Cinnamon Rolls in a Popover Pan

This recipe was inspired by the Artisan Bread in 5 blog Cinnamon Roll Kulich recipe (scroll past the Kulich section), sans saffron, cut down to fit my single popover pan.

Makes 6.

Ingredients

• ¾ lb refrigerated brioche dough
• 1 T butter, melted and cooled
• ¼ c. brown sugar
• ½ T cinnamon
• pinch salt

Icing

• ¼ c. confectioner’s sugar
• 1 T cream
• sprinkles (optional)

Directions

1. Butter the pan.
2. Roll dough out into a rectangle ¼" thick.
3. Brush with butter.
4. Mix remaining (non-icing) ingredients and spread over the dough, using your hands to even it out.
5. Roll the dough up from the long side.
6. Cut carefully into six equal pieces using a bread knife or string and place in the popover pan.
7. Cover and let rise 1 ½ to 2 hours, or overnight in the refrigerator plus 45 minutes on the counter in the morning.
8. Preheat oven to 350°.
9. Bake 20–30 minutes.
10. Invert pan immediately (because of the melted sugar) onto a rack.
11. Mix sugar and cream for icing and ice. Optionally top with sprinkles.

Variants

Use a batch of variant brioche dough made with ¼ tsp. saffron per pound/loaf, added in with the wet ingredients.

When skipping the saffron, you can toss in some zest.

These are pretty much the same as their regular cinnamon rolls, so if you have a whole pound of brioche to use up, scale up the filling and make a couple more freeform rolls. For a quick rise, try their cinnamon twists (but reduce the time and/or temperature).

Another use for leftover brioche dough is knots: roll out dough into a rectangle, coat with some leftover pie or hamantaschen filling, or cinnamon sugar, fold like a letter, cut into thin strips, twist or knot up, let rise 45 minutes, and bake at 400° about 15 minutes until golden.