These cinnamon rolls have a surprise ingredient, potato, in the dough. It may sound surprising, but it makes the softest, gooiest, most delicious cinnamon roll you’ve ever had!

These potato dough cinnamon rolls are so soft and delicious. They make waking up something you will look forward to! They are great with vanilla frosting, maple glaze, cream cheese frosting and more.
They are the best breakfast or brunch treat you can ask for. You absolutely have to make a batch to find out for yourself!
It’s Cake Slice Bakers time again! For those of you who don’t remember, we are baking from Maida Heatter’s Cakes this year.
Each month Laura picks four recipes and we choose one of them to bake. There were some really fun sounding recipes this month, I would have loved to bake them all.
I ultimately chose these cinnamon buns though because I did not have the time or ingredients it would take to bake some of the others. I hope some of the other bakers went for it though, because I would love to see their pictures.
You will have to scroll down to see if they did. Fingers crossed!!

Back to my own bake. I have been interested in doing a potato dough for a while now, so I was really excited to try this. Maida is right, yeast LOVE potatoes.
They went crazy on the potato starch water I started them in and my first rise was huge. I was a little worried about my second rise, as they did not double.
I thought I might end up with dense rolls. A trip to the oven fixed them right up!
They were big and delicious by the time they came out. All in all, the dough was really easy to work with.
Getting the potatoes ready made it take a little longer than a plain yeast dough, but it really wasn’t difficult. The results were amazing, so the extra effort was well worth it!

I left my cinnamon rolls very lightly browned as I like a slightly doughy center on my cinnamon rolls. You are welcomed to give them a few more minutes if your prefer them to be completely cooked.
I just love having a little bit of a texture change as you get to the very center part! Especially when they are warm and extra gooey! YUM!

I tried my best to share these, but I still ended up eating more of them than I would like to admit. They are SOOOO good. I just couldn’t help myself.
I could definitely be easily talked into making another batch. Like really easily! What’s that? You want some? Done!

2016 Update: I’ve made these beauties a few more times in the last year. In fact I used them as the base for my Coffee and Cream Cinnamon Buns and they were a smashing success.
I have used maple extract instead of almond in the glaze and that was amazing. But my favorite was for Christmas this year.
We always invite our parents and siblings over for breakfast on Christmas morning. Little Dude loves to show off what he got and everyone loves to see a kid on Christmas morning.
So, I whipped up a batch of these and schmeared them in maple cream cheese frosting and OOOOOOOOH. EMMMMM. GEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
They will knock your socks off… and yes, I do say so myself! I wish I would have measured as I mixed the frosting, but I didn’t.
It was roughly a block of cream cheese, a few tablespoons of maple syrup, about a cup of powdered sugar and enough milk to make it a loose frosting. Spread that over some warm cinnamon buns and your life will be changed!
Mashed Potato Cinnamon Rolls

These cinnamon buns are mind blowing! The dough makes the softest, gooiest, most delicious cinnamon roll you’ve ever had!
Ingredients
Dough
- 1 cup mashed potatoes, plain with 1/4 cup of the cooking water reserved
- 1 cup milk
- 1/2 cup + 1 Tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 4 Tablespoons butter
- 2 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 1 large egg, beaten
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4-5 cups all purpose flour, plus more for rolling
Filling
- 2 Tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 2 Tablespoons butter, melted
Glaze
- 1 Tablespoon butter, softened
- 3/4-1 cup powdered sugar
- pinch of salt
- a few drops almond extract
- 2 Tablespoons cream
Instructions
- Start by getting your potatoes ready. I used one really large yukon gold potato. Peel it, cut it into cubes and boil it until it is soft. Pour 1/4 cup of that water into a small bowl or measuring cup to proof the yeast. Drain the rest of the water and return the potato cubes to the saucepan. Mash until smooth.
- Once water is about 110°F, add the tablespoon of sugar and the yeast. Set aside.
- Add the milk, butter, salt and 1/2 cup of sugar to the potatoes. Stir and warm over low heat until warmed through.
- Butter a large mixing bowl and set aside.
- Place the warm potato mixture in the bowl of your mixer. Stir in the egg, vanilla, and yeast mixture.
- Slowly add in the flour. You want to stop adding flour while the dough is still sticky, but it should at least come together into a dough. With the dough hook attachment, allow your mixer to “knead” the dough for about 5 minutes. Feel free to add a bit more flour if needed, but you don’t want to add any more than you have to. If you notice my picture of my dough hook, it was still a pretty loose dough when I was done.
- Turn the dough into the buttered bowl, be sure to scrape all that goodness off of the mixer bowl and hook. Cover and allow to rise to at least double its size, about an hour or an hour and a half.
- Punch down the dough and give it a couple of quick kneads to make sure it is deflated.
- Place on a lightly floured surface. Let rest for about 10 minutes, then roll into a 18″ square.
- Butter a 10x15x1-inch jelly roll pan. (I used my favorite bar pan)
- Brush the melted butter from the filling ingredients over the dough.
- In a small bowl, mix together the sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Sprinkle over dough. Sprinkle raisins if using.
- Roll dough into a log and cut into 12 equal pieces. Place on buttered baking dish. Cover loosely with a towel and let rise for another hour.
- Preheat oven to 375°F.
- Bake for 20 minutes, rotating the pan half way through. The tops should be a light golden brown.
- Let sit for about 5 minutes, then put together the glaze.
- In a small bowl, use your hand mixer to beat together the butter, powdered sugar, salt, vanilla, almond extract and cream until smooth. You want it to be a thick consistency, barely thin enough to pour.
- Drizzle glaze all over warm cinnamon rolls, then let cool. Maida suggests that they are better after a couple of hours, but it is hard not to have one warm from the oven!
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
12Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 375Total Fat: 9gSaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 4gCholesterol: 38mgSodium: 234mgCarbohydrates: 66gFiber: 6gSugar: 11gProtein: 7g
All nutritional information is estimated and will depend on the exact ingredients you use.

Debbie
Friday 20th of January 2017
Oh my, Carlee, where have you been hiding his recipe? I learned to cook with yeast before I learned to bake cakes and get a kick out of working with it. Cinnamon buns sound very similar to what we call Chelsea buns, which my lot love... What interests me though is potato dough! Have never heard of it before, but I now want to know more!
xx
Carlee
Sunday 22nd of January 2017
Ooooh my, Debbie! These are so good! It was my first time making a potato dough as well, the yeast love potato starch. Now I've done it a number of times. I am hoping to get potato rolls posted soon too. The potato makes for really soft and yummy bread!
Debra Needles
Saturday 7th of January 2017
Those look delish! Thanks for sharing with us at the Funtastic Friday linky party!
Carlee
Sunday 8th of January 2017
They really are, thank you!
Jessica Jarrell
Monday 2nd of January 2017
What an interesting idea! I've never thought to use potatoes in cinnamon rolls. I'm definitely going to have to try them! Now I wish I had some mashed potatoes on hand 😄
Carlee
Tuesday 3rd of January 2017
It's like a potato roll, only sweeter and cinnamonier (that's totally a thing!) They have been my favorite cinnamon rolls since the first time I tried them!
Unknown
Thursday 29th of December 2016
This looks and sounds to die for!!! :)
Carlee
Saturday 31st of December 2016
Thank you!
Sandy Sandmeyer
Thursday 24th of December 2015
Those cinnamon rolls look down right delicious. Thank you for sharing your recipe with us at the Over the Moon Link Party. Merry Christmas!
Carlee
Friday 25th of December 2015
Thank you, they were wonderful!