I know it’s not quite Christmas yet, but the Holiday spirit is with me. It’s been snowing in Seattle and you must understand, it’s rare to have a white Christmas and even more rare to have a white Thanksgiving. Our Thanksgiving day included Christmas music playing on the radio, driving through snow covered streets, and eating warm fluffy cinnamon rolls. Watching my nieces, nephews, Abbi, Mimi, and Eli light up as they bit into a cinnamon roll just made me so happy I was reminded why I love baking for my family so much. It’s moments like seeing my daughter lick the frosting off of her roll with her finger and laughing with delight that brings me joy. A joy which comes not from being a food blogger, but being a mom, wife, sister, and aunt.
I make no apologies for liking my dough to be pillowy and sweet. The cream cheese icing I top them off with completes the cinnamon rolls in the most perfect way.
I know many of you will be hosting friends and family throughout the holiday season. Homemade cinnamon rolls are the perfect beginning or ending for any get together.
- 1 cup warm milk (115 degrees F)
- 1 egg (room temperature), slightly beaten
- ¼ cup butter, melted
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- ½ cup white sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 3½ cups flour plus more for dusting
- 1 (.25 ounce) package (2¼ tsp) instant dry yeast
- ½ cup (1 stick) butter melted
- ½ cup sugar
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons cinnamon
- Frosting:
- ½ cup butter, softened
- ¼ cup cream cheese, softened
- 1½ cups powdered sugar
- In a KitchenAid mixing bowl, add milk, egg, melted butter, oil, sugar, and salt. Add flour on top of all the liquid mixture sprinkling yeast on top. Using the dough hook, knead bread mixture on speed 3 until dough is smooth and elastic adding additional flour as needed (approx. 5-7 min.). Place dough in a greased bowl and cover with a wet towel. Allow the dough to rise until doubled in size, approximately 1 hour in a warm area. *Hint: I typically preheat my oven to 200 degrees while dough is kneading and turn the oven off when kneading is complete. From there, I stick my covered bowl into the oven and leave the oven door cracked open to allow the dough to rise.
- In a small bowl, combine sugar, brown sugar, and cinnamon – set aside. Turn dough onto lightly floured surface and roll into a rectangle slightly larger than a 9×13 pan (rectangle). Spread surface evenly with melted butter. and sprinkle sugar mixture on top. Use your hands to make the entire surface is evenly coated. Beginning with the long side, roll dough pinching the seam to seal.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Cut (I like using dental floss) into 12 equal slices and place them in a greased 9 x 13 baking pan. Cover with a damp towel and allow to rise for 30 minutes.
- To make the frosting, beat butter, cream cheese, and sugar on medium-high speed for three minutes. Set aside.
- Bake cinnamon rolls for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Frost with icing.
 |
SAVORY SWEET LIFE Book Trailer
|
{ 52 comments… read them below or add one }
These cinnamon rolls look fabulous! We absolutely love them.
Nice tutorial! bookmarked! Looks so tempting.
ohh i haven’t had breakfast yet, and now i’m definitely craving one of these! they look incredible! i will most definitely try this recipe soon, thanks!
These look absolutely gorgeous!! Love holiday baking so much.
These look divine! No frills cinnamon buns are my favorite! Leave the raisins, nuts and any other extra out of this classic for me. Beautiful photos too!
These looks so gorgeous and your pictures are amazing. I am definitely making these for my family. Thanks!
These look heavenly. What do you think about making them ahead and freezing them before baking? I’ve bookmarked your recipe and will definitely try it, but since we travel for Christmas, I’d love to take some along frozen and bake them up for Christmas morning.
Aaahh….. we are lovers of cinnamon rolls at our house. These look fabulous!
*high five!* I use the floss trick, too, although mine still don’t come out as perfect as yours.
Just lovely, Alice!!
Stumbled for ya…
I haven’t made these in several years, but you have inspired me to bake them again. I just wish I had them ready to go or breakfast tomorrow morning!
Oh my… these look incredible!! I’ve never made homemade cinnamon rolls before. I’ve always been a pillsberry gal
I’m trying these next weekend!
bloghopping … you have an interesting site..nice recipes..i’d be following!
happy cooking!
Again, In perfect timing! I must give thanks to you that my home smells absolutely amazing enough to paralyze all senses with those suckers in the oven! My husband said “they look real good to eat even raw.” lol!
Perfect for weekend! I can just imagine the aroma!
I can smell the Christmas in the air, can’t wait to try your recipe!
This is one of the few recipes I could find for the real homemade not the quick made, so thank you. Nice recipe easy to understand. When you want a homemade cinnaroll, go all the way!
I like my cinnamon rollsmthe exact same way. One of my favoritemthings to make for family and friends!
WANT. These look so good. I wish it were Sunday morning and I could stay home and make these instead of going to work!
i love cinnamon rolls!
this looks delicious!
I am a sucker for cinnamon rolls!!! Lovely photos!
Is that angels I hear?! Because I must be in heaven with these! YUMMY!
Those look incredible! I LOVE the photographs!
MAN!! these look scrumptious! I would really like one right about now, maybe I will make these as a surprise treat for my cinnamon roll loving husband
Oh and I can’t wait for the holidays either heee heee!!!
Is it possible to make up until the last rising the night before, leave in the fridge, then take out in the morning? I’d love to try this for Christmas morning, but I don’t usually wake up early enough.
For the vegetable oil, is it 1/4 cup? It was omitted from the recipe. Thanks so much!
Alice, can i make these the day before and stick them in the oven on Xmas morning?
I had been contemplating this recipe for some time now and decided to make it today – I followed the recipe to a T (except for the frosting) & what a WINNER it ended up being ! My whole family could not believe how these Cinnamon rolls were tasty and moist and heavenly. I mus also mention the sweet aroma of cinnamon these rolls provided in my home. Definitely a keeper ! The only change I made was to replace the cream cheese icing with a more basic type icing composed of mixing together in a bowl 2 cups of icing sugar, 3 tablespoons of warm water and the zest of 1 orange. Thank you very much Alice.
What a great recipe! These rolls came out sweet, fluffy, and soft, just as you promised! I did add a spoon of vanilla to both the rolls and the frosting, and substituted yogurt for the cream cheese in the frosting since I didn’t have cream cheese on hand–worked out just fine!
Thanks a bunch for the sweet Sunday snack!
Glad you liked them. Thanks for stopping by Thrillmysoul!
I just took out of the oven my very first batch of cinnamon rolls. They are amazing! Fluffy and moist and the smell in the whole house is delicious. Thank you Alice for the recipes on your blog.
Claudia: Nothing beats homemade cinnamon rolls straight out of the oven. Thanks for stopping by… glad you like the recipes.
Alice
I was wondering… do you have a favorite recipe for soft or crusty white dinner rolls that you would like to share with the rest of us?
First of all, you have a collection of some of the best recipes I’ve found online for perfectly delicious no-fuss meals for busy days. =)
I have a question about this recipe. Can it be refrigerated over-night, for a really quick breakfast bake? If yes, at what point would you recommend refrigeration?
Alice,
I know you don’t know the impact you have on all of your readers, because you don’t know who is out here…but I really appreciate your blog and recipes. Merry Christmas!
Frequent Follower
Maureen
Hi Maureen,
Merry Christmas, thanks for your sweet comment.
Just made these this morning with my new KitchenAid stand mixer. Outstanding recipe. For the record, you can do all of the steps up to placing the rolls in the baking pan, cover the pan, and stick it in the fridge overnight. This morning I took the pan out of the fridge, covered it with a damp kitchen towel for about an hour, and baked for 20 minutes as per the recipe. Worked great!
I made these when it first started getting cool here and they were fabulous! My new husband requested I make them for the next family function and it’s going to be cold again – so I am making them this evening!
Per the suggestion of another commenter, I believe I will add some orange zest to the frosting.. can’t wait!
Very unhappy with this recipe. The ingredients list calls for 2 types of sugar. However, the recipe does not stipulate which sugar to use when making the dough. It doesn’t even tell you to dissolve the yeast in warm water. NEVER USE THIS WEBSITE AGAIN
Hi Heather,
Sorry you had problems with the recipe. As for the sugar, if you go by the order of ingredients as it relates to the instructions, the sugar is listed twice, and brown sugar once. The first amount of sugar is for the dough. The second amount of white sugar is for the filling as is the brown sugar as mentioned in step 2. As for the yeast, the recipe calls for instant yeast. Instant yeast does not need to proof first in warm liquid. Hope that clarifies everything.
Stumbled upon your website while searching for an authentic cinnamon bun recipe for Christmas. Can’t wait to try it out first thing tomorrow morning.
Happy holidays and thanks for sharing.
K
PS
To me, the recipe instructions look pretty self explanatory and simple to follow
I just made these (and I’m no chef) and they are FABULOUS! My girls are going to be over the moon when they see what’s for breakfast!!! thank you.
Just made these rolls and omg! They were fantastic the best ever and the recipe was soooo easy to follow.
A definate crowd pleaser!!
Hi…are there any instructions for a Kitchen aid mixer? I dont seem to see them on the page.. Thanks!
whats the warm water for do u mix that with the yeast
Thank you for the awesome recipe. These were, by far the best cinnamon rolls my family & I have ever tasted {we consider ourselves experts on the subject – lol}. The instructions are clear & easy to follow. The smell was amazing & the icing was amazing! I have published your recipe on my blog: TheSerendipityBistro.com.
just tried the recipe: good results! love the icing. could eat that by itself!!
My husband said “These Were The Best” Rolls he’s ever eaten!! The frosting is to die for!! Great recipe…Thank-You!!
Best and most no-fuss cinnamon roll recipe I’ve found!
Just made these and they are amazing!!! Even better than Cinnabon. Will definitely be baking these again.
These truly are the best cinnamon rolls! What a fantastic recipe. I have made them several times now and never had a batch turn out wrong. LOVE! I also want to mention that I use my 5lb bread machine to make the dough and it still works to follow the recipe exactly as stated. The only difference is the machine does the rise cycle for you. SO EASY, we’ll never buy store bought again.
Thank you so much for this recipe! It’s the first one I made with my Kitchen Aid and they are so good and professional! I made these a day ahead and kept them in the fridge, and they still are amazing when baked the next day.