Recipe: Gaston’s Cinnamon Rolls

No one makes cinnamon rolls quite like Gaston.

To escape the hustle and bustle of Magic Kingdom, look no further than a pint of Lefou’s Brew and a ginormous cinnamon roll from Gaston’s Tavern. Located in New Fantasyland with a meet-and-greet, water fountains, and lots of AC, this stop can’t be missed.

Now, you can make Gaston’s famous cinnamon rolls at your home tavern with this recipe! If you learn better with videos, check out the video recipe in parts one and two along with Houser’s Review.

Gaston’s Cinnamon Rolls

Yields 4 servings

Ingredients:

Dough

• ½ cup & ¼ cup melted butter, divided

• 1 ½ cups milk

• 2 ½ cups & 4 cups flour, divided

• 2 packets instant yeast

• ½ cup granulated sugar

• 1 teaspoon salt

• ½ cup water

• 2 eggs

Filling

• 2 cups brown sugar

• 2 tablespoons cinnamon

• 2 sticks butter, softened 

Cream Cheese Frosting

• 1 block cream cheese (8 oz.)

• ¼ cup butter

• 2 cups confectioners’ sugar

• 3 tablespoons heavy cream

• ⅛ teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Butterscotch Topping

• ½ cup brown sugar

• ½ cup heavy cream

• ¼ cup butter

• ¼ teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Instructions:

Dough Instructions:

1. In a bowl, add butter to milk.

2. In another bowl, or stand mixer if you have it, add 2 ½ cups of flour, yeast, sugar, and salt.

3. Combine the butter-milk mixture with the dry ingredients.

4. Add water and eggs.

5. Mix until well combined.

6. Turn the mixer down to low and slowly add the remaining 4 cups of flour.

7. Switch out the paddle attachment on your stand mixer to the dough hook and let it go for around five minutes or knead by hand for 5 minutes until it resembles a usable dough.

8. In a separate bowl, sprinkle a little bit of flour on the bottom. Pour your dough mixture from your mixer bowl to get it well floured, then return it to the mixer bowl.

9. Cover and let rest for 15 minutes.

Filling Directions:

1. Add brown sugar, cinnamon, and softened butter to a bowl.

2. Mix together until smooth.

Cinnamon Roll Instructions:

1. Once the dough has risen, dump it onto a well-floured surface. Flour your rolling pan and hands a bit.

2. Roll it out into a rectangular shape.

3. Take the cinnamon-butter mixture and evenly spread it onto the dough.

4. Roll from one of the shorter ends to the other shorter end.

5. Preheat the oven to 375°F and spray a 13 x 9-inch pan with cooking spray.

6. Cut the dough roll into approximately 4 sections. You want them to be on the larger side! More like Pillsbury Grand Cinnamon Rolls than regular ones.

7. Let sit for 30 minutes to rise. 

8. Drizzle a little bit of melted butter over the rolls.

9. Put in the oven for 20 minutes.

10. After your cinnamon rolls have been baking for 20 minutes, grab some oven mitts and cover your pan with aluminum foil.

11. Let bake for another 10 minutes

Cream Cheese Frosting Directions: 

1. Add butter and cream cheese to a saucepan. Turn on medium heat

2. Mix until fully melted.

3. Remove from heat and add confectioners/powdered sugar.

4. Add salt and vanilla extract.

5. Stir until combined and set aside.

Butterscotch Topping Instructions:

1. In another saucepan, add brown sugar, heavy cream, and butter. Turn on medium heat.

2. Continuously stir for about 5 minutes.

3. Add salt and vanilla.

4. Remove from the heat and stir lightly.

5. Set aside.

Final Steps

1. Once the cinnamon rolls have baked those last 10 minutes, scoop one out.

2. Cover with your butterscotch topping. We poured directly from the saucepan until the roll was covered, but you can add as much as you’d like.

3. Drizzle some cream cheese frosting over it with a spoon and enjoy!

Review

This is SO GOOD. As someone who loves cinnamon rolls, this is definitely a recipe you should try. There are a lot of steps involved so you may need to tag team the recipe with another baker, but a 9.8/10 makes this one almost as great as Gaston.

This recipe was inspired by The Unofficial Disney Parks Cookbook