Okay, okay. I already have a perfectly good Sourdough Discard Cinnamon Rolls Recipe. It’s amazing and tasty and absolutely perfect.
But hear me out – what if – what if, I made it even better?
Impossible, you say. You can’t improve something that has already reached perfection.
Behold! Your favorite cinnamon rolls, now available in a small batch that you can make in your cast-iron skillet*. Rather than making enough rolls to feed an army, you only need to make enough to feed yourself (and maybe one or two family members if you’re generous).
An Indulgent Dessert
Seriously – they are amazing. The cream cheese frosting meshes beautifully with the hint of sourdough tang from the discard. The butter and sugar also melts into a fantastic caramel bottom that leaves you licking your fingers after you’ve finished the roll.
It makes for a great dessert (or breakfast if you’re feeling indulgent), and it takes a fraction of the time to make when compared to the original recipe. No need to roll and shape 24 rolls when you only have to do 6.
I love serving this sourdough discard cinnamon rolls on special occasions like birthdays and Christmas mornings. However, you can make these anytime you want to use up your sourdough discard.
Small Batch Skillet Sourdough Discard Cinnamon Rolls
Ingredients
Dough
- 150 Grams Water, Warm (2/3 Cups)
- 4.6 Grams Dry Active Yeast (1 1/2 Teaspoons)
- 56.5 Grams Sourdough Discard, Fed, Unfed, or Discard (1/4 Cup)
- 255 Grams All-Purpose Flour (2 Cups and 2 Tablespoons)
- 20 Grams White Granulated Sugar (1 1/2 Tablespoons)
- 3 Grams Salt (1/2 Teaspoon)
- 13 Grams Vegetable Oil or Melted Butter (1 Tablespoon)
Cinnamon Sugar Filling
- 75 Grams White Granulated Sugar (1/3 Cup and 1 1/2 Teaspoon)
- 4 Grams Ground Cinnamon (2 Teaspoons)
- 14 Grams Butter, Melted (1 Tablespoon)
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 56 Grams Cream Cheese (2 Ounces)
- 14.2 Grams Butter, Softened (2 Tablespoons)
- 1 Grams Vanilla Extract (1/4 Teaspoon)
- 130 Grams Powdered Confectioner's Sugar (1 Cups)
- .37 Grams Salt (A Pinch)
- 15 Grams Milk, To Taste (1 Tablespoon)
Instructions
Make the Dough
- In a small bowl, combine the warm water and the yeast. Stir and then let the yeast sit for 10 to 15 minutes until foamy.
- Add the sourdough starter and stir until well incorporated.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, and salt.
- Add the flour mixture and the vegetable oil to the yeast mixture. Knead until the dough becomes smooth. It will be slightly tacky to the touch, but not sticky. If sticky, add about 1 tablespoon of flour.
- Turn out the dough onto a lightly greased surface and shape into a round.
- Place round in a lightly greased container with a lid. Let dough rest until double in size, about 45 minutes to 1 hour depending on kitchen temperature.
Make the Filling and Shape
- In a small container, combine the cinnamon and sugar. Mix well and set aside.
- In a small container, melt the butter and set aside.
- Turn out the dough onto a lightly greased surface
- Roll out the dough into a rectangle. Brush the butter onto the rectangle. Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar over the dough.
- Starting at the shortest edge of the dough roll toward the opposite side.
- Use unflavored waxed floss or kitchen scissors to cut the dough into 6 pieces. Place on a lightly greased cast-iron skillet.
- Cover the rolls and let rise for 30 minutes to 45 minutes until puffy.
Bake and Frost
- Preheat the oven to 400° Fahrenheit (204° Celsius) and move oven rack to the lowest position.
- Bake the cinnamon rolls for 16 to 18 minutes. Let cool for 15 minutes in the pan and then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.
- In a mixing bowl, use an electric hand mixer to combine the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla extract.
- Mix in the powdered sugar and salt.
- A tablespoon at a time, slowly mix in the milk, until the frosting achieves your desired consistency.
- Frost the cinnamon rolls with the cream cheese frosting and enjoy!
Notes
Did You Try It?
I’m particularly proud of my small-batch skillet sourdough discard cinnamon rolls, and I love making it for my family. If you have suggestions for improvement, however, I’m all ears. Just give your feedback in the comment section below and leave a star rating. I can’t wait to make this recipe even better.
*As an Amazon associate, I provide affiliate links to products that I regularly use and enjoy. I receive a small commission on qualified purchases, but I’m not paid for my opinions. If I mention a product, it’s because I genuinely recommend it.
Making these for family for 3rd time. We absolutely love them.
Wonderful! I’m so happy you love them 🙂 Thank you so much for letting me know. Your feedback made my day.
I doubled the recipe to make jumbo rolls; I can attest to an overnight rise in the fridge; was incredible! Covered with a produce plastic bag and puffed some air into it, thank you for the best recipe!!
You’re most welcome! Thank you so much for your kind words and helpful feedback.
Easy to make and delicious
Thank you!
Can I put in fridge overnight?
Hey Lisa, I have not tried refrigerating this dough over night. It has quite a bit of yeast, so I can see a long proof in the fridge making them a bit too puffy. Additionally, these rolls rise a second time in a cast-iron skillet, and I’m not sure how well a cold skillet will affect the dough or the baking. However, if you really need to refrigerate this dough, I suggest cutting back the yeast by a bit, and then storing the dough in the fridge during the first rise. Then let the dough rest on the counter for 30 to 40 minutes until it reaches room temperature, and you can proceed with shaping as normal.
How are these best stored after being baked? Thank you. Also, these are delicious ????.
Hey Rachel, if you frosted your rolls, put them in an air tight container and keep them in the fridge (buttercream frosting and cream cheese frosting both need refrigeration). If you haven’t frosted them, an airtight container at room temperature works just fine. You can even freeze them without the frosting if you need to store them for longer.
Want to try these but only have instant rise yeast. Can I use in place of active yeast? Thanks
Elaine, instant yeast and dry active yeast can be used interchangeably. And you don’t need to wait the 10 minutes or so for the yeast to bubble and foam. Happy baking!
I have been trying to use my discard instead of throwing it away, so I made these today and they are SO GOOD! I can’t wait to try more of your recipes, thanks!!
Wonderful! Thank you so much and happy baking 🙂
I am thrilled to have found a small batch recipe since it’s just my husband and I.
My cream cheese frosting was lumpy because I used cream cheese out of the fridge as well as my milk. I ended up scraping the mixing bowl into a glass measuring cup and microwaving for less than 30 seconds and it came out so smooth after a couple stirs. Poured it over my rolls and it was perfect!
Also, how do you store left over rolls?
I’m so glad that you enjoyed these rolls! I love hearing about baking adventures. As far as storing goes, I recommend putting frosted rolls in an airtight container in the fridge since the frosting has cream cheese in them. If you haven’t frosted the rolls yet, you can keep the rolls in a Ziploc bag at room temperature and keep the frosting in the fridge.
Absolutely love this recipe! I actually use this recipe for the sourdough cinnamon rolls I sell at farmers markets (I just 10x the batch) everyone who has ever given feed back says they’re the best cinnamon rolls they’ve had. For those that I sell my starter and give sourdough lessons to, I always send them this link as well as other recipes iv tried from you!
Oh wow! That’s such high praise. Thank you so much.
These are fantastic. So moist and gooey! And look amazing in the cast iron pan so the in-laws were extra impressed!
Yay! I’m so glad you enjoyed them. Thank you for sharing.
These are in the oven right now and if they taste anything like they look or smell I’m sooooo excited ????
Planning to make this my every Sunday recipe to make something special with my toddler!
I’m so glad! Happy baking 🙂
I am embarrassed to add my question to the list of comments from seasoned bakers, however I am new to sourdough and this is my first attempt in using my discard. My question is- how do you combine dry and wet ingredients? in mixer with dough hook or in a bowl with spatula or food processor? Thanks in advance for your help
Hey no worries! I still consider myself a beginner even though I’ve learned quite a bit. I mix wet and dry ingredients a bit differently depending on the recipe. With quick breads, I use a spatula to avoid over mixing. With my large batch cinnamon roll recipe, I just toss them into the mixer with the dough hook. This smaller recipe is almost too small for my mixer to combine things properly so I knead it by hand.
Perfect portion for just my husband and I and I love using my skillet for everything! I didn’t use all of the frosting though so kept them in the fridge. Probably have them with toast or buns? Thanks for this recipe, its scrumptious!
Thank you so much for the positive feedback!
This was very easy to follow and mine turned out amazing! Great recipe!
Wonderful! I’m so glad. Thank you for sharing.
What kind of container do you use after it’s rolled out into a round to make it fit?
I personally prefer a cambro food storage container with a lid (it’s 6 quart one for big recipes), but just about any bowl that you can cover so the dough doesn’t dry out will work. You could even just use some plastic wrap over a mixing bowl – just whatever you have on hand.
What size skillet is best for this recipe? I live in a motor home and my skillet is small, about 7.5 inches at the bottom
Oh my goodness. I am so sorry that your comment got lost in the shuffle. I measured my skillet and it’s 8.5 inches at the bottom, so not much bigger than yours. It might be a tight squeeze, but I think this recipe might fight in your skillet.
Made these today and they were amazing! I added some semi-sweet chocolate chips ????
Oh chocolate chips sound fun! Thank you 🙂
After trying many, many cinnamon roll recipes….this is IT! So easy, no huge time commitment, and so fluffy and delicious!! This is my “go to” recipe now for cinnamon rolls!!! My family thanks you for these yummy bundles of joy!
Woohoo! Thank you for your kind words and positive feedback. I’m so happy you enjoy them.
Can you make this with active starter?
Yes you can! This recipe uses starter for flavor. Although an active starter won’t taste as sour as unfed discard, it will help your dough rise a little faster when used in conjunction with the yeast. If you plan to solely use starter, you’ll need a longer rise time for the dough to adequately double in volume.
Excited to try your recipe tomorrow! Could you please share what “grease” you use when you say “lightly greased “ Can I use butter or olive oil? Thank you so much
Oh sure! I prefer to use melted butter, but vegetable oil or light tasting olive oil works too. Whatever you need to keep things from sticking to your skillet.
I am making these now and as dumb as this sounds how wide and long should they be rolled out? I read over and over and did not see anything for that. They are doing the second raise now and then baking. Thank you.
Jan that is not a dumb question at all. I did not include an approximate size because honestly I am the worst person at rolling out dough. Some people like taller rolls and others prefer short squat rolls. I just kind of play around with it and eyeball the size. Next time I make rolls, I will measure it and let you know.
I’ve made this recipe twice now and they are so delicious! I experimented with the filling today and added some pecans and chocolate chips. I’m so excited to see how they taste! Great recipe ????
Oh pecans and chocolate chips sound luxurious. Thank you for sharing!
My dough is so sticky, it is frustrating. I used the small batch recipe. What am I doing wrong? I had a terrible time rolling out the dough and cutting it. Dough stuck to surface. Ready to quit.
Hey there Wendell, I’m sorry you’re having a hard time with my recipe. It’s possible that your sourdough discard is a bit runnier than mine (perhaps it hasn’t been fed for a while or your flour has a different protein content). If that’s the case, you can always add a tablespoon or two (or three) of flour until your dough no longer feels sticky. I’m also very liberal with spray butter. I hope your next baking session is a little less frustrating. Good luck!
Made the recipe. Light and fluffy! I made it in a smaller cast iron Le Cruset. I also cold proofed it in the fridge overnight. If I made it again, I’d add more cinnamon and spice. Lovely discard recipe!
Thank you so much for sharing!
Would the temperature and time change if using a regular round pan? I don’t have a cast iron at the moment.
Yes it would! Cast iron takes quite a bit more heat than regular pans. If you want to make cinnamon rolls on a baking sheet, check out how to bake my bigger batch of cinnamon rolls.
Making these for my second time this week. They are so delicious I saw somewhere that milk was added to the pan when baking. Does this make a difference? My first batch came out great was just wondering why some would add that and some wouldn’t! We plan to have these as our Christmas morning tradition! Thank you!
I’m so glad you enjoyed my recipe! I’m not sure where you would have seen milk being added to the pan – perhaps you are thinking of sweetened condensed milk? Sweetened condensed milk can turn into a caramel sauce when cooked right, turning the rolls into more of a sticky bun. I haven’t personally done this with my rolls, but I can see it being a tasty alternative to cream cheese frosting.
I made these yesterday. My cast iron skillet was too big for the rolls, my fault, otherwise the rolls were perfect!
Thanks for sharing!