Mashed Potato Cinnamon Rolls

Perfectly fluffy rolls swirled with cinnamon, syrup, and sugar is the basic make-up of this mashed potato cinnamon rolls recipe. What you wouldn’t guess is that mash potatoes are what keeps these rolls light and airy. Then, when you top these cinnamon rolls with our sweet buttercream icing, it’s literally heaven!

This mashed potato cinnamon rolls recipe was handed down from my mother which I am sure she got from her amazing mother making these cinnamon rolls practically a family heirloom. We LOVE them and have literally fought over these rolls! Once my mom gave away a pan of these cinnamon rolls every month for a year in a Christmas gift exchange. It was the gift that everyone wanted that year! They are that good! Sadly, I didn’t win but lucky for you guys, I then vowed to conquer this recipe.

Mash Potato Cinnamon Rolls

Who knew, right? You can use mashed potatoes to make cinnamon rolls and they turn out divine! Leftover mash potatoes are more than fine but it’s best that they are not loaded with too many extra ingredients. Now that you found an awesome recipe for cinnamon rolls, you can think ahead like I do and simply save back a cup of mashed potatoes specifically for rolls when I am making mashed potatoes for dinner. Then I can add all the extras to my dinner side that I wouldn’t really want in my rolls!

How to make Cinnamon Rolls

The trick to making all rolls is the timeline of rising, rolling, and rising again. I always think I am going to mess it up but have learned that if you just keep an eye on your dough you really can’t go wrong. However, here’s what works for me. I used regular yeast here but you can use rapid-rise yeast. Make sure to adjust your timeline accordingly. I like to mix my dough up around 7:30-8 AM and then let it rise until right after lunch which is 12:30/1 PM. Then I roll it out and do the second proof until about 3:30 PM. Then it’s bake, cool, and devour!! Also, I like to rise my dough in the oven since we tend to keep a cooler house and have granite countertops. You can do it on a counter warmed by the sun if your house is warmer. Plus our oven has a bread-proof button that makes it really easy. It just keeps the oven at a yeast-friendly 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

Making the Dough to Cinnamon Rolls

1. Pour the package of yeast into a 1/2 cup of warm water, mix and set aside. Give the yeast a few minutes to come alive.
2. Now combine mashed potatoes, Crisco, salt, and hot water and mix well. Make sure your mashed potatoes are not clumpy but well mashed and the mashed potatoes also need to be at room temperature. For this to work, the Crisco needs to melt! If you are having a hard time doing this put mixture in the microwave and heat it 20 seconds at a time until the Crisco melts. Once it’s all thoroughly mixed, add sugar and eggs and blend well. Finally, add the yeast into the mixture.
3. Stir in half or more of the flour until the mixture is elastic-like. Scrape the bowl and add the rest of the flour. Stir until everything is just combined. Now put the dough in a large lightly greased bowl sprayed with cooking spray.
4. Next, put the dough in the oven on bread proof or a slightly warmed oven. You can achieve this by just turning on your oven light or preheating your oven to 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Let the dough rise until it has doubled in size. As a guide, rapid rise yeast can take 2-4 hours and regular active dry yeast can take 5-7 hours to rise.

Once you are getting close to rolling out our dough, let us make the cinnamon sugar goodness that we are going to use as the filling to these rolls. Whisk to combine your melted butter and syrup. In a separate bowl, mix your cinnamon and sugar. Set aside both bowls.

Rolling Out Cinnamon Rolls

1. After the dough has doubled in size or risen, sprinkle a bit of flour in a 9-inch circle on the counter and dump out the dough on top. Roll it out into a large rectangle where the dough is about ½ inch thick in height.
2. With a pastry brush spread the butter mixture all over the rolled-out cinnamon roll dough, edge to edge. Then evenly sprinkle the entire cinnamon-sugar mixture on top.
3. Next, roll the dough up starting with the longest side and working from the bottom up. Try to keep the roll tight without squeezing the butter and sugar out. You might have to lift, pull and roll the dough all at the same time.
4. Taking a pizza cutter cut the roll into one-inch thick slices. Put each cinnamon roll into a lightly greased baking dish or pan keeping the rolls close together. I used one pie plate and one 9×13 inch baking dish.
5. Put the dishes back into the warmed oven and let rise for the final proof of 2-4 hours. Again, the cinnamon rolls should double in size before they are ready to bake.

Baking Cinnamon Rolls

After the second proof where your rolls have doubled in size yet again, it is time to bake. Take your rolls out of the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Bake the pans for 15-20 minutes. The tops of your cinnamon rolls should be a nice golden brown color.

• 

• 

Icing your Cinnamon Rolls

We LOVE a sweet and creamy buttercream to top off these cinnamon rolls. This Buttercream icing recipe is really the only option for us but there are other options too. You can use a simple glaze. I would recommend one of powdered sugar and milk. These mashed potato cinnamon rolls are also great if you eat them plain, warmed a bit, and with a little butter on the side. As always, you can’t go wrong so sit back, relax, and enjoy these amazing rolls you just created!