Cinnamon Bun Twists

August 14, 2021 Erin

These Cinnamon Bun Twists are made with a small batch brioche recipe and do not need a mixer! These braided cinnamon buns are easy to make and have a soft dough and an easy cinnamon bun filling. They are made in a muffin pan for perfectly shaped cinnamon twists!

Cinnamon Twists

Hi hi! Just popping in to share the recipe for these Cinnamon Bun Twists with you! When I was working on my small batch no mixer brioche recipe, I wanted to try making a few thing with it to put it through its paces. There are still some small batch cinnamon rolls and doughnuts coming your way. However I wanted to see if it could hold up to being made into a twisty cinnamon bun and I am happy to report that it certainly can! These Cinnamon Bun Twists are much easier to make than they look. They are super soft and filled with a simple cinnamon bun filling. I finished them just with some powdered sugar, but you could also add some Swedish Pearl Sugar to them too if you like!

How to make Cinnamon Bun Twists

These Cinnamon Twist Buns have a few steps to them, but they are super easy to do.

Make the dough. These twisted cinnamon buns are made with my small batch brioche recipe. You can either make this in a mixer, or you can do it by hand. The first rise is done in the fridge to help make the dough easier to roll out.
Roll the dough out and spread with the filling. Fold the dough up into thirds (see video demonstrating this)
Cut the dough into strips - you should get 8 strips from the dough, one for each bun. Chill the strips down.
Braid the buns. There is a better explanation of this further down the post. It's super simple but they look so, so good. I recommend starting with the wonkiest strip first just so you can use one to practice.
Give the buns a second rise, then brush with egg wash and bake. This recipe is baked at 375°f / 190°c, a slightly higher temperature than other recipes, as the buns are only small.
Finish with powdered sugar. You could add a sugar syrup here too if you wanted, or a glaze, but I love them plain.

No Mixer Small Batch Brioche

These buns use my small batch brioche. You can use a mixer for this if you like, but I wanted to develop a recipe for a brioche that can be made by hand. Not everyone has a mixer, and sometimes it's fun to do by hand too. I think that making bread by hand really gives you a good idea of how the dough is meant to look. It will get sloppy when you add the butter in but don't worry - it will come together.

Combine dry ingredients - This brioche is pretty standard when it comes to ingredients. All-purpose flour, instant yeast, sugar, salt.
Add wet ingredients - One egg, lightly beaten, and some milk goes in. The butter is incorporated later.
Bring together - You want to develop some strength in the dough here. This kneading process will take about 8-10 minutes. Bring the dough together in your bowl then transfer to a work surface and work the dough until it is soft and smooth, and when you press lightly with your finger, the indentation springs back.
Add the butter - The butter is added to the dough. This step will get super sloppy. Don't worry though. It will come together. Keep kneading and mixing until it comes together. Then give a few more minutes of mixing just to ensure it is mixed in. You want it to bounce back nicely when you press with a finger.
Leave to rise - This dough for this purpose works best with a cold rise. I give it some time on the counter first to kick start the rise and then pop it into the fridge.

A plastic or metal bench scraper will be super helpful when you are incorporating the butter in. Just keep scraping up the excess butter and squishing it onto the dough. It will come together.

How to Twist Cinnamon Buns

The method for making these I got from Richard Bertinet, although I have seen it a few places before too. Basically you fold the dough up, cut strips, and braid them up. The braid then gets rolled up into a twisted cinnamon bun!

Cut the folded dough into strips, each about 4cm wide. Chill the strips for 15 minutes or so to help firm them up.
Cut the dough into three strips, leaving one end (about 1cm worth) intact
Braid the three strips until you have a single braid.
Starting with the intact end, roll the braid up into a ball.
Shape lightly if needed and then place in the muffin pan.

Tips to make dough ahead of time

There are a few ways that you can break up the workload when you are making brioche based things. The main one is to make your dough ahead of time. This Small Batch Brioche dough does well with an overnight cold rise. Rising the dough in the fridge slows down the rising process. This means you can leave it in the fridge until you are ready to bake it, rather than your schedule being dictated by when they dough is ready to be rolled out.

Working with cold dough is also significantly easier. Chilling the dough firms up the butter, making the dough a little firmer to work with but still pliable and easy to roll out. I find that starting with a cold dough means you can roll out dough much more evenly, and also get it thinner, making it easy to get the right sized rectangle of dough for making these cinnamon twisted buns.

This dough needs a minimum of 2 hours in the fridge to rise. Standing it on the counter to give it a little kick start helps a lot. I often make it a day ahead if I can. Ideally you do not want to leave it more than 24 hours in the fridge on the first rise, however I have left it longer before and it has been ok too.

How to roll out a nice even rectangle of dough

Rolling out a nice even rectangle of dough can be really tricky. I've been there. There are a few wee tricks though that can make it a little easier.

Shape your dough into a rough rectangle. The dough will probably have somewhat of a round shape from being in a bowl. This is fine if you want round dough. However, if you start with a rectangle you are more likely to have a more even rectangle of dough when you roll out. Squish the dough into a rectangle shape. I like to use a bench scraper to make the sides nice and straight.
Flatten your dough slightly with your rolling pin. If you start rolling straight away, the dough will roll out unevenly. Instead, flatten it lightly with your rolling pin. Press down on it a few times to flatten it, starting at the bottom and working your way up, then turn the dough 90 degrees and repeat the process again. What this does is gives you a larger flatter piece of dough to start rolling out, which is easier to keep an even thickness.
Square off your rectangle as you go. As you are rolling out, pause a few times to square off the edges of your dough. Again, I like to use a bench scraper for this. It is easier to stop a few times and see what is happening than roll out all in one go and then try and fix any unevenness.

How to get a clean cut on cinnamon buns

Chilling the dough down once it has been cut into strips will help you get a nice clean cut on your dough. This gives both the dough and the filling a chance to firm up a little. I use the fridge but you can also use the freezer for about 5 minutes if you're in a rush.

Make sure that you wipe the blade of your knife between cuts too if needed.

Doubling this recipe

This recipe can easily be doubled. When it comes to rolling out, you can go about this two ways. You can either divide the dough into two and roll out two rectangles, or you can double one dimension of the dough and roll yourself out a 64x36cm rectangle. You want to keep the other dimension the same. When it comes to folding if you have doubled the dough, fold from the long end so you end up with a folded rectangle that measures 12cmx64cm.

Can these buns be made with other fillings?

Yes, you can fill these with whatever you like. However - remember that they need a lot of twisting, so you don't want to go with anything too slippery. I tried testing these with Nutella and it was a huge mess. If you wanted to use a chocolate filling, I would recommend my espresso chocolate babka filling (a half batch should work well). Make sure you chill the strips in the fridge to let the filling set up.

If you don't want to use cardamom in the filling you can also just replace it with cinnamon. You could also spread the dough with some room temperature butter then sprinkle it with some sugar which has had lemon zest and vanilla rubbed into it. Just don't use Nutella. Trust me on this one.

FAQ for Cinnamon Twists

What tools and equipment do you use?

You can see a full list of all the tools I use here

Can this dough be made in the mixer?

Yep! Pop everything except for the butter into the mixer and mix for 10 min until the dough comes together and is smooth, then add butter and mix to incorporate then give it a further 5 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic.

Can this recipe be made all in one day?

Yes. Ideally you want to start with chilled dough when you roll it out though. So give the dough 20 min on the counter then transfer to the fridge for about 2 hours to give it a chance to rise.

Do I have to chill the dough in the fridge?

You don't have to but you need to roll out the dough quite thin before spreading with the filling. It's much much easier to do this with chilled dough. Skip that step if you want but you've been warned.

Can these be finished another way?

Yes! You can do whatever you like here. They would be delicious sprinkled with some Swedish pearl sugar before they go in the oven, or you could glaze them babka style with a sugar syrup as soon as they come out. I just used powdered sugar, but these would also be good with a simple icing.

For more Small Batch recipes, check out:

Made this recipe and love it?

If you made this recipe then I would LOVE for you to leave me a review below to let me know how you liked it! Also, please make sure to tag me on Instagram if you make it!

A note on salt and oven temperature

It is important to note the type of salt that is called for in a recipe. I use Diamond Crystal salt throughout my recipes - if you use a different sort of kosher salt or regular table salt you will need to adjust accordingly as some salt is 'saltier' than others. Morton's salt is twice as salty, so you will need half the quantity. Same goes for a regular table salt. I am working to get gram measurements throughout my recipes for salt but still getting there.

All oven temperatures are conventional unless otherwise stated. If you are baking on fan / convection, you will need to adjust the temperature. An oven thermometer is a great investment to ensure that your oven is the correct temperature.

Using the double / triple function in the recipe card

You will notice that there is a '1X' '2X' '3X' button in my recipe card. This can be used for doubling or tripling a recipe. However, please note that this only doubles the ingredient quantities in the ingredients list and NOT in the method. If there are quantities or pan sizes in the method of the recipe (for example weigh out 150g brown butter), you will need to scale this number manually. It will also not change the baking time in the recipe so you will need to adjust this yourself too. It is always a good idea to read through a recipe fully before doubling it just to check this. If you would like to scale this recipe or convert for another pan size, use my calculator!

Tools and equipment

For a list of my go-to tools and equipment, I have a post you can refer to here.

Why is this recipe in grams?

I post my recipes in grams as it is the most accurate way to bake. Cups are not only inaccurate but they vary in volume worldwide. There is no way for me to provide one cup measure that works for everyone. However, posting in weight fixes this issue. If you would like the recipe in cups you are welcome to convert it yourself via google, but please do not ask me to do it for you as I am not comfortable providing a recipe using a method that I have not tested. Baking with a scale is easy, accurate, and also makes cleanup super simple. Here is the scale that I use if you would like a recommendation! Here's to accurate baking!

Recipe For Cinnamon Bun Twists