What is better than the smell of warm, gooey, fresh out of the oven cinnamon rolls? NOTHING. Literally nothing. Except warm chocolate chip cookies Or pizza. Really anything fresh out of the oven smells amazing.
We tried making homemade cinnamon rolls what feels like 34 years ago when we first started our blog. Unfortunately, that was one of the recipes that we lost when we were hacked. So, we decided to try again! Joke is on you evil blog hacker: these cinny rolls are even better than the old ones. You poo head.
These were so good that my boyfriend and I admittedly ate these for dinner. Being an adult is fun.
It is no secret that we love to utilize store bought desserts from time to time. Cake mix, pie dough, cinnamon rolls. Store bought cinnamon rolls are honestly 100% worth it. Once you can get the pesky tube open. The icing that comes with store bought cinnamon rolls is to die for. We haven’t been able to replicate it so far, but this cream cheese icing is thick and creamy and still “eat with a spoon” worthy.
Now don’t start thinking that we have turned into domestic princesses that can be found in the kitchen whipping up some homemade cinnamon buns on a Saturday morning just because. Nu-uh. We will still use the store bought majority of the time just for the convenience. Homemade cinnamon rolls are very much worth it but they do take a very long time. The dough has to rest a couple of times so you really need to plan ahead if you want to make these for a specific occasion.
This recipe does use yeast which typically scares me. Yeast is intimidating! You can kill it! Every time I use yeast I have the small thought in the back of mind saying “This isn’t going to work. Your dough will not rise. You suck. Quit baking. Loser.” But, it always ends up working out and everything is fine. Everything. Is. Fine.
Recipe from https://joyfoodsunshine.com/cinnamon-rolls-recipe/
Homemade Cinnamon Rolls
Ingredients
- 1 cup warm milk
- 1/2 Cup + 1 TBSP sugar divided
- 1 TBS active dry yeast
- 2 eggs
- 6 TBS melted butter
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 4 cups flour
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
Cinnamon Sugar Filling
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 2 1/2 TBS Ground cinnamon
- 6 TBS butter softened
Cream cheese frosting
- 8 oz cream cheese softened
- 1/4 cup butter softened
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Warm the milk in the microwave for 45 seconds. Milk should be warm but not hot.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, mix milk, yeast and 1 TBS sugar. Let sit until frothy. About 5 minutes
- Add 1/2 cup sugar, eggs, and vanilla and mix until combined
- Add flour and cinnamon and mix until a ball forms. If too sticky add more flour.
- Knead out dough on a floured surface until smooth
- Form it into a ball and place in a greased bowl. Cover with a warm, wet cloth and let sit for an hour. It should double in size.
- In a bowl combine cinnamon and brown sugar. Melt the butter in a separate bowl.
- Once dough has risen roll it out on a floured surface. Roll out so it is about 24X12 inches.
- Spread the butter all over the flattened dough and then sprinkle your sugar mixture on top.
- Roll up the dough into a long tube and cut into 12 equal sized pieces.
- Place pieces in a greased 9X13 pan and cover again with a warm, wet towel and let rise for 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Bake the rolls for 20 minutes.
For the frosting
- Beat together butter, cream cheese and vanilla.
- Slowly add in the powdered sugar
Assembly
- While buns are still warm, spread generously with the frosting
Carrie says
These look delicious! And I love your pictures! 🙂
[email protected] says
Thank you so much!