Cinnamon rolls have always been a favorite in our home. While I usually pick up the pre-made packs and use them as a weekend treat, times have changed recently as you all know meaning that I have more time on my hands but am making less trips to the grocery store. With these slower mornings and extra time at home, I’ve been doing a lot of baking. I’ve been trying my hand at creating homemade versions of products that I would normally pick up pre-made at the store. And truthfully, I’ve loved it. Not only have I realized how easy it is to make some of our favorite pre-made items from scratch but I’ve really connected with the kids while we cook together and spend time in the kitchen. We’re making at least 1-2 recipes a week at this point but the one that my littlest wants to make time and again is the easiest and best cinnamon roll recipe.
While I’ve always been the type of mom to pop the cinnamon roll tube and go along on my way, my littlest has been recently begging to make any type of bread. He’s mesmerized by the way the yeast makes it rise and he loves bragging to the whole family that without his help they would starve right now (he’s a little dramatic y’all). So when he recently declared that he wanted cinnamon rolls NOT out of a can, I simply shrugged, grabbed the ingredients out of the pantry and went to work creating the best cinnamon roll recipe that is leaps and bounds more delicious than anything you’ll get out of a can. This has become an instant family favorite in my home and they are so easy to make. Let me show you how.
- For the Bread Dough:
- 4 and ½ cups of flour
- ½ cup of sugar
- 1 pack of instant dry yeast
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 1 cup of milk
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon of olive oil
- ½ cup of butter (softened)
- For the Filling:
- ⅓ cup of butter (melted)
- 2 tablespoons of ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon of ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon of ground cloves
- ¾ cups of light brown sugar
- For the Icing:
- 6 ounces of cream cheese (softened)
- 1 stick of butter (8 tablespoons)
- 2 and ⅓ cups of powdered sugar
- 1 and ½ tablespoon of vanilla extract
- Mix together the flour, sugar, yeast and salt in a bowl and combine it well.
- In a second bowl, add the milk and butter and heat it until it begins to bubble but not boil.
- Pour the hot milk mixture into the flour mixture and combine.
- Add the eggs one at a time and continue to mix until a sticky dough forms.
- Use the break hook on your mixer (or knead by hand) to knead for five minutes or until dough is smooth and stretchy.
- Cover the dough in olive oil and place it in a bowl.
- Cover the bowl and allow the dough to rise for 90 to 120 minutes.
- Punch down the dough once it has doubled in size and place it on a floured counter top.
- Roll the dough out into a long rectangle.
- Spread the melted ⅓ cup of butter on the dough.
- Mix the cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and brown sugar together and sprinkle generously, covering the dough.
- Roll up the dough from the long side, using your fingers to pinch and keep the cinnamon mixture inside.
- Once the dough is rolled, cut it into 12 equal pieces.
- Place the pieces in a greased baking pan and allow them to rise for 30 minutes.
- Place the prepared cinnamon rolls in the oven on 350 degrees and cook for 25-30 minutes or until the tops are golden brown.
- While the cinnamon rolls are cooking, soften the cream cheese and remaining butter and cream it together.
- Add in the vanilla extract.
- Slowly mix in the powdered sugar.
- Once the cinnamon rolls are baked, pour the icing mixture over the top of the hot cinnamon rolls, allowing it to melt over the top.
- Serve immediately
I’m telling you, not only is this the best cinnamon roll recipe but it’s so easy to make! There is no need to proof your yeast and while you do have to allow them to rise, there is no need to hang around the kitchen while they do. To start, I added my flour, , sugar, yeast and salt to my mixing bowl and combined it well (again, no need to proof the yeast; just use instant yeast and pour it on in!).
Next, I added my cream cheese and butter to a bowl and heated them until they started to bubble (you can do this step on the stove or in the microwave and it’s important to note that you don’t want to boil the mixture, just get it very warm). Then I poured my hot mixture into my dry ingredients and loosely mixed it together. Next, I added my eggs one at a time and mixed them in well. Once I had a stick dough formed, I added my bread hook to my mixture and kneaded the dough for about five minutes, until it was smooth and stretchy. Then I simply coated it with olive oil, placed it in a covered bowl and allowed it to rise for 90 to 120 minutes. Once my dough had at least doubled in size, I added flour to my countertop and placed the prepared dough on it.
Now it was time to turn this standard dough recipe into the best cinnamon roll recipe. To do that, I rolled out my dough into a long rectangle that was about 1/4 of an inch thick.
I then spread my melted butter all over the prepared dough.
After quickly mixing together my spices and brown sugar, I covered the melted butter with the mixture, using all of the spices and making sure my dough was evenly covered.
Going from the long side, I rolled up my cinnamon rolls, pinching the sides and keeping all of the delicious filling in.
Finally, I cut my best cinnamon roll recipe into 12 equal pieces revealing the perfect spiral on the inside and placed them in a greased baking pan.
Into the oven at 350 degrees my cinnamon rolls went. I then baked them for 25-30 minutes. In truth, after 25 minutes, I used one minute increments until the tops were golden brown and I could see the cinnamon bubbling slightly. While my best cinnamon roll recipe was baking, I creamed together my cream cheese and butter. After adding in my vanilla extract, I mixed in my powdered sugar a little at a time until I had a slightly thick mixture. As soon as my cinnamon rolls came out of the oven, I poured the icing over the top of them while they were still hot and allowed it to melt and spread.
As soon as the icing had spread evenly over all of the cinnamon rolls, my delicious breakfast was ready to serve.
Let me tell you, these cinnamon rolls are big and delicious and filling and unless you’re serving a ton of people, you’ll have leftovers. But that’s OK because you can simply store them in an air-tight container in the refrigerator and heat each one up individually for 30 seconds to guarantee breakfast that everyone will love all week long!
I hope you and your family will not only love this best cinnamon roll recipe but also love coming together to cook, create and enjoy while we are all home during this unexpected time!
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