Make Sure To Add A Mashed Potato To Your Homemade Cinnamon Rolls
Gooey, fluffy, and full of sweet and cinnamon deliciousness, there's nothing quite like starting your day off with a freshly made cinnamon roll. And while you can grab one to go with your coffee, or take advantage of one of those canned pre-made rolls from the supermarket, they really can't compare with a made from scratch cinnamon roll. Plus the smells that fill your house as those cinnamon rolls bake is just divine.
The classic recipe contains just a few ingredients, like cinnamon, sugar, butter mixture, and a simple yeasted dough. You can also add all kinds of ingredients and toppings to customize your cinnamon roll to your taste: try adding a fruity twist by using your favorite raspberry jam to make Raspberry Cinnamon Rolls, some red velvet cake mix for easy and decadent Red Velvet Cinnamon Rolls, or even swapping out butter, eggs, and milk with vegan butter and oat milk to make Vegan Cinnamon Rolls. And no matter what kind of cinnamon rolls you're making, there's one extra ingredient you should be adding to your recipe: mashed potatoes.
Mashed potatoes will improve the texture of cinnamon rolls
As delicious as cinnamon rolls are, sometimes they can be a little too dense, and difficult to eat. This is where the mashed potatoes come in. As Martha Stewart noted on an Instagram post, adding mashed potatoes will lead to the "lightest, fluffiest cinnamon rolls ever." A writer for Insider tried out Martha Stewart's recipe by adding a mashed russet potato to a batch of cinnamon rolls and confirmed that the "cinnamon rolls, with no exaggeration, were some of the best [they've] ever had," adding that they were "light, airy," and "exceptionally moist."
According to Southern Living, the reason has to do with science and how potato starch affects baked goods — potato starch holds more water, prevents too much gluten from forming, and makes it more difficult for wheat starches to trap water, which leads to super moist, and light and airy breads and pastries that will stay soft for a longer period of time.
So the next time you're making mashed potatoes, be sure to make extra — not only are they perfect for your next batch of cinnamon rolls, there are so many great ways to use up leftover mashed potatoes. Even if you have to make the mashed potato from scratch, it's well worth the effort for the lightest, fluffiest, and moistest cinnamon rolls ever.