you can make with an active, fed starter, you can also make with an unfed starter because it will end up feeding heavily on the flour you add for the recipe.
If you only have time to bake every few days or on the weekends, I suggest you keep your starter in the fridge. The cooler temperatures will slow down the feeding process, allowing you more time between necessary feedings.
If you enjoy baking a lot during the week, you can keep your starter on the counter, which will keep it warmer and more active. Each temperature will encourage the thermosensitive properties of the environment.
This means that, if fridge starter and counter starter, even if they begin life as the same mixture, will eventually begin to taste and behave a bit differently from each other. Some properties come out stronger in a warm environment, and other in a cold environment.
This isn’t a problem but it does mean that switching between the two environment all the time will give your sourdough starter an identity complex! Pick one – fridge or counter – a do that one. Or split your starter to create two – one counter, one fridge.
What is The Secret to Sourdough?
The secret to sourdough is easier than you might guess, and that’s to KEEP IT SIMPLE!
Sometimes, you read directions for sourdough baking that includes terms like autolyse and boule, and are told we MUST use a scale to measure ingredients, and we MUST use a specific flour.
The worst are the instructions that have you messing with your dough every hour for 24-48 hours – no one has time for that!
Remember, to keep it simple. This is bread, not brain surgery.
My pioneer grandmothers were mixing their sourdough in the morning, culturing it on the back of a dusty wagon all day, and baking it over open flame at night. They didn’t have time for nonsense, and neither do you.
The secret to sourdough bread is flour, starter, salt, and water. That’s it.
Don’t overthink it.
Why Did my Cinnamon Rolls Turn Out Hard? Why are My Cinnamon Rolls Not Soft?
The secret ingredient I use in every sourdough cinnamon roll or pull apart bread is cooked sweet potato. The soft, starchy texture of the sweet potato keeps the roll dough from drying out, which can be a problem with sourdough.
In a pinch, cooked white potato will work, too.
In general, sourdough bread products end up hard/dense because:
-
- Too much flour was added to the dough in the initial mix. The moisture from the liquids continues to absorb as the dough cultures, especially with whole grain flours. Don’t be tempted to add more flour – trust the process! Dehydrated dough is the number one cause of a crust that will cut up your mouth!
- The dough is left uncovered as it cultures and/or rises. Humidity is key for successful culturing and rising.
- If the crust of your already baked bread is getting hard, store the loaf in plastic bags or lidded storage containers to soften the crust.
–>>Pin This Article for Later<<–
Leave a Reply