This post may contain affiliate links, which means we’ll receive a commission if you purchase through our link, at no extra cost to you. See our disclosure here.
There’s just something magical about pulling a warm tray of homemade cinnamon rolls out of the oven. These soft, fluffy cinnamon rolls are swirled with gooey cinnamon-sugar filling and topped with a whipped cream cheese icing that melts right into every bite.
If you’ve ever made cinnamon rolls from scratch, you know that canned cinnamon rolls don’t stand a chance next to these!
If you’ve never made them from scratch and have always wanted to learn how to make them, this recipe will walk you through it step by step. Think of baking these rolls as a cozy kitchen project for a lazy weekend morning.
And the finished product: a warm gooey roll dripping with creamy icing. And the best part about making them yourself is you get the pleasure of eating them fresh out of the oven.
More Cozy Breakfast and Brunch Recipes to Try:
What You’ll Need
For the dough:
- Milk
- Sugar
- Salt
- Butter
- Dry active yeast
- Eggs
- All purpose flour
for the cinnamon sugar filling:
- Brown sugar
- Sugar
- Butter
- Flour
- Cinnamon
for the cream cheese icing:
- Cream cheese
- Butter
- Powdered sugar
- Vanilla
Step-by-Step: How to Make Homemade Cinnamon Rolls
Cinnamon rolls are easy to make, they just take a bit of time and patience. That’s why they make the perfect lazy weekend treat! If you’re planning to make rolls in advance, see our tips below.
Make the dough.
It’s important to keep the ingredients at room temperature or lukewarm warm, to keep the yeast active.
Start at the stove top with a small saucepan. Over low heat, stir milk, sugar, salt, and butter until the butter and sugar dissolve. Cool to lukewarm.
In the mixing bowl of your stand mixer, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add in the warm milk mixture, room temperature eggs, and flour. Beat with a dough hook on speed 2 for 3 minutes.
Continuing mixing at speed 2, as you add the rest of the flour to the dough. Stop mixing when the dough clings to the hook and cleans the sides of the bowl. Lastly, continue to knead the dough in the mixture on speed 2 for 5 more minutes.
First dough rise.
Place the dough ball in a greased bowl and let it rise in a warm place for 1 hour. A warm place could be inside your microwave or the inside of an oven with the oven light on.
If you plan to make the rolls ahead of time…pause after this step and refrigerate your dough in the greased bowl after it has risen. Then when you’re ready to bake resume with the following steps.
Make brown sugar cinnamon filling.
We did not hold back on the filling for these rolls. Only because it’s the best part!! Make sure your butter is softened and not melted during this step. If the butter is too soft, it can make it hard to spread the filling.
When softened butter mixes with the cinnamon brown sugar mixture, it forms a soft fluffy filling that can be smoothly spread across the dough.
Roll out dough, spread filling.
Place the dough ball on a floured surface and roll out the dough into a 10×30 inch rectangle. Spread the cinnamon sugar filling over the top of the dough in an even layer.
Roll and cut cinnamon rolls.
Starting from the long side of the rectangle, tightly roll the dough into a log and slice into 18 rolls.
Read our tip below on the easiest way to slice cinnamon rolls with…dental floss?! Yup!
Second rise & bake!
Place rolls into a greased, parchment lined baking pan, cover with a clean towel and let them rise for an additional hour.
While the rolls are rising, preheat the oven to 350ºF. Bake the rolls for about 20-25 minutes until tops are golden brown.
Spread icing over warm rolls.
Last step is to make the delicious cream cheese icing. Add all your ingredients to a stand mixer with the whisk attachment. Whisk together on medium speed until cream cheese icing is nice and fluffy.
Using a spatula, spread the icing over the top of the warm rolls and enjoy!!
Tips for the Softest, Fluffiest Cinnamon Rolls
- Make sure your milk mixture and warm water are not too hot. Warm water is used to activate the yeast. You want to make sure that it is between 100-110ºF or else it will kill the yeast. You want to also make sure that the milk mixture is not too hot because you will add the yeast to the dough.
- On the other hand, you don’t want ingredients to be too cold. Make sure eggs and butter are room temperature. This will help to maintain a warm temperature to keep the yeast active.
- Grease bowl before first dough rise. This will ensure that the dough doesn’t stick to the bowl and can easily be removed.
- Let the dough rise in a warm place. We recommend putting the bowl in the microwave or in a turned-off oven with the light on.
- Use floss to perfectly slice each roll. It sounds strange, but it works! See our steps to slice the dough with floss below.
The easiest way to slice cinnamon rolls…with floss!
We know, it sounds strange but dental floss slices cinnamon rolls perfectly. We found that when we sliced cinnamon rolls with a knife, it “pinched” the dough together rolls together and they didn’t come out in perfect circle swirls.
Follow these steps to make perfect dough rolls.
- Using a pastry cutter or knife, make light, evenly-spaced marks in the dough to indicate where you should cut each slice. Each slice should be about 1 1/2 inches thick.
- Cut a piece of floss about 10 inches long. Grab the floss on either end with your fingers.
- Shimmy the floss underneath the dough where you want to cut the roll.
- Cross the floss over the top and pull the ends of the floss to make a cut.
- Repeat steps 1-4 for cutting the rest of the rolls.
How to Store and Reheat Homemade Cinnamon Rolls
How to store leftover cinnamon rolls…
Cinnamon rolls will stay fresh in an airtight container at room temperature for 2-3 days or in the fridge for 5-7 days.
How to reheat cinnamon rolls…
Quick reheat in the microwave: Reheat in the microwave for 10-20 seconds. If you have time… try reheating in the oven or toaster oven: Heat oven for 350ºF for 5-10 minutes until warm.
Shop Our Kitchen Favorites
Homemade Cinnamon Rolls
Description
These soft, fluffy cinnamon rolls are swirled with gooey cinnamon-sugar filling and topped with a whipped cream cheese icing that melts right into every bite.
Ingredients
Sweet Dough
- 3/4 cup milk
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup butter
- 2 pkg dry yeast
- 1/3 cup warm water
- 3 eggs (room temperature)
- 6 1/2 cups flour
Cinnamon Filling
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/4 cup flour
- 1 1/2 tbsp cinnamon
Cream Cheese Icing
- 1 8 oz pkg cream cheese (softened)
- 6 tbsp butter (softened)
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
Instructions
Sweet Yeast Dough
- In a small saucepan over low heat, stir milk, sugar, salt, and butter until the butter and sugar dissolve. Cool to lukewarm.
- In the mixing bowl of your stand mixer, dissolve yeast in 1/3 cup warm water. Add milk mixture, eggs, and 5 cups of flour. Beat with a dough hook on speed 2 for 3 minutes.
- Continuing mixing at speed 2, as you add the rest of the flour, 1/2 cup at a time. Stop mixing when the dough clings to the hook and cleans the sides of the bowl. Lastly, knead on speed 2 for 5 more minutes.
- Place dough in a greased bowl. Cover and let rise in a warm place until it’s doubled in size (about 1 hour).
- After 1 hour, punch the dough down and roll into a 10 x 30 x 1 inch rectangle on a floured surface.
Cinnamon Filling
- Place brown sugar, sugar, butter, flour and cinnamon in a mixer bowl. Mix with a flat beater on speed 2 for 1 minute.
- Spread the cinnamon sugar filling evenly over the dough. Roll the dough tightly from long side to form a 30 inch roll, pinching seams together. Cut into 18 1 1/2 inch slices.
- Place rolls in a greased cake pans, cover and let rise in a warm space for 1 hour.
- Bake at 350ºF for about 20 minutes.
Cream Cheese Icing
- In a stand mixing bowl, mix cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla until it’s completely combined.
- Once the rolls have cooled for 5 minutes, smear the icing over the top.
