I can’t even remember what initially inspired this idea. I vaguely recall watching something about cinnamon rolls on YouTube, writing down “cinnamon roll pie” on my to-bake list, not really giving it a second thought, then eventually re-exploring this idea 8 months later. When it came to conceptualizing this recipe, I knew I wanted to make the top lattice/crust situation out of cinnamon rolls. I figured if I made the filling similar to a cinnamon roll filling, I could just bake spirals of brioche on top of that, and the filling will sort of bubble up and cause the brioche top crust to basically become cinnamon rolls without me needing to actually assembly those. I borrowed the same idea as that “impossible cake”, which features flan and chocolate cake. How that cake works is that you pour chocolate cake batter down on a caramel layer first, then flan batter on top of that, and then when the two bake, the flan batter sinks to the bottom, and the chocolate cake rises to the top, since the chocolate cake batter is aerated and will rise as it bakes, while the flan batter will turn dense. In the case of this, the brioche dough will almost be submerged in this gooey brown sugar filling, but as the brioche bakes, it will rise above the gooey filling, which will spread between the crevices of the brioche coils. It’s a lot of physics, but trust me when I say it works.

I went with brioche dough specifically for this recipe because that is my go-to for cinnamon rolls. Brioche is a bread that is tender, soft, and buttery, almost like cake. Or as close to cake as bread can be. For the bottom crust of the pie, I debated on whether or not do do a short crust, but in the end, I went with more brioche dough, effectively making this entire recipe a giant cinnamon roll with more cinnamon rolls inside of it. My main reasons were that when I made the dough, there was plenty to be used for both the top garnish and to line the pie tin, so I figured, why not just kill two birds with one stone here? And since brioche uses plenty of butter in it anyways, while it’s not a conventional dough to use as a pie crust, it works similarly enough, since I am baking my filling directly inside of it, which makes it hard for the brioche, even when it’s rolled thinly, to dry out. My filling is fairly brown sugar heavy, and it uses a lot of butter, cream, and eggs to ensure it bakes gooey. I also used plenty of cinnamon(of course) and some miso paste, just for that fun salty kick. I would say that for the most part, this recipe was a bunch of happy coincidences that came together nicely! And of course, a cinnamon roll is not complete without a creamy icing situation, so I made that out of cream cheese, creme fraiche, and vanilla bean. This is a recipe that does take a long time, since making brioche from scratch, with it being an enriched yeasted dough, means you can expect at least 6 hours of just waiting around for the dough to rise properly. I recommend starting the dough when you wake up in the morning, so that by the time you’re done with your day, you can come back to it and it’ll be just the fun parts of assembling and baking the whole thing.

For the brioche dough:
1 packet active-dry yeast
1/4 cup lukewarm milk
a pinch of salt
1oz honey
2 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 stick unsalted butter, cubed and at room temperature

In a bowl, mix yeast, milk, salt, and sugar, and allow the mixture to sit at room temperature for 10 minutes. To that, add in the eggs, flour, and butter, mixing everything together for another 10-15 minutes – you want the dough to stay in one piece as you pull it away from a surface. Allow the dough to rest at room temperature for 1 hour. Then transfer the bowl to a slightly oiled boil, cover with cling wrap, and rest for another 2-4 hours in the refrigerator.

For the gooey filling:
1 1/2 cups dark brown sugar
1 stick unsalted butter, browned
3/4 cups heavy cream
2 eggs
2 tbsp white miso paste
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla bean paste

In a bowl, whisk everything together to form your pie filling.

For assembly:
Roll out the brioche dough on a floured surface to roughly 1/8-inch thickness. Cut out a disk large enough to cover a 9-inch pie tin. With the leftover rough, divide it into 8 even pieces, and roll each piece out into roughly 6-inch long “ropes”. Loosely coil each rope. Pour the gooey filling into your pie tin, then gently place each piece into the pie tin – it is important that your coils are not tightly wound, as you want space in the dough for the gooey filling to pool through so that the top crust essentially becomes cinnamon rolls on top of the pie. Allow the pie to sit at room temperature for another hour before baking at 375 degrees F for 55 minutes.

For the cream cheese frosting:
8oz cream cheese
2oz creme fraiche
2oz confectioner’s sugar
a pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla bean paste

In a bowl, mix everything together until smooth, creamy, and spreadable. While the pie is still warm, spread the frosting on top of it.