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Breakfast & Brunch | May 11, 2010

Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Frosting

 
My Favorite Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Frosting
 

My Favorite Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Frosting

My Favorite Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Frosting

Cinnamon Rolls. Love them. Can’t begin to count the number of recipes I have tried. Still on the quest to find the perfect one. To date, this recipe has been my favorite. The claim is, they taste “just like Cinnabons”… I’m not sure about that. But they are pretty darn delish.

If you have a recipe you love, bring a pan on over, or (lame 2nd option) email me the recipe.

 
 
My Favorite Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Frosting

4.6 from 5 votes
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Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients

dough:

  • 1 1/4 ounce package dry yeast
  • 1 cup warm milk I used whole
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/3 cup butter
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 eggs
  • 4 cups flour

filling:

  • 1 cup packed brown sugar
  • 2 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon
  • 1/3 cup butter softened
  • 1 tablespoon flour

frosting:

  • 4 tablespoons butter
  • 1 1/4-1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
  • 1/4 cup cream cheese
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • dash salt

Instructions

  1. For the rolls:

  2. Dissolve the yeast in the warm milk in a large bowl. Add sugar, butter, salt, eggs, and flour, mix well. Using a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment or a dough hook, knead the dough into a large ball. Place the dough in a clean lightly greased bowl, cover and let rise in a warm place about 1 hour or until the dough has almost doubled in size. Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface, until it is approximately 15 inches long by 10 inches wide. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

  3. For the filling:

  4. Combine the brown sugar, cinnamon, melted butter and flour in a bowl.

  5. Spread the filling mixture evenly over the surface of the dough.
  6. Working carefully, from the long edge, roll the dough down to the bottom edge. Cut the dough into 1 3/4 inch slices, and place in a lightly greased baking pan. I use a 9 x 13 pan. Let rise for about 30-45 minutes in a warm, draft free place. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until light golden brown. While the rolls are baking combine the frosting ingredients. Beat well with an mixer until combined. When the rolls are cooled a bit, spread generously with icing.

Recipe Notes

-Be careful about adding too much flour to the dough. The dough should not be sticky when ready to raise. It should be barely coated with flour. When making rolls or bread

– I usually add about 1/2 of the amount of flour the recipe calls for- add the remaining flour and then any additional flour the dough may need 1/4 cup at a time.

-I like to frost the rolls with icing a few minutes after removing from the oven, then let the rolls cool almost completely and top with the remaining frosting. If you frost too soon after removing from the oven, the frosting will melt into the pan and rolls. See third pic above, taken after the first frosting layer, first pic was taken after rolls were completely cooled and 2nd frosting layer applied.

-This dough does not raise a lot, compared to most dough recipes.

34 thoughts on “Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Frosting

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Recipe Rating




  1. I have yet to make cinnamon rolls from scratch but have wanted to for some time now. You've convinced me…I must make them AND eat them soon!

  2. best cinnamon rolls ever! i thought for sure i had messed up the yeast because my dough hardly rose, but they turned out fine. does the dough not rise much, and why? also, i prefer melting the butter and then spreading the cinnamon mixture on the dough. i had a hard time spreading it once it was mixed with the butter. made this for a glitter toe party and got SO many compliments. thanks!

  3. Anon- one small package of yeast (equals less than a tablespoon) is not a lot of yeast to 4 cups of flour. This recipe will not yeild a big rise. I usually spread the room temperature butter on with a knife, then sprinkle on the topping, and smooth it over with my hand.
    Glad you loved these! I'm making some today 🙂

  4. These is my favorite cinnamon roll recipe to date! I’m planning to make them for a mother’s day brunch, and was wondering how much of the preparation, if any, could be done the night before? I’d like to minimize the the mess I have to make the morning of 🙂 Thanks for much! I’m so glad I came across your site!

    1. Cait,
      Yum! Please let me know how these cinnamon rolls turned out. We have had more snow here in Bountiful this weekend. Perfect cinnamon roll weather!
      Thanks for reading ABK.
      xo,
      Si

  5. Is there a way to prepare any of this the night before? Never had made homemade cinnamon rolls but want to do it for conference. Just hoping I can do something the night before! Ha

    1. Molly,
      Yes. You can prepare this a night or two before. Just follow the recipe and bake until the rolls are set, but not browned. Then cool, wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate until you want them. Pull them out on Conference morning, finish baking until lightly browned, and WOW the family! Enjoy.
      Thanks for reading ABK.
      xo,
      Si

    1. I don’t think I’ve tried freezing these before, but they should still turn out great. Thanks for asking, Alana!
      xo
      Si

  6. When I got married my husband and I wanted to start some new family traditions of our own. Making these cinnamon rolls for conference weekend twice a year quickly became one of our favorite traditions! We’ve been making them for 5 years now and they always turn out so delicious and we consistently get asked for the recipe. My favorite part is the cream cheese frosting. So good!

  7. Could I make these in the evening, stopping after the 30-45 minute roll rise then put them in the fridge and bake in the morning or would that ruin them?

    1. Hi Kim, after you’ve formed the rolls and placed them on a pan, just cover tightly with plastic wrap and put them in the fridge. In the morning, take them out, cover with a dry dish towel and let rise for about 1.5-2 hours. Then you can bake them according to the recipe. Hope this helps and thanks for reading ABK!
      xo
      Si

  8. I have to ask about Ree’s recipe! I’ve wanted to make it for a few years now but didn’t know what to replace the coffee with—what did you use?

    Also I’m making these this weekend! Excited to try them.

    1. Hi Candace, I would add a little maple flavoring to the frosting (probably 1 tablespoon) to replace the coffee. Let me know how you like the recipe and thanks for asking!
      xo
      Si

  9. 5 stars
    Love these! I make them the day before and cook about halfway. I then cool completely and cover with plastic wrap. In the morning I bring to room temperature and bake them off (takes about 10 minutes) and then follow as instructed. This gives me fresh hot rolls in the morning without all the work. I have also fully cooked them and not frosted, them warmed up in the morning and frosted as suggested. These are perfect every single time.

  10. 4 stars
    They taste really good but are still very doughy in the middle, how do you avoid that. The tops were brown so they looked cooked.

    1. I know I’m not Sy, but I had to lower my oven temp to 350. I had the same issue you did when I first made them. Lower the temp, and I bet they will be perfect!

  11. 4 stars
    These were truly a hit! I have been mostly intimidated by cinnamon roll baking, probably because I never felt they turned out right. I don’t think I need to look any further:) The cinnamon in the dough…the denser bread structure is delicious. For my oven, I needed to lower from your 400 to 350 degrees. 400 over baked the outside and the inside wasn’t quite done. 350 was perfect inside and out with the same baking time. I also think spreading the filling butter on the rolled out dough and then sprinkling the dry ingredients may keep the filling from being more of a streusel. Mixing melted butter with the dry ingredients, I couldn’t spread mine and had to lightly press the filling into the rolled dough, but the end-result filling taste was still fabulous. I also made a cream cheese frosting, just because I love cream cheese frosting on cinnamon rolls! Thanks again for sharing. I am a fan of so many of your recipes!

  12. 5 stars
    We make these cinnamon rolls for every single conference since I started having kids almost 5 years ago!! They are perfection!! We have even made them with maple frosting but always come back to the classic cream cheese recipe! They are the perfect density and gooey when they’re all warm! My kids get so excited when we take them out of the oven every time!!

  13. 5 stars
    My absolute go-to cinnamon rolls! A crowd favorite for sure. We never have leftovers around here haha. They’re “to die for”!