Who loves banoffee? If you're a fan of the caramel banana combo, these banana cinnamon rolls are for you! Super soft banana brioche dough with a dulce de leche caramel filling, topped with vanilla glaze and a brûlée banana slice. A sticky sweet banoffee brunch treat.
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Ingredients
For the Banana Brioche Dough
- Milk - full fat milk or whole milk. Using full fat is important to the super soft enriched dough in these rolls. The milk should be warmed to 104°F (40C) in order to activate the yeast.
- Dry active yeast - this recipe calls for one sachet, which is conventionally about 2¼ teaspoon or 7g.
- Flour - all purpose or plain flour.
- Bread flour - using a bit of strong white bread flour will help the gluten in the recipe and improve the quality of the dough.
- Egg - large egg, ideally at room temperature.
- Banana - a medium sized, fresh ripe banana. You're looking for a banana of similar ripeness to one you would use for banana bread - something easily mashable.
- Sugar - just a teaspoon of granulated or caster sugar to help activate your yeast.
- Brown sugar - light brown sugar, sometimes called muscovado. Measurements are firmly packed in the cups.
- Cinnamon
- Ginger
- Nutmeg
- Salt
- Butter - unsalted butter, softened at room temperature. Cut the butter into small chunks - about ½" cubes. This will enable you to add it more evenly when the time comes!
For the Filling
The filling for these sticky banana cinnamon rolls is simply two ingredients:
- Dulce de leche - or any caramel. You can buy canned caramel, such as Carnation, or make your own. I discuss the classic water bath baking method for turning sweetened evaporated milk into dulce de leche in my recipe for Banoffee Blondies.
- Ground cinnamon - it wouldn't be a cinnamon roll without a good dose of ground cinnamon!
How to Make Banana Brioche Dough
This recipe follows a very similar process to my other overnight Brioche Cinnamon Rolls.
You'll want to start with sprinkling your yeast over your warmed milk. Add a teaspoon of sugar, stir together and set aside for about 10 minutes until foamy.
Meanwhile, place the flours, brown sugar and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Give this a stir.
When the yeast is ready, add this to the flour, immediately followed by the egg and the ripe banana. Tip: there's no need to mash the banana first - this should be soft and ripe enough that the dough hook will take care of breaking it down as the machine kneads the dough. Just break off pieces and add to the flour. If you're worried that your banana is a bit on the stiff side, you can mash this first before adding.
Knead the dough on a low setting for 15 minutes until it is beginning to pull itself away from the sides of the bowl. Like my other brioche doughs, this will be a sticky dough and most likely won't pull itself completely clean.
While you continue kneading, add the softened butter in bits, about a tablespoon at a time. Once this is all added to the dough, keep kneading for a further 15 minutes until it is again pulling itself from the sides of the bowl.
Scrape into a greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight to proof (or about 8 hours).
Rolling and the Second Proof
After your dough has its first proof, remove this from the fridge and scrape out onto a well floured work surface. Press the dough into a rough rectangle and then roll out to be about 12" wide by 15" long.
Tip: I always recommend these measurements, but they're just a guide. The width shouldn't much exceed 12" as this is will become the log that you will divide into 9 rolls. The longer you are able to roll the dough the more layers you will have in your roll. Don't roll too thin - avoid rolling thinner than ¼".
Spread the caramel in a layer over the surface of the dough and sprinkle with the ground cinnamon. Then roll up from the bottom to the top.
Using flavorless dental floss or a thin kitchen string/wire trim the ends of the dough log (about an inch or two) to remove uneven bits. Then divide into 9 rolls. Place these in a parchment lined square baking tray and cover with a clean kitchen towel. Proof at room temperature for 2 hours, until doubled in size.
Baking and Topping
When nearly done the second proof, preheat your oven to 350°F (175C/155C Fan). I also like to make a quick egg wash - beat an egg with a dash of milk and brush over the proofed rolls. This is entirely optional, but will give a more glossy finish.
Bake the rolls in the centre of the preheated oven for about 30 minutes - until risen and golden. Tip: the caramel filling will make these a stickier bun than some of my other cinnamon rolls and they'll need a little extra time in oven as a result.
Once baked, remove from the oven and allow to cool for about 10 minutes while you prepare your topping.
Vanilla Glaze and Brûlée Banana
For these topping you'll need:
- Powdered sugar - or icing sugar.
- Milk
- Vanilla extract
- Banana - a fresh banana, sliced. This doesn't need to be as ripe as the banana in the dough and in fact would be best if its still a bit firm to hold its shape during the brûlée process.
- Sugar - you can use either a bit of granulated sugar or brown sugar here.
Simply whisk together the powdered sugar, milk and vanilla to form your frosting. This will be drizzled over the rolls.
Sprinkle the slices of banana with your sugar. Then, using the broil (grill) function in your oven, broil the sugar until this begins to melt down, crystalize and darken into a burnt top - like the topping of a creme brûlée. Tip: you can also achieve the same with a kitchen torch if you have one available.
When the rolls have cooled for about 10 minutes, drizzle the frosting over and top with your brûlée banana pieces.
FAQs
Yes! This is a recipe for a banana and caramel cinnamon roll. The dough itself is a banana brioche, using a fresh ripe banana in the brioche bread dough.
These banana and caramel cinnamon rolls are best eaten fresh. They are a sticky cinnamon roll with the dulce de leche filling. This means that as they cool they will shrink back on themselves more than some of the other rolls and risk developing a bit of a soggy bottom.
That said, I've certainly eaten these leftover - a day or two after baking. To preserve as much freshness as possible, wrap in plastic wrap once cool.
Well in this recipe, I use a simple vanilla frosting and some brûlée bananas. This recipe would also work well with a cream cheese frosting, like my maple cream cheese cinnamon roll glaze used for my Blueberry Cinnamon Rolls.
Looking for more banana treats?
- Banana Pound Cake
- Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
- Banana Ganache Muffins
- Classic Large Batch Banana Bread
Banana Cinnamon Rolls with Caramel
Equipment
- 8" square baking tray
Ingredients
Ingredients for Banana Brioche Dough
- ¼ cup full fat milk or whole milk, warmed to 104°F (40C)
- 2¼ teaspoon dry active yeast
- 1 cup all purpose flour or plain flour
- ¾ cup strong white bread flour
- 1 teaspoon granulated sugar or caster sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 medium banana ripe
- 1 large egg + 1 egg for egg wash if using (see note)
- ½ cup unsalted butter softened at room temperature
Ingredients for Filling
- ½ cup dulce de leche or caramel (see note)
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
Ingredients for Topping
- ⅓ cup powdered sugar or icing sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon milk
- 1 medium banana
- 2 teaspoon granulated sugar or brown sugar
Instructions
Instructions for Making Banana Brioche Dough
- Begin by sprinkling the yeast and granulated sugar over the warmed milk. Stir and set aside for 10 minutes until it has developed a foam on top. (see note)
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with a dough hook, stir together the flour, bread flour, salt and brown sugar.
- Once the yeast is active and foamy, pour this into the flour, immediately followed by the egg and the ripe banana broken into bits. (see note)
- Knead on a low setting for about 15 minutes until the dough is beginning to pull itself away from the sides of the bowl.
- Next add your butter bit by bit (I cut roughly ½" cubes and dollop them in about a tablespoon at a time). Once all the butter is added, continue kneading for a further 15 minutes until the dough is again pulling itself from the sides of the bowl.
- Scrape into a greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Place in the refrigerator overnight (or for about 8 hours) for the slow first proof.
Instructions for Filling and Rolling
- When the dough has finished its first proof, remove from the refrigerator. Line an 8" square baking pan with parchment paper.
- Scrape the dough out of the bowl and place on a well floured work surface. Press into the shape of a rough rectangle and then roll out into a larger rectangle, about 12" wide by 15" long.
- Spread the caramel over the dough, leaving about a half inch gap around the edges. Then sprinkle with the ground cinnamon.
- Roll the dough from the bottom to the top to form a log.
- Using flavorless dental floss or a fine kitchen string/wire, trim the uneven ends and then divide the dough into 9 rolls. Place these rolls in the lined baking pan, cover with a clean kitchen towel and proof for another 2 hours at room temperature until doubled in size.
Instructions for Baking and Topping
- Near the end of the second proof, preheat your oven to 350°F (175C/155C Fan).
- Bake the rolls in the centre of your preheated oven for about 30 minutes until risen and golden.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes while you prepare your toppings.
- Slice your banana and sprinkle with sugar. Either use a kitchen torch or broil these until the sugar caramelises.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, vanilla extract and milk. Drizzle this over the rolls and finish with your brûlée banana slices.
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