Best Cinnamon Rolls

Our Best Homemade Cinnamon Roll recipe is light and fluffy, soft and chewy, and made with simple ingredients.  These step-by-step instructions also include our recipe for a delicious cream cheese icing that is perfect for slathering over your warm cinnamon rolls right out of the oven.

Jump to:

• Easy Homemade Cinnamon Rolls from Scratch
• Baking with Active Dry Yeast
• Ingredients in the Best Cinnamon Rolls
• How to Make Cinnamon Rolls
• Tips and Tricks
• Best Homemade Cinnamon Rolls Recipe

Easy Homemade Cinnamon Rolls from Scratch

If you have ever wondered how to make homemade cinnamon rolls from scratch, then this is the recipe for you.  Our easy Best Homemade Cinnamon Rolls are our favorite breakfast to make for holidays and birthdays.  We especially love to enjoy these for Easter or Christmas breakfast.  

This video, along with our step-by-step instructions, will help guide you through the recipe whether you are a seasoned pro or a beginning baker!  We believe these cinnamon rolls are best enjoyed warm out of the oven and covered in plenty of ooey gooey cream cheese frosting.

If you love cinnamon rolls, you're going to want to try my Orange Rolls, Einkorn Cinnamon Rolls, Berry Sweet Rolls, Caramel Cinnamon Rolls, Raspberry Sweet Rolls,  and Berry Sweet Rolls too. And this Cinnamon Icing frosting is a great way to get even more of that amazing cinnamon flavor we all love.  As for the frosting, you can try the best Cream Cheese Frosting or a Buttercream frosting, so delicious!

Baking with Active Dry Yeast

Yeast is what will make your dough light and airy. It is used in baking as a leavening agent, which converts the food/fermentable sugars in dough into the gas carbon dioxide. This causes the dough to rise and expand as when gas is created and forms air pockets or bubbles.

There are 3 important things to remember when making yeast dough. Here's what I call the yeast trifecta:

1. Yeast: our recipes usually use active dry yeast which needs to be activated.
2. Sugars: honey and granulated sugar work great.
3. Warm milk or water: the temperature of the milk or water should be about 115 degrees F, or just warm to your wrist. If your water is too cold, it will take the yeast longer to activate.  If your water is too hot, it will kill the yeast and your cinnamon rolls won't rise.

Whether you're making yeasted rolls, bread or cinnamon rolls, this is the start to your recipe.  Mix these 3 things together and let the mixture sit in a warm place for about 5 minutes.  You will know if the yeast is activated if the mixture is light frothy and bubbles have formed on the surface.  

Ingredients in the Best Cinnamon Rolls

Dough

• Water - you want this to be lukewarm to help activate the yeast.  You can also substitute milk, warming it to no more than 115 degrees F.
• Sugar - we use white granulated sugar for the dough, or you could certainly use the same amount of honey instead.
• Yeast - this recipe calls for active dry yeast which must be activated, or “proofed.”  It comes in a few different sized packages - a small envelope, a small jar or a large 1 pound air-sealed package.  
• Butter - you want the butter to be either melted, or incredibly soft.  You could also use avocado oil if you’d like.
• Eggs - any kind of large eggs will do.  It helps if they have come to room temperature, but don’t worry if you forget.  You can also run them under warm water while they are still in the shells.  The eggs help with rising and the fats in the yolk help keep the dough tender and light.
• Salt - you can use regular sea salt or table salt, but I like to use pink Himalayan sea salt in my baking.  It has extra vitamins and minerals in it that regular table salt doesn’t have.
• Flour - we like to use all-purpose flour, but you can also substitute bread flour if you would like.

Cinnamon Sugar Filling

• Butter - this should be melted or incredibly soft.
• Brown Sugar - you can use either dark or light brown sugar, keeping in mind that dark brown sugar has a more intense molasses flavor.
• Cinnamon - any ground cinnamon.

Cream Cheese Icing

• Butter - make sure your butter is at room temperature so that it will mix well with the other ingredients.
• Cream Cheese - you’ll also want your cream cheese to be at room temperature!
• Powdered Sugar - any type will work.
• Vanilla Extract - pure vanilla extract tastes best.
• Milk - this can be room temperature or cool.

How to Make Cinnamon Rolls

Step 1 - Mix The Dough

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the warm water, sugar and yeast and stir well. Let the mixture sit for 5-10 minutes until it gets bubbly and activates the yeast.
2. Add the melted butter, eggs, salt and 3 cups of flour into the yeast mixture, then mix on low using the dough hook for 2 minutes, or until everything is well-mixed.
3. Add 2.5 cups of flour, then stir on low to combine.  Add up to 1 cup more flour slowly until the dough pulls away from the edges of the bowl.  Once all of the flour has been added, continue to knead on low for 3 minutes more.

Step 2 - Let The Dough Rise

1. Turn off the mixer and cover the bowl with a kitchen towel. Let the dough rest in a warm place for about 30 minutes, or until doubled in size.

Step 2 - Roll And Cut The Cinnamon Rolls

1. Once the dough has doubled, turn it out onto a floured surface and gently roll the dough into a rectangle that is ½" thick and approximately 24" x 18." 
2. Using an offset spatula or knife, carefully spread the butter evenly onto the rolled dough, sprinkle the brown sugar and cinnamon over the top and pat down gently.
3. Starting at either 24" side, roll the dough up evenly making sure to get a nice tight tube, then cut into 1" slices using a very sharp knife or floss.  
4. Lay the slices ½"-1" apart in a greased 9 x 13" baking pan and cover loosely with a kitchen towel.  Let the cinnamon rolls rise for another 30 minutes, until doubled and touched in the pan.

Step 3 - Make the Cream Cheese Icing

1. In an electric mixer, using the paddle attachment, beat the room-temperature butter and room-temperature cream cheese until light and fluffy.  Turn the mixer down very low and add 3 cups of powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons of milk, and the vanilla.  Mix on low until all the ingredients are combined, then turn the mixer on high again and beat until fluffy.
2. Add more powdered sugar and/or milk until you reach your desired consistency.

Step 4 - Bake

1. Bake in a preheated oven for 18-22 minutes, or until the bottom and the top are golden brown.
2. Remove from the oven and spread the cinnamon roll icing over the tops while they are still warm. Let them cool for about 5 minutes, then serve warm. Enjoy!

Tips and Tricks

• Adding plumped raisins to the cinnamon and sugar filling tastes great if that’s your thing.  To plump them, soak in enough hot liquid to cover them for about 10-15 minutes, then drain.  You can soak in orange juice, pineapple juice, or plain water if you’d like.
• The amount of flour that you end up adding to the Best Homemade Cinnamon Rolls depends on several factors, including how much humidity is in your kitchen and the altitude you are baking at.  Because of this, you only want to add enough flour so that the dough pulls away cleanly from the edges of the bowl.  By watching this important step, you will ensure that you don’t add too much flour.
• If you like really thick cinnamon rolls, you can roll your dough out to ⅔” instead.  Or, if you like them thinner, roll them closer to ⅓” in thickness.  
• When rolling out the dough, it’s helpful to start in the center of the dough and roll outwards.  If the dough is a little sticky, pull it up and add a little more flour to your baking surface.
• Trying to keep the dough as symmetrical as possible will help keep the size and thickness of the cinnamon rolls the same.

Can I make the Best Homemade Cinnamon Rolls ahead of time?

Yup!  You have a few options:

• Refrigerate after shaping and cutting.  Once you have shaped and cut your cinnamon rolls, but before letting them rise again in the pan, you can wrap the entire pan well with plastic wrap and stick in the fridge overnight.  That way, in the morning all you need to do is pull from the fridge, preheat the oven and let them come to room temperature and rise until doubled.  Bake as directed and voila!
• Refrigerate the dough before shaping.  Once your dough has doubled in size, you can wrap well and stick the bowl in the fridge overnight.  The next day, remove the bowl from the fridge and let it come up to room temperature, then shape, cut and bake as directed from there.
• Freeze after shaping and cutting.  If you want to prep these more than a day prior to baking them, you can freeze the shaped and cut cinnamon rolls right in the baking dish.  Just wrap well in 2 layers of plastic wrap or foil, then store for up to 4 weeks in the freezer.  The night before you want to bake them, transfer the pan from the freezer to your fridge and let them thaw overnight.  In the morning, pull from the fridge and let them come up to room temperature and double while you preheat the oven, then bake as directed.

What if I don’t have a stand mixer?

While it does require a little more elbow grease, it’s totally possible.  We have just a couple of extra hints:

• You’ll know you have added enough flour when the dough no longer sticks to your hands!
• Your kneading time will be about double its time if you used an electric mixer.  So, in this case, you can plan on kneading your dough by hand for about 6 minutes once all of the flour has been added.  Just be sure that the dough is smooth and elastic, and you’re good to go.

More Yeast Bread Recipes to Try

• Garlic Bread
• Cheddar Bread
• French Bread
• White Bread
• Copycat Olive Garden Breadsticks
• Cheesy Breadsticks
• Parker House Rolls
• Quick Dinner Rolls
• Homemade Crescent Rolls
• Garlic Twist Bread
• Focaccia Bread
• More Bread Recipes
• Quick Bread Recipes

If you’ve tried this recipe, please rate it and leave a comment on this post. I love hearing feedback from you and it helps me and other readers too! If you love Pinterest,  feel free to leave a comment and photo there too.  Also, if you like to share, use the hashtag #thecarefreekitchen on Instagram and tag me @thecarefreekitchen so I can find you and give your post some love. You can also find me on Facebook at The Carefree Kitchen. Thank you!!

The Best Homemade Cinnamon Rolls are made with simple ingredients and make the lightest and fluffiest, soft and chewy cinnamon rolls.  Also included is a recipe for cinnamon roll icing - perfect to slather on your warm cinnamon rolls right out of the oven.

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