These cinnamon rolls are soft, gooey and topped with an irresistible cream cheese frosting. They’re delicious on Christmas morning or any time of the year!
If you could only have one baked good for the rest of your life, what would it be? Mine would be cinnamon rolls. I mean, is there anything better than biting into the warm, gooey center of a cinnamon roll with melty cream cheese icing?
How to Make Cinnamon Rolls
The key ingredient in cinnamon rolls–besides cinnamon–is patience. I totally get it how frustratingly time consuming these can be, especially when there are so many steps and two rises required for these. But in the end, they’re always worth it!
Basic Ingredients
- All-purpose flour
- Active dry yeast
- Granulated sugar
- Butter (for dough, filling, and icing)
- Eggs
- Milk (for dough and icing)
- Salt
- Cinnamon (for dough and filling)
- Brown sugar (for filling)
- Powdered sugar (for icing)
- Vanilla extract (for icing)
- Cream cheese – softened at room temperature (for icing)
Making the Cinnamon Roll Dough
You’ll want to start by letting your yeast bloom in hot–not boiling–milk in the bowl of your stand mixer. The milk should be no hotter than 110 degrees. Then, you’ll add your sugar and wet ingredients, and gradually add in the flour.
For this process, you’ll want to use both your paddle attachment and the dough hook. Start out using the paddle, and then switch to the dough hook after you’ve begun adding flour and it becomes more difficult to mix. You’ll then knead with the dough hook for several minutes until the dough is smooth and tacky, but not sticky.
After kneading the dough, you’ll do a first rise in a covered bowl for about an hour, or until it has doubled in size.
I recommend allowing the rise to happen in a warm spot. If you live somewhere cold and/or your house is always freezing, I have a bit of an unorthodox tip: let your bowl rise on top of a heating pad set to its lowest heat setting. This worked like a charm for me when I made cinnamon rolls in my freezing house in Michigan!
Making the Filling & Forming the Rolls
roll out dough 
brush butter on dough 
top with cinnamon sugar
Once your dough has doubled in size, you’ll roll out your dough on a floured surface, until it’s about 18 x 12 inches. Next, you’ll spread room temperature butter across the dough, leaving a bit of space around the edges so the filling doesn’t leak out. Then you’ll top with a mixture of cinnamon-sugar, making sure to pat it down with your hands or with the back of a spoon so it sticks to the buttered dough.
To form the rolls, start by tightly rolling the dough length-wise into a long log. Cut them into 16-18 rolls by using a sharp knife or pulling flavorless floss (I prefer this for a cleaner cut) through the roll to make individual cuts. Then arrange in your lightly greased pans, evenly spaced apart. I baked mine close together in the photos below, but the pan was a bit too crowded!
before the second rise 
after the second rise
The last thing to do before baking is letting them rise a second time. This is a shorter rise–you’ll want to give them about 30 minutes in the baking dish covered in plastic wrap.
Baking & Frosting the Cinnamon Rolls
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees, and once your rolls have risen in the second proof, put them in the oven to bake for 18-20 minutes.
While the rolls are baking, prepare your icing. In your stand mixer, mix together your softened cream cheese and butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk. When the rolls are ready, spread the icing on top of the still-warm cinnamon rolls with a spatula.
My Favorite Homemade Cinnamon Rolls
Equipment
- Stand mixer
- Rolling Pin
- Flavorless floss
Ingredients
For the dough
- 1 cup warm milk whole or 2%
- 5 tbsp unsalted butter melted
- 2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast one packet
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar plus 1 TBSP
- 4 1/2 – 5 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
For the filling
- 5 tbsp unsalted butter room temperature
- 3/4 cup light brown sugar packed
- 3 tbsp cinnamon
For the frosting
- 1 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar
- 4 oz cream cheese softened
- 4 tbsp butter room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 tbsp milk
Instructions
To make the dough
- Warm milk in microwave for about 1 minute (should be about 100 degrees F.)
- Pour milk into a mixing bowl, then add in yeast and 1 TBSP sugar. Let sit for 5 minutes to allow the yeast to bloom.
- Add sugar, eggs, salt, cinnamon, and butter to your mixing bowl with the yeast, and mix on low speed until combined.
- Gradually add 4 1/2 cups flour to mixer. Once it starts to become difficult for the mixer to mix with the paddle, switch to dough hook.
- Knead dough on low speed with the dough hook for 3-4 minutes. The dough should become tacky, rather than sticky. If it’s still sticky, add additional flour, one tablespoon at a time.
- Gently form dough into a ball and place in a covered, lightly greased bowl. Let rise in a warm place for one hour, until dough has doubled in size.
To make the filling and form the rolls
- In a medium bowl, combine cinnamon and brown sugar.
- On a floured surface, roll out your dough. I rolled mine to about 18 x 12 inches.
- Spread room temperature butter on dough, leaving about 1/4 of an inch along the sides. If the butter is too difficult to spread, you may need to microwave it for a few seconds.
- Sprinkle your cinnamon sugar on your dough, then tightly roll your dough lengthwise.
- Cut into 18 rolls and place into two lightly greased 9 x 9 pans (or whatever size pans will fit them).
- Cover and let rise again for 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and once rolls have risen again, bake for 18-20 minutes.
To make the icing
- In the bowl of your stand mixer with the paddle attachment, combine cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla until smooth.
- When cinnamon rolls are done baking and still warm, spread cream cheese frosting on top. Enjoy!
