These homemade cinnamon rolls are so soft & gooey and baked to a golden brown perfection before being smothered in cream cheese frosting. I can’t imagine breakfast without them!
How to Make Cinnamon Roll Dough
These homemade cinnamon rolls can easily be whipped up in a stand mixer using a dough hook. Don’t panic if you don’t have a stand mixer though. You can easily use a combination of a hand mixer and your hands to make the dough instead.
The hand mixer will come in handy to combine the 2 cups of bread flour and yeast in with the milk mixture that’s been heated on the stove. When the dough comes together, it will be really sticky until you add in the remaining bread flour. I would recommend if you’re not using a stand mixer to start kneading the flour in with your hands at this point.
Add your vegetable oil to the bottom of the bowl and roll the dough around to coat it. Cover your bowl and let it rise. I always loosely cover my bowl with plastic wrap and then cover with a hand towel.
How to Make Homemade Cinnamon Rolls
- Prepare the dough either using a stand mixer or hand mixer. Cover the dough with a tea towel and let it rise until it’s doubled, about an hour.
- Have a well-floured counter prepared to turn the dough out on. Using your hands or a rolling pin, flatten the dough into a 20″ by 12″ rectangle.
- Smear softened butter all from edge to edge on the dough. Sprinkle the cinnamon and sugar all over the butter. Spread the cinnamon and sugar so it’s evenly distributed and gently press it down so it sticks to the butter.
- Roll the dough tightly from the 20″ side. Pinch the end of the dough into the dough that’s rolled up.
- Divide the dough in into 8 0r 12 even pieces. I just make a mark on the top of the rolled dough. Using a sharp knife or unflavored floss, cut the dough on the marks depending on how thick you want the cinnamon rolls to be. I did 8 of them.
- Place into a greased 11×7 pan if you’re making 8 cinnamon rolls or a 9×13 pan if you’re making 12 cinnamon rolls. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise for 30 minutes. Bake until the tops are golden brown.
How to Make Homemade Icing for Cinnamon Rolls
Everyone loves cream cheese icing on their cinnamon rolls, right? I either add my icing while the cinnamon rolls are hot or I put the cream cheese icing in the microwave for 30 seconds until it’s runny. Then I can just pour it on top of the cinnamon rolls and it’s the perfect glaze.
Begin making the icing by adding the softened cream cheese and butter into a bowl and beating until creamed. Add in the powdered sugar and vanilla and beat until incorporated. It’s that easy! Just be sure that the cream cheese is softened otherwise you’ll have clumps in your icing.
Want more breakfast rolls in your life?
- Strawberry Sweet Rolls
- Apple Walnut Cinnamon Rolls
- Peanut Butter and Nutella Rolls with Concord Grape Glaze
- Maple Bacon Overnight Cinnamon Rolls
Some of my favorite brunch recipes to serve with these cinnamon rolls:
Homemade Cinnamon Rolls
Ingredients
Dough
- 3 1/4 cups bread flour divided
- 1 package yeast 2 1/4 tsp.
- 1 cup milk
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 2 eggs lightly beaten
- 1 T. vegetable oil
Filling
- 1/2 cup butter softened
- 1 cup light brown sugar packed
- 2 T. ground cinnamon
Icing
- 4 oz. cream cheese softened
- 1/4 cup butter room temperature
- 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
- In a stand mixer bowl, add in 2 cups of flour and yeast. Stir to combine.
- In a medium saucepan, add in the milk, butter, sugar, and salt. Place over medium heat until the butter is melted and the sugar is dissolved. Don't let it come up to a boil. Let it cool to 11o - 115 degrees.
- Pour the milk mixture and eggs into the dry ingredients. Using the dough hook, place on 2 or the recommended setting for using the dough hook on your mixer.
- Once combined, add in 1 additional cup of bread flour and use the dough hook to bring it together. As soon as the flour is worked in and the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl, stop the mixer. If you're not paying attention, the dough will pass this stage and begin sticking to the sides again. If this happens, remove the dough from the bowl and hand knead in about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of flour that isn't included in the recipe ingredients.
- Add the vegetable oil to the bowl with the dough and roll the dough around until it's coated. Cover loosely with a plastic wrap and/or tea towel. Let it rise until the dough is doubled, about 1 hour. I set the bowl on the stovetop with the oven set to 245 degrees.
- Once the dough has doubled, turn it out onto a well-floured surface. Use the remaining 1/4 cup of flour to dust the surface.
- Using your hands or a rolling pin, roll the dough out into a 20"x12" rectangle.
- Add bits of butter all over the dough. Using your hands or an offset spatula, spread the butter evenly on the dough. Spread all the way to the edges.
- In a small bowl, add in the brown sugar and cinnamon. Stir to combine.
- Sprinkle the cinnamon and sugar on the butter. Using your hands, move the cinnamon and sugar to cover any bare spots and then push the cinnamon and sugar into the butter.
- Starting on the 20-inch side, roll the dough into a log. Pinch the dough along the log so it holds together when it's sliced. Push in both ends of the log also.
- Mark out where you'll want to cut the dough. I marked the log into 8 thick slices. Grab a long piece of floss and slide it underneath the log. Crisscross the floss and pull together to cut the rolls. You can also use a sharp knife, but I find that it pinches the dough.
- Place the rolls into a greased 7x11 pan. Cover with the tea towel and let rise for 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place the cinnamon rolls into the oven and bake for 30 - 40 minutes until the tops are golden brown and when you gently tug on the center rolls, it doesn't look doughy. While the cinnamon rolls are baking, make the frosting to put on the rolls while they're still hot.
- In a large bowl, add in the cream cheese and butter. Beat on medium with the hand mixer until creamy.
- Add in the powdered sugar and vanilla extract. Beat until the powdered sugar is incorporated and the icing is smooth.
- Frost the tops of the hot cinnamon rolls. You can add as much or as little as you would like. If you let the cinnamon rolls cool, you can also microwave the icing for 30 seconds and pour it on to the cinnamon rolls.
I’m wondering…. Is there anyway to make these ahead to bake at a later date?
You could bake them, let them cool, then freeze them. Thaw in the fridge overnight and heat in the oven if desired.
I simply love cinnamon rolls! These look amazing!