The art of baking homemade cinnamon rolls is both an enjoyable experience and a way to create lasting memories with your family. These rolls, characterized by their soft, fluffy texture and rich, sweet filling, are more than just a treat; they’re a celebration of home baking at its finest. The aroma of cinnamon and sugar filling your home is a delightful precursor to the joy these rolls bring. This guide is here to help you navigate through the process, offering valuable insights and expert tips to ensure success, whether you’re a first-time baker or a seasoned pro. From ingredient selection to serving suggestions, we cover it all, ensuring your cinnamon rolls are delicious every single time.
Ingredient Breakdown & Substitutions
Warm Milk: Milk adds richness and flavor to the dough. It also activates the yeast. For a dairy-free alternative, a plant-based milk substitute can be used. These substitutes still provide the necessary liquid and richness but without the dairy content.
Instant Dry Yeast: Yeast is the leavening agent that helps the dough rise, creating a light, fluffy texture. Active dry yeast can be used as a substitute; just ensure it’s dissolved in warm milk before adding to the other ingredients.
White Granulated Sugar: Sugar feeds the yeast, aiding in fermentation and rise. It also adds sweetness to the dough. For a less sweet dough, you can reduce the sugar by a few tablespoons. Honey or maple syrup can be alternatives, but they might slightly alter the flavor profile.
Salt: Salt enhances flavor and controls yeast fermentation, ensuring the dough doesn’t rise too quickly. If using unsalted butter, increase the salt by a pinch to maintain the flavor balance.
Salted Butter: Butter adds richness, moisture, and flavor to the dough and filling. Unsalted butter can be used in its place; just add an extra pinch of salt to the recipe. For a dairy-free version, use a plant-based butter substitute.
Eggs: Eggs enrich the dough, adding flavor, color, and structure. They also contribute to the dough’s rise and texture. If you need an egg-free version, consider using a flax egg (1 tablespoon ground flaxseed mixed with 3 tablespoons water).
All-Purpose Flour: Flour provides structure to the cinnamon rolls. It forms the backbone of the dough. Bread flour or a mix of all-purpose and whole wheat flour can be used, though this may slightly change the texture.
Brown Sugar (Filling): Brown sugar adds sweetness and moisture to the filling, giving it a rich, caramel-like flavor. You can adjust the amount based on your preference for sweetness.
Ground Cinnamon (Filling): Cinnamon is key for the signature flavor of the rolls. It pairs beautifully with brown sugar to create a warm, spiced filling.
Frequently Asked Questions
You can knead it by hand! Start out by stirring with a spoon until you can’t do it anymore, and then knead it by hand. Just keep on kneading until all the flour is incorporated and/or the dough is soft to the touch and only slightly sticky. It’s a bit of a workout, but it’s worth it!
The flour you buy at the store these days is generally pre-sifted. There is no need to sift your flour. We prefer the scoop and sweep method as it is ultra-convenient. Simply use your measuring cup to scoop out the flour and level off the top. Weighing your flour using a kitchen scale is the only way to ensure complete accuracy. Even then, bread making is both fickle and forgiving, and the actual amount of flour you add can change just due to the humidity in the air. When making this roll recipe, it is best to go by the touch and feel of the dough. 1 cup of flour is approximately 125 grams.
The butter should be at room temperature and smoosh easily to the touch. If you soften the butter in a microwave, be sure to work in small time increments so you don’t get any melted pools of butter.
This recipe has been tested with both salted and unsalted butter without a huge or notable difference. Either will work.
The dough should be slightly sticky, but still very soft and pliable. It should just barely not be sticking to the bowl. If you add too much flour and the dough stiffens, your rolls will also get a little stiff. You can definitely feel a soft roll just by touching the dough.
We have used both all-purpose flour and bread flour without a huge or notable difference. We do not have a preference, so just use whichever is convenient.
We have not personally tested any variations of gluten free flours. It has been reported in comments that the gluten-free flour mix, Cup for Cup, works in this recipe; we cannot personally vouch for it.
If you need to reduce sodium for dietary reasons, don’t fret. Reducing salt will not affect the rising. The only thing it will impact is flavor.
The milk should be warm to the touch, between 100 and 110 degrees. You can use 1% up to whole milk. We never recommend using skim milk for anything.
These cinnamon rolls can easily be made ahead. For best results, choose one of the following two methods:
Overnight Make-Ahead Instructions:
After you’ve rolled and cut your cinnamon rolls and placed them into your lightly greased baking pan, cover with plastic wrap and place in your refrigerator. The next day, remove them from the fridge and allow them to come to room temperature (about 45 minutes to an hour depending on the temperature of your house) before baking.
Freezer Make-Ahead Instructions:
Roll and cut your cinnamon rolls and place several inches apart on a baking sheet to freeze rolls individually. Once frozen, transfer to a resealable plastic freezer bag. When ready to bake, place in a lightly greased baking dish and allow to come to room temperature before baking.
Step-By-Step Visual Guide to Cinnamon Rolls
Troubleshooting
- Dough Not Rising: Ensure your milk is warm but not hot; extreme temperatures can kill the yeast.
- Tough Rolls: Avoid over-kneading the dough, and make sure it’s not too dry.
- Undercooked Rolls: Remember, cooking time depends on roll size. Ensure a light brown color on top for doneness.
Tips From the Chef
- For consistent baking, roll the dough to an even thickness.
- Don’t overfill, too much filling can cause the rolls to unravel or become soggy.
- Give the dough ample time to rise to ensure the fluffiest rolls.
Storage Instructions
- Room Temperature Storage: Keep in an airtight container for up to 2 days.
- Refrigeration: Store in the fridge for up to 5 days.
- Freezing: Wrap individual rolls in plastic wrap and freeze. Thaw and reheat in the oven or microwave.
More Sweet Roll Recipes
Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls
1 hr 18 mins
Best Homemade Orange Rolls
2 hrs 20 mins
Coconut Rolls
2 hrs 55 mins
Baklava Cinnamon Rolls
2 hrs 5 mins
Watch the video below where Rachel will walk you through every step of this recipe. Sometimes it helps to have a visual, and we’ve always got you covered with our cooking show. You can find the complete collection of recipes on YouTube, Facebook Watch, or our Facebook Page, or right here on our website with their corresponding recipes.
These were very light and fluffy! However, I feel like melting the butter made them too buttery and oozy. Anybody else have this issue? Should softened butter replace the melted? I felt like a 1/2 cup made my dough swim in butter. Where did I go wrong? Confident it’s me and not the recipe 😉
I doubled the recipe. In one I used softened butter. The second, melted butter. I prefer softened hands down. The one with the melted butter oozed everywhere, my counter and hands were a hot mess. I’ll go with softened from now on. The dough also rolled easier than with melted for me.
Five. Freaking. STARS!! This is my second recipe for cinnamon rolls and hands down the easiest, most successful, and tastiest! Cinnamon rolls have always intimidated me since my MIL makes the most epic ones – but I’ve got my own now! I’ll never make them another way. These cinnamon rolls are tender, gooey but not messy, and not overly sweet, they’re honestly perfect. Directions are spot on, mine just needed to bake a smidge longer. Thank you for this amazing recipe!
Just made these cinnamon buns. They are fabulous. Had to give my neighbours some before I ate them all!
This is my go to cinnamon roll recipe. I have used it about 12 times already this year. It is simply the best!
Exceptional cinnamon rolls. I am a veteran Baker and I have baked so many things in my lifetime. Baking is my hobby. This recipe was very easy to follow and they turned out exceptional. Thank you again for sharing.
Our family loves this recipe! I’ve tried others and they were not as light and fluffy! Your recipe, however, doesn’t say how long to knead the dough in the mixer, so I used the time from another recipe..8 minutes.
Thank you for sharing this recipe!
thanks for these recipe..perfect cinnamon rolll
Hello,
Four stars is accurate from my perspective as the most important part of the rolls is the dough, and this dough recipe works! However, for anyone European or that doesn’t like a lot of sugar, the filling and frosting are WAY too sugary! The overall organization of the recipe also works well. So on my next attempt (which won’t be soon as this makes 12 large cinnamon rolls with lots of extra frosting), I have to figure out how to maintain the frosting texture (which was a creamy perfection for me; not to liquid nor thick when it begins to solidify as it cools down) yet reduce the sugar taste to half. If anyone has any suggestions, please to share. As for the filling, it simply has a little too much sugar (I think I’ll half it) and again WAY too much cinnamon (that I’ll also cut to half).
My husband and I had fun making this recipe. They were very easy to make. We added some walnuts to half. We will add to them all next time. The roll was perfectly soft inside with plenty of the brown sugar/cinnamon mixture. The icing was spot on with the cream cheese. We will definitely recommend.
I made these today and let me just say, “amazing”. So light and fluffy my 2 year old loved them and he is picky. We were sharing one and he stole my half lol. Thank you so much such an easy recipe to follow. This will be my go to recipe from know on delicious 😋.
This were a massive hit at my extended families brunch today. I did a double batch because I have a huge family and came home with one left. I was very scared to even attempt to make these but the instructions were so easy to follow. I don’t like cream cheese frosting on my cinnamon rolls so I went with just milk, powdered sugar, and a little vanilla. The texture of the rolls was perfect and oh so yummy!
These cinnamon rolls! Oh my! Never attempted these in my almost 70 years! Instructions were right on. My oven is a little slower and it took30 minutes to get that kiss of brown. Having them tomorrow with my sons chili!