Easy Homemade Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Frosting

There are very few things that can compete with the smell of cinnamon rolls baking in the oven.

Cinnamon, brown sugar, warm dough… suddenly everyone in the house has wandered into the kitchen asking when they’re going to be ready.

And while I will absolutely buy the cinnamon rolls in the tube when we need something quick, there is just something about homemade cinnamon rolls that makes an ordinary Saturday morning feel a little more special.

These easy homemade cinnamon rolls are soft, fluffy and filled with plenty of buttery cinnamon brown sugar goodness, then topped with a thick cream cheese frosting while they’re still warm.

They do take a little more time than popping open a can, but none of the individual steps are particularly difficult. Most of the time is simply waiting for the dough to rise.

And the warm cinnamon roll at the end is very much worth it.

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Why You’ll Love These Homemade Cinnamon Rolls

If making cinnamon rolls completely from scratch sounds intimidating, I promise this recipe is more approachable than it looks.

Here’s why I love it:

• Soft, fluffy homemade dough
• Plenty of cinnamon brown sugar filling
• Thick cream cheese frosting
• Made with simple baking staples
• No complicated shaping required
• Easy to prep ahead for the next morning
• Perfect for weekends, holidays and slow mornings at home
• Your kitchen will smell AMAZING while they bake

They’re especially good for Christmas morning, Easter brunch, birthdays or anytime you want breakfast to feel a little more special.

But you definitely do not need a holiday as an excuse to make cinnamon rolls.

Ingredients

You’ll need:

For the Cinnamon Roll Dough

• 1 cup whole milk, warmed to about 110°F
• 2¼ teaspoons active dry yeast (1 packet)
• ¼ cup granulated sugar, divided
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• ¼ cup unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more if needed
• 1 teaspoon salt

For the Cinnamon Sugar Filling

• ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
• ¾ cup packed brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
• Pinch of salt

For the Cream Cheese Frosting

• 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
• ¼ cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1½ cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 to 2 tablespoons milk
• Pinch of salt

What I use: A stand mixer fitted with a dough hook makes the dough especially easy to put together, but you can absolutely make these cinnamon rolls by hand too.

How to Make Homemade Cinnamon Rolls

1. Activate the Yeast

Warm the milk until it reaches approximately 105°F to 110°F. You want it warm, but not hot.

Pour the warm milk into the bowl of your stand mixer or a large mixing bowl.

Add the yeast and 1 tablespoon of the granulated sugar. Give it a quick stir and let it sit for about 5 to 10 minutes.

The mixture should look foamy on top once the yeast is activated.

If nothing happens after 10 minutes, your yeast may no longer be active or your milk may have been too hot or too cold. I would start over here rather than risk making an entire batch of cinnamon rolls that never rises.

2. Make the Dough

Add the remaining granulated sugar, eggs, melted butter and vanilla to the yeast mixture.

Mix until combined.

Add the flour and salt and mix on low speed using the dough hook until a shaggy dough begins to form.

Increase to medium-low speed and knead for approximately 5 to 7 minutes.

The finished dough should be soft and slightly tacky, but it shouldn’t be so sticky that it coats your fingers.

If it feels extremely sticky, add additional flour about 1 tablespoon at a time.

Try not to add too much. A softer dough helps give you those fluffy cinnamon rolls we’re going for.

3. Let the Dough Rise

Lightly grease a large bowl and place the dough inside.

Cover with a clean kitchen towel or plastic wrap and let it rise somewhere warm for approximately 1 to 1½ hours, or until it has doubled in size.

This is the part where you get to walk away and pretend you aren’t already thinking about the cinnamon rolls.

4. Make the Cinnamon Sugar Filling

While the dough rises, mix the brown sugar, cinnamon and a small pinch of salt together in a bowl.

Make sure your butter is softened and easily spreadable.

You don’t want melted butter here. Softened butter will stay in place much better when you roll everything up.

5. Roll Out the Dough

Once the dough has doubled in size, gently punch it down and transfer it to a lightly floured surface.

Roll it into a rectangle approximately 14 x 18 inches.

It absolutely does not need to be a perfect rectangle. Mine never is.

Spread the softened butter evenly over the dough, leaving a very small border around the edges.

Sprinkle the cinnamon brown sugar mixture evenly over the butter.

Use your hands or the back of a spoon to gently press the filling into the butter so it stays put while you roll the dough.

6. Roll and Cut the Cinnamon Rolls

Starting with one of the long sides, tightly roll the dough into a log.

Try to keep the roll snug without squeezing all of the filling out.

Once rolled, pinch the seam gently to help seal it.

Cut the log into 12 cinnamon rolls.

You can use a sharp serrated knife, but one of my favorite tricks is using unflavored dental floss. Slide the floss underneath the dough, cross the ends over the top and pull.

It makes a surprisingly clean cut without squishing the rolls.

7. Let Them Rise Again

Grease a 9 x 13-inch baking dish and arrange the cinnamon rolls inside, leaving a little space between them.

Cover and let them rise again for approximately 30 to 45 minutes.

They should look noticeably puffier and will begin filling in some of the space between the rolls.

While they’re rising, preheat your oven to 350°F.

8. Bake

Bake the cinnamon rolls at 350°F for approximately 22 to 27 minutes, or until they’re lightly golden on top and cooked through in the center.

Keep an eye on them toward the end.

One of the easiest ways to ruin a really good cinnamon roll is overbaking it. We want soft and fluffy, not dry.

Let them cool in the pan for about 10 minutes while you make the frosting.

How to Make Cream Cheese Frosting

Add the softened cream cheese and butter to a mixing bowl and beat until smooth and creamy.

Add the powdered sugar, vanilla and a pinch of salt.

Beat again until everything is completely combined.

Add milk about 1 tablespoon at a time until the frosting reaches the consistency you like.

I prefer mine thick enough to actually sit on top of the cinnamon rolls but soft enough that it starts melting into all of those little cinnamon swirls when you spread it over them.

Which brings me to the most important part:

Frost them while they’re still warm.

Not straight-from-the-oven scorching hot, but definitely warm.

The cream cheese frosting will soften slightly and work its way into the tops of the rolls.

So good.

How Do I Know When Cinnamon Roll Dough Has Risen Enough?

Don’t get too caught up in the exact amount of time.

Depending on the temperature of your kitchen, your dough might rise faster or slower than the recipe says.

What matters more is the size.

For the first rise, you’re looking for the dough to roughly double in size.

During the second rise, the individual cinnamon rolls should look soft and puffy and will have expanded enough that they’re beginning to touch one another in the baking dish.

A chilly kitchen can make this process take longer.

If your house is particularly cool, you can place the covered dough inside your turned-off oven with the oven light on to create a slightly warmer environment.

Just don’t forget it’s in there before you preheat the oven!

Why Didn’t My Cinnamon Rolls Rise?

If your cinnamon rolls aren’t rising, there are a few possible culprits.

Your yeast may be old or inactive, which is why I like to activate it in the warm milk first. If it doesn’t become foamy during that initial step, don’t continue with the recipe.

Milk that’s too hot can also kill the yeast. Aim for around 105°F to 110°F.

And sometimes the dough simply needs more time.

If your kitchen is cool and the dough hasn’t doubled after an hour, give it another 30 minutes before assuming something went wrong.

Can I Make Cinnamon Rolls the Night Before?

Yes! And this might actually be my favorite way to make them if we’re planning cinnamon rolls for a holiday morning.

Prepare the recipe through the point where you’ve cut the cinnamon rolls and placed them in the baking dish.

Instead of doing the second rise on the counter, cover the baking dish tightly and place it in the refrigerator overnight.

The next morning, remove the cinnamon rolls from the refrigerator and let them sit at room temperature for approximately 45 to 60 minutes, or until they look puffy.

Then bake according to the recipe.

You get freshly baked homemade cinnamon rolls without having to start making dough before you’ve had coffee.

Win.

Can I Make These Without a Stand Mixer?

Absolutely!

A stand mixer makes kneading easier, but you don’t need one to make homemade cinnamon rolls.

Mix the ingredients together with a wooden spoon until a shaggy dough forms, then transfer it to a lightly floured surface.

Knead by hand for approximately 8 to 10 minutes, until the dough becomes smooth and elastic.

Consider it your arm workout for the day.

Can I Use Instant Yeast Instead?

Yes.

If you’re using instant yeast, you don’t technically need to activate it in the warm milk first.

You can mix the yeast directly into the dry ingredients and continue with the recipe.

I still like using warm milk because the warmth helps encourage the dough to rise.

How to Cut Cinnamon Rolls Without Squishing Them

You can absolutely use a sharp knife, but dental floss is weirdly perfect for this.

Make sure it’s plain, unflavored dental floss unless you’re going for peppermint cinnamon rolls, which I very much do not recommend.

Slide a piece underneath the rolled dough where you want to make your cut.

Bring both ends up, cross them over the top and pull in opposite directions.

The floss slices right through the dough and helps keep that pretty spiral intact.

What to Serve with Homemade Cinnamon Rolls

If we’re having cinnamon rolls for an ordinary weekend breakfast, I’m perfectly happy with a warm cinnamon roll and a big cup of coffee.

But if you’re putting together a larger breakfast or brunch, you could serve them with:

• Scrambled eggs
• Bacon or breakfast sausage
• Fresh berries
• A simple fruit salad
• Greek yogurt
• Coffee or cappuccinos
• Hot chocolate for the kids

For Christmas morning especially, I love the idea of prepping the cinnamon rolls the night before and serving them with eggs, bacon and fruit.

Easy, cozy and very little work required that morning.

How to Store Homemade Cinnamon Rolls

Because of the cream cheese frosting, I recommend storing leftover cinnamon rolls covered in the refrigerator.

They’ll keep well for approximately 3 to 4 days.

And yes, they are absolutely better warm.

Pop an individual cinnamon roll into the microwave for about 15 to 20 seconds before eating. The roll softens back up and the frosting gets a little melty again.

If you’re reheating several at once, cover the baking dish loosely with foil and warm them in a 300°F oven until heated through.

Soft, Fluffy Cinnamon Rolls Worth Making From Scratch

I’ll always have a place in my heart (and refrigerator) for the cinnamon rolls that come in a tube.

But homemade cinnamon rolls just hit different.

There’s something about pulling apart one of those soft, warm rolls and getting a bite from the very center where all of the butter, brown sugar and cinnamon have collected.

Add cream cheese frosting melting over the top and a hot cup of coffee?

Very hard to beat.

These take a little patience while the dough rises, but the actual process is surprisingly simple once you’ve made them once.

And if my entire kitchen smells like cinnamon and brown sugar for the rest of the morning, I’m certainly not complaining.

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