These homemade cinnamon rolls are perfect for Christmas morning, Easter brunch or just because! This popular recipe is always a huge hit! These warm gooey cinnamon rolls drizzled with sweet icing will never last very long!
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Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Never dry! Always soft gooey cinnamon rolls!
- Perfect to filling to roll ratio!
- Goes amazing with a tall glass of Orange Julius!!!
Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
- Flour - All purpose flour, not bread flour.
- Butter - I used salted butter but unsalted butter works as well.
- Yeast - Instant yeast, rapid rise yeast and active dry yeast all work for this recipe as they are all the same thing.
- Milk - 2% or whole milk work best.
Couple Things You'll Need
Step by Step Instructions
- Measure the butter, salt, and sugar into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment not a dough hook. (You can make this in a large bowl with hand beaters as well.)
- In a small pot, over medium high heat, scald the 1 cup of milk.
- To scald milk, heat it until nearly boiling then remove from the heat.
- Pour the scalded milk over the contents of the mixing bowl.
- Allow to cool down to a warm but not hot temperature (a bit warmer than a baby’s bath water).
- In a small measuring cup dissolve 1 Tbs. active dry yeast and ½ teaspoon sugar in ⅓ cup warm water and let stand 5 minutes until foamy.
- Pour the foamy yeast mixture, 2 eggs, and 2 cups of flour into the mixing bowl with the warm milk mixture.
- Mix on low just to get everything mixed together, then beat at a medium high speed for 5 minutes. Don’t skimp on the time. You need to beat the batter for 5 minutes.
- Following 5 minutes of beating, add 1 ½ cups more flour and mix just until incorporated. Picture 12 is what your batter/dough should look like. This particular kind of roll is called a batter roll or batter bread. Meaning it is not going to come together in a ball like a typical yeast dough. It will be a very gooey, sticky dough.
- Remove the paddle attachment and cover the bowl with a clean kitchen towel.
- Let dough rise in a warm place until doubled. This should take an hour to an hour and a half.
- Gently punch down the dough with a wooden spoon, recover and allow to rise a 2nd time until doubled. This second rise in about half the time it took before.
- Prepare a 9×13 baking dish by spraying it with non-stick cooking spray and set it aside.
- Mix up the cinnamon sugar filling by beating melted butter, white sugar, and ground cinnamon together.
- Dump the risen dough onto a generously floured work surface. Gently knead the dough with a little flour just enough that it is not terribly sticky. Do not add a ton of flour. You really only need a bit. This dough should not toughen up and be a stiff dough like regular bread dough.
- Roll the cinnamon roll dough out with your rolling pin into roughly a 20 x 14 inch rectangle on a floured surface.
- Spread the cinnamon sugar filling across the rolled out dough and roll it up starting on a long side.
- Using a sharp knife or unflavored dental floss, slice the dough roll into inch thick slices.
- Place the slices in a greased 9×13 baking dish.
- Cover and let rise in a warm place for 30 minutes.
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees while they rise.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 25-35 minutes. The tops should be lightly golden brown and the center roll should be done.
- Allow to cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes before drizzling with icing.
- Make the icing while these bake by beating powdered sugar, vanilla extract and little milk together.
- Drizzle icing across warm rolls.
- Cool completely before storing in an airtight container or covering the baking pan with plastic wrap.
- You can store these at room temperature.
Recipe FAQs
How to freeze:
If you want to freeze your cinnamon rolls for later make sure they have cooled completely first. It's actually a good idea to put them in the fridge for a couple hours after they've cooled on your counter top just to make sure they are cooled through the center. If they are still warm condensation from the steam with create a blanket of ice crystals across the tops causing freezer burn and soggy cinnamon rolls when thawed. To thaw just place the pan of cinnamon rolls on your countertop and allow them to thaw.
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Cinnamon Rolls Recipe
These homemade cinnamon rolls are perfect for Christmas morning, Easter brunch or just because! This popular recipe is always a huge hit! These warm gooey cinnamon rolls drizzled with sweet icing will never last very long!
Ingredients
Roll Dough:
- ¼ Cup Butter
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- ¼ Cup Sugar
- 1 Cup Scalded Milk
- 1 Tbs. Active Dry Yeast
- ½ teaspoon Sugar
- ⅓ Cup Warm Water
- 2 Large Eggs
- 3 ½ Cups Flour divided
Cinnamon Filling:
- 1 Cup Melted Butter
- 2 Cups Sugar
- 2 Tbs. Ground Cinnamon
Icing:
- 2 Cups Powdered Sugar
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- Milk
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (you can make these with hand beaters, too) place the ¼ cup of butter, 1 teaspoon Salt, and ¼ cup of sugar.
- In a small saucepan, scald the 1 cup of milk. To scald milk, heat the milk over medium heat high to nearly boiling. Remove from the heat and pour over the contents of the mixing bowl.
- Allow to cool to a warm, but not hot temperature (a little warmer than a baby’s bath water). This takes 20-30 minutes.
- In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast and ½ teaspoon sugar in ⅓ cup warm water. Let stand until foamy. About 5 minutes.
- Pour the foamy yeast, 2 eggs, and 2 cups of the flour into the mixing bowl. Mix on low just until everything is mixed together. Then beat on medium high for 5 minutes. Don’t skimp on the time. You must beat it for 5 minutes.
- Add the remaining 1 ½ cups flour. Mix until incorporated. This is a batter dough so the dough is going to be sticky and gooey, it will not be a ball of dough. Refer to the pictures included in this recipes post to see what this should look like. Cover the dough and let rise until doubled. This will take an hour to an hour and a half.
- Punch down the dough, recover, and let rise a second time until doubled. This will only time ½ the time of the first rise.
- While the dough is rising for a second time, spray a 9×13 baking dish with non-stick cooking spray and mix up the cinnamon sugar filling.
- Dump the risen dough out onto a generously floured surface. Knead gently just enough so the dough is not sticky. This won’t take a lot of flour. Remember this is a soft dough and should not be a stiff ball of dough like bread dough would be.
- Roll out into a rectangle that is roughly 20×14 inches. Spread the cinnamon sugar filling over the top of the rolled out dough.
- Roll up the dough jelly roll style and slice into 1 ½ inch slices.
- Place the slices into the prepared baking dish. I can only fit 12 in my 9×13 pan so if you got more than 12 you will need an additional smaller pan. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and make the icing..
- Bake at 350 degrees for 25-35 minutes. The tops should be lightly browned and the center roll should be done. Cool about 15 minutes before drizzling with icing.
Cinnamon Sugar Filling:
- Melt the butter and mix the sugar and cinnamon into it. If you need to add a bit more sugar to it you can. The cinnamon sugar filling should not be spreadable not crumbly nor super runny.
Icing:
- Using a fork, mix together the powdered sugar, vanilla, and enough milk to bring to a drizzly consistency.
Notes
- Store at room temperature in an airtight container or cover the pan with plastic wrap.
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Jeff
Christmas morning tradition
L.S.
To die for! But I just love cinnamon rolls and these are very fantastic!