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.
Just made these and they are amazing!!! Even better than Cinnabon. Will definitely be baking these again.
Best and most no-fuss cinnamon roll recipe I’ve found!
My husband said “These Were The Best” Rolls he’s ever eaten!! The frosting is to die for!! Great recipe…Thank-You!!
just tried the recipe: good results! love the icing. could eat that by itself!!
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.
whats the warm water for do u mix that with the yeast
Hi…are there any instructions for a Kitchen aid mixer? I dont seem to see them on the page.. Thanks!
Just made these rolls and omg! They were fantastic the best ever and the recipe was soooo easy to follow.
A definate crowd pleaser!!
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.
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 😉
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.
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
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!
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!
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
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?
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?
Claudia: Nothing beats homemade cinnamon rolls straight out of the oven. Thanks for stopping by… glad you like the recipes.
Alice
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.
Glad you liked them. Thanks for stopping by Thrillmysoul!
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!
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.
Alice, can i make these the day before and stick them in the oven on Xmas morning?