If you want a dinner roll that is the perfect roll for any meal, make these tender melt-in-your-mouth Honey Rolls with Cinnamon Honey Butter!  These rolls have a perfect touch of honey in them and the Cinnamon Honey Butter takes 5 minutes to make and it’s over-the-top delicious on these soft honey rolls!!

Honey Rolls.

Most dinner roll recipes start out with the same basic ingredients…yeast, flour, salt, sugar, water, butter, and milk.  Once you have a basic recipe, you will realize just how versatile it is.  Change it up to satisfy your specific craving or need for a specific meal. 

I am a huge fan of the Honey rolls with Cinnamon Honey butter served at our local restaurant, Texas Roadhouse, and wanted to make my own version of the rolls   For this recipe, I used one of my favorite dinner roll recipes from my old Fleishmann’s yeast cookbook and replaced the sugar with honey along with a couple of other tweaks..  Then I whipped up the all too easy 5- minute Cinnamon Honey butter to serve with them.

The Cinnamon Honey butter is excellent.  I only wish I would have doubled the recipe.  I honestly think my husband Don & I were competing on how much Cinnamon Honey butter we could eat on each roll.  You’ll see what I mean when you taste it.

Many people feel very intimidated when it comes to the idea of making anything with yeast, but honestly, it’s not hard at all.  Once you experiment with yeast you’ll realize it’s not that hard and you’ll be doing it again.  You’ll also realize how you can take one yeast bread recipe and make it into so many different varieties of bread.

I usually don’t dive so in-depth with most recipes, but I do with some yeast recipes for the benefit of those who haven’t baked with yeast.  Therefore, I’m going to illustrate each step of how I made these rolls.  Feel free to skip over them and go straight to the recipe if you prefer.

Here’s how I made these easy honey rolls…

Step 1

I heated some milk and softened butter in the microwave just until hot enough to melt the butter.  I set it aside to cool while making the yeast mixture.

Step 2

Blooming or proofing the yeast. This step helps to check your yeast to make sure it’s still good, before going any further with your recipe. Today, many bakers skip this step due to modern yeast packaging techniques, but I still like to do it if my yeast has been on the shelf for a while and it’s a very simple step. 

I simply added a packet of instant yeast and 1 teaspoon of honey to a small amount of very warm water.  The best temperature is between 105 and 110 degrees.  Very warm but not hot to the touch.  If the water is too hot it will kill the yeast.  Honey or sugar helps jumpstart the yeast by feeding it.  The yeast eats the sugar or honey and produces carbon dioxide which makes the dough rise. 

Once I added the yeast and honey to very warm water I allowed it to set for about 5 minutes.  This is plenty of time to test it.  If the yeast is still active and alive, it will start to foam and bubble up after 5 minutes.

Step 3

Once I allowed the yeast to proof, I added the yeast, milk/butter, salt, 1 egg, and 1 cup of flour to the bowl of a stand mixer.  I mixed the mixture until well combined.  You can start with the paddle attachment, but you need to switch to the dough hook once you add more flour.

I added 2 cups of flour and mixed to combine, followed by 1/2 cup of flour.  You can stop adding flour, once the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl and is very elastic but not overly sticky.  I did not have to use the last 1/2 cup of flour in the recipe here.  Once I used 3 1/2 cups of flour, the dough was ready.

Step 4

First rise…  I transferred the dough to a lightly floured work surface.  I formed it into a round ball.  Then I placed it in a greased bowl, turning it once to grease both sides.  I covered it with a towel and placed it in a warm oven until the dough was almost doubled in size.

Step 5

I punched down the dough and tuned it onto a well floured work surface. Then I rolled it out into a circle with a thickness of about 1/2 inch.

Step 6

I used a 2 x 3-inch rectangle cookie cutter to cut the dough.  You can also use a bench scraper, pizza cutter, etc…  Once I cut the dough into rectangles, I could’ve placed them on a cookie sheet and baked them in that form, and you can too.  However, for a rounded top, I grabbed the edge of the dough on each short end and brought them together on the bottom and pinched the two edges together.

Step 7

I placed the rolls on a cookie sheet, covered them with a towel and allowed them to rise for about 15 minutes while preheating my oven.  Then I baked them and brushed the tops with melted butter.

Cinnamon Honey Butter.

While the rolls were baking, I whipped up the Cinnamon Honey butter which took 5 minutes.  A combo of butter, honey, cinnamon, and a bit of powdered sugar.

Honey rolls.

Don’t feel intimidated by my illustrated steps.  They’re there to help, not intimidate!!  There are a few steps but they really are easy!!!  Make these delicious Honey Rolls with Cinnamon Honey Butter.  You’ll be SO glad you did.

If you make this recipe please rate it, and leave a comment below on how you liked it. I love hearing from you! 🙂

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Honey Rolls with Cinnamon Honey Butter

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  • Author: Cindy Gibbs @ My Country Table
  • Prep Time: 3 hours
  • Cook Time: 14 minutes
  • Total Time: 3 hours 14 minutes
  • Yield: 12 rolls 1x
  • Category: Breads
  • Method: Bake
  • Cuisine: American

Description

These tender rolls have the perfect touch of honey in them and the cinnamon honey butter takes 5 minutes to make.  The two greatly complement each other and you’ll be wishing you made a double batch!   


Ingredients

Units Scale

ROLLS

  • 1 cup milk
  • 2 tablespoons butter, softened
  • 1/4 cup warm water, 100 to 110 degrees
  • 1 teaspoon honey
  • 1 packet active dry yeast, 2 1/4 teaspoons
  • 2 tablespoons honey
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 large egg, room temperature
  • 3 1/2 to 4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting work surface
  • Melted butter for brushing tops

CINNAMON HONEY BUTTER

  • 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
  • 2 tablespoons honey
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 tablespoon powdered sugar


Instructions

ROLLS

Preheat oven to 160 degrees and turn off.

  1. Add the milk and butter to a measuring cup or small microwavable bowl and heat until it’s just hot to the touch.  It only need to get hot enough to melt the butter.  It should not be bubbling hot.  Set it aside to cool while preparing the other ingredients.
  2. Add the honey and yeast to the warm water.  Using the back of a spoon, slightly press the floating yeast granules under the water to get them wet.  Allow the yeast mixture to sit for 5 minutes.
  3. Add the yeast mixture, honey, salt, egg, and 1 cup of the flour to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.  Mix for about 1 minute untl well combined.  Replace the paddle attachment with the dough hook.
  4. Add 1 more cup of flour, while mixing on medium speed until the flour is almost incorporated.  You should still see a few flecks of dry flour.  Add 1 more cup of flour and mix on medium speed just until incorporated, stopping and scraping down the sides of the bowl.  Add 1/2 cup of the remaining flour.  Mix until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.  If the dough is still very sticky and doesn’t pull away from the sides of the bowl, add the last 1/2 cup of flour and mix until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.  Continue mixing for about 1 to 2 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic.
  5. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface.  Dust the dough lightly with flour and form it into a ball, using floured hands.
  6. Grease a large mixing bowl.  Place the ball of dough in the bowl.  Turn the ball over once so as to grease both the top and bottom.  Cover the bowl with a towel.  Place the bowl in the warm turned off oven.  Leave the door slightly ajar.  Leave the dough in the warm oven until it is almost doubled in size.  This usually takes at least 1 hour.
  7. Turn the dough out onto a well floured work surface.  Using a rolling pin, roll the dough to 1/2 inch in thickness.  Use a bench scraper or a 2 x 3 inch cookie cutter, cut out 2 x 3 inch rectangles of dough.  At this point, you can place the rectangles of dough on a greased cookie sheet or if you want the rolls to be rounded on top, do the following:  Fold the short edges of the rectangle under, pulling the dough to meet in the middle and pinch the two edges together.
  8. Cover rolls with a towel and place cookie sheet back in oven for 15 minutes.  Remove from oven and set aside.  Leave covered.
  9. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  10. Place the pan of rolls in the preheated oven and bake until the rolls are a medium golden brown, 11-14 minutes, depending on your oven.  Remove from oven and brush the tops with melted butter.
  11. Serve rolls warm with Cinnamon Honey Butter.
  12. Rolls are best the day they’re made, but will taste good the next day when reheated.  To reheat, wrap rolls securely in a paper towel and warm for a few seconds in a microwave.

CINNAMON HONEY BUTTER

  1. Add the butter, cinnamon, honey, and powdered sugar to a small bowl and mix together with a fork.  Using a wooden spoon, mix the butter until it’s light and creamy.  Serve at room temperature.  Refrigerate if not using within 1 day.