Easy Cinnamon Rolls Recipe

The most perfect made from scratch cinnamon rolls filled with a generous amount of brown sugar, cinnamon and butter, and topped with a decadent cream cheese frosting. 

Do you know what the best part of a cinnamon roll is?

The center bite.

It is hands down the softest, gooiest and sweetest part of the entire cinnamon roll. I firmly believe that anyone who disagrees, well, just isn’t a true cinnamon roll lover.

I am not much of a sweets-for-breakfast type of person.

But I find nothing wrong with a freshly baked cinnamon roll as a delicious breakfast treat.

After making cinnamon rolls for quite some time now, I have found through trial and error what works and what doesn’t work best for me for a successful turnout of this recipe.

To begin making these fabulous and decadent cinnamon rolls, place the cream cheese and butter on the counter to soften to room temperature.

In a bowl of a standing mixer, add warm milk, yeast and sugar. Give it a quick swirl with a spoon. Add the softened butter, eggs and salt. Using a dough hook attachment, turn the mixer on a low speed, just enough to gently combine ingredients.

Turn the mixer off and add three cups of flour on the slowest setting. This prevents the flour from flying out of the mixer.

Once the flour is fully incorporated into the rest of the ingredients, it is safe to turn the mixer up to a medium speed. The dough will soon form a ball and pull away from the sides of the mixing bowl. If it does not and the dough mixture still looks wet, add one half cup of flour. The dough should be tacky and pull off the hook easily but not be too sticky.

Approximately 4 total cups of flour will be the right amount for the dough.

Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, turning the dough over once so the oil lightly rubs off and coats all of the dough. Cover the dough with a towel and let the dough sit until it doubles in size. This process usually takes one hour.

After the dough has risen and doubled in size, removed dough from bowl and place onto a lightly floured work surface.

Roll out the dough into a 12 x 18 rectangular shape. It does not need to be perfect, but as close as you can.

This will help the rolls be uniform in size. (Alternatively, simply trim up the sides with a pizza cutter before adding the brown sugar and cinnamon mixture in the next step.)

Don’t try to roll the cinnamon roll dough out much more than a 12 x 18. Doing so will result in thin and dense cinnamon rolls.

Next, mix 1 cup of light brown sugar, 1/2 cup of melted butter and 2 tablespoons of cinnamon in a bowl. Spread brown sugar/cinnamon mixture out evenly across the dough, leaving about 1 inch free of mixture.

Leaving an inch of dough bare will allow the cinnamon roll to seal and not leak out the mixture as it cooks.

Use your fingers to press the mixture slightly into the dough. This will keep the brown sugar and cinnamon mixture from falling out of the rolls as you cut them and place them in your baking dish.

I have done this a few times before, and no matter how much you try to add the fallen cinnamon and brown sugar mixture back into the roll, it never quite works out like you would have hoped that it would.

After the brown sugar and cinnamon mixture is set, starting from one side of the dough length-wise (the 18 inch side), gently start rolling the dough as tight as you can from one side to the other. This will result in one long cinnamon roll log.

Cut the dough evenly into 12 rolls and place rolls into a lightly greased 9 x 13 pan. Cover with a bowl and let the dough rest for 20-30 minutes.

Bake at 325 degrees for 15-18 minutes, or until slightly golden brown.

As the rolls cook, prepare your icing mixture. Once the rolls come out of the oven, apply a thin layer of the cream cheese frosting across each roll. The frosting will seep into the crevices of cinnamon rolls, adding to their soft, gooey texture.

Once the rolls cool more, add the rest of the cream cheese frosting to the tops of each cinnamon roll.

Get the Recipe: Perfect Made From Scratch Cinnamon Rolls

5 from 1 rating

Print Pin Rate

Prep Time: 20 minutes mins

Servings: 12 cinnamon rolls

Ingredients

 

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Cinnamon Rolls

• 1 cup warm milk
• ⅓ cup granulated sugar
• 2 and 1/2 teaspoons instant dry yeast, or one packet
• 4 tablespoons softened butter
• 2 large eggs
• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt

Inside Filling

• 1 cup brown sugar, gently packed
• ½ cup softened butter
• 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon

Cream Cheese Icing

• 4 ounces softened cream cheese
• 4 tablespoons softened butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 and 1/2 cups powdered confectioner's sugar
• 1-2 tablespoons milk

Instructions

 

• Place cream cheese and butter on counter to soften to almost room temperature.
• In a bowl of a standing mixer, add warm milk, yeast and sugar. Mix gently with a spoon.
• Add softened butter, eggs and salt. Using a dough hook attachment, turn mixer on low speed, just enough to gently combine ingredients.
• Turn mixer off and add 3 cups of flour. Turn the mixer on the lowest speed. Once the flour is fully incorporated into the rest of the ingredients, turn the mixer up to a medium speed. The dough should form a ball and pull away from the sides of the mixing bowl. If it does not and the dough mixture still looks wet, add one half cup of flour. The dough should be tacky and pull off the hook easily but not be sticky.
• Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl and cover with a towel. Let the dough sit until it doubles in size. This process usually takes one hour. (This step will depend on the warmth of your home, humidity levels, and so on
• After the dough has risen and doubled in size, removed dough from bowl and place on a work surface. You can lightly flour the work surface if needed to prevent the dough from sticking to the counter, but I have found this unnecessary as the dough doesn't stick to my work counter. Roll out the dough into a 12 x 18 rectangular shape.
• After the dough has been rolled out into a 12 x 18 rectangle, let it sit as-is for about 20-30 minutes. Taking this extra step allows the dough to rise better and yields a lighter, flakier and bigger roll.
• Spread softened butter evenly across the dough from edge to edge.
• Add the cinnamon and brown sugar mixture agin from edge to edge. Use fingers to gently press the mixture slightly into the dough.
• Starting from one side of the dough, length-wise (the 18 inch side), gently start rolling the dough as tight as you can from one side to the other into an elongated long cinnamon roll log. Using a sharp knife, trim off the edges so you have a perfectly uniform cylinder.
• Cut the dough evenly into 12 (one-inch or slightly thicker) rolls. Place into a greased 9 x 13 pan. There should be room enough for the dough rolls not to touch. Give as much space as you can between each roll. This allows for the roll to expand and grow even further as it bakes.
• Place the baking dish in the oven and bake at 325 degrees for 15-18 minutes, or until slightly golden brown. (Ovens vary so your cooking time may be longer or shorter than mine.) As the rolls cook, prepare your icing mixture.
• To prepare the cream cheese icing, use a hand-held mixer and blend cream cheese and softened butter together until well incorporated on a low speed.
• Add milk, vanilla and powdered sugar. Mix on medium until all ingredients are smoothly mixed together.
• Remove from oven and allow to cool for 5-10 minutes. Once the rolls come out of the oven and cool down for 5-10 minutes, spread the cream cheese mixture generously across each roll.
• Store remaining cinnamon rolls in an air-tight container for up to two days.

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