I created this Cinnamon Roll Recipe to be a quick and easy way to enjoy homemade cinnamon rolls without having to save them for a special occasion. Sometimes you just want something warm, sweet, and homemade without making a whole production out of it! Whether it’s something sweet for breakfast, a little afternoon snack, or a treat for the kids after school, these cinnamon rolls are a delicious option. !
These cinnamon rolls are soft, buttery, fluffy, and packed with cinnamon sugar flavor. The dough includes a little sour cream and heavy cream to give the rolls a soft texture. Followed by a brown sugar and cinnamon filling with a simple vanilla frosting that melts right over the warm rolls.
And yes, I know there are a million cinnamon roll recipes out there… But this is mine and what I always use.
Now I also have a few little quirks when I make these. I usually use vanilla paste instead of extract, I love Ceylon cinnamon, and when I cover my dough to rise, I use both cling wrap AND a kitchen towel. Is both necessary? Probably not. But it makes me feel better, so we’re doing both. 😂
Make These Cinnamon Roll Recipe for soft, fluffy Cinnamon Packed homemade cinnamon rolls topped with creamy vanilla frosting.
What Makes these Cinnamon Rolls so Special?
For me, it’s how easy the recipe is to make whenever the craving hits… Of course the combination of soft, fluffy dough, and that buttery cinnamon sugar filling.
I love a good cinnamon roll, but I wanted something you don’t have only make for Christmas morning or a special brunch. I wanted something you could whip up when you’re in the mood for something sweet. Sometimes you just want a homemade treat without having to spend your entire day in the kitchen!
Yield: 9 Cinnamon Rolls
Equipment:
- Oven
- Standing Mixer
- Large Mixing Bowl
- Measuring Cups
- Measuring Spoons
- Pastry Brush https://amzn.to/4tdRQG3
- Rolling Pin https://amzn.to/3NVfG9o
- 9×13 Inch Baking Dish or Aluminum Pan
- Knife
Timings:
- Prep/Cook time: 50 minutes
- Rest time: 55 minutes
- Total time: 1 Hour 45 minutes
Ingredients:
- 4 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup milk, warmed
- ⅓ cup mostly melted butter
- 2 ¼ teaspoons, or 1 packet, fast-acting yeast
- 2 room-temperature eggs
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup sour cream
- ½ tablespoon vanilla extract or vanilla paste
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼-½ cup heavy cream
For the Filling
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ⅓ cup butter
- 1 ½ tablespoons cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon vanilla powder, optional
For the Frosting
- 1 ¾ cups powdered sugar
- 4 tablespoons room-temperature butter
- 3–4 tablespoons heavy cream or milk
How to Make Quick and Easy Cinnamon Rolls
Follow the instructions below carefully for the best results.
Instructions:
- Start by warming your milk to about 100–110°F (I prefer 104). Pour the yeast into the warm milk and add about a teaspoon of the sugar from your measured ½ cup.
- Give it a quick stir and let it sit for about 10 minutes or until it becomes foamy.
- While the yeast is doing its thing, add the sugar, sour cream, eggs, vanilla, and flour to the bowl of your stand mixer.
- Melt your butter but let a few chunks/ solid pieces in it. set it aside for a few minutes so it can cool down.
- Once the yeast mixture is ready, add it to the mixing bowl. Using your dough hook attachment, begin mixing everything together. Once the ingredients start coming together, add your mostly melted butter.
- Let the dough knead with the dough hook for about 8 minutes. You’re looking for a smooth, uniform dough that isn’t sticking all over the bowl.
- If your dough is still really sticky, knead it by hand a few times before moving on. Don’t panic if it feels a little different depending on the day. Humidity can definitely affect dough. On really humid days, I may add another ¼ cup of flour, but I don’t add more than that.
- Shape the dough into a ball and place it into a Lightly Oiled bowl or square pan. Cover it with cling wrap and a kitchen towel and let it rest for 40 minutes. Yes, I cover it with both. Again, probably not necessary. But it calms my nerves. 😂
Making The Filling
- While the dough is resting, make your filling. Mix together the brown sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla powder if you’re using it.
- Once the dough has rested, lightly flour your work surface and roll it into a rectangle about 24–26 inches long and 8–10 inches wide.
- Slightly melt your ⅓ cup of butter. Using a pastry brush, spread most of the butter across the dough, leaving a little behind for later.
- Sprinkle the cinnamon-sugar mixture evenly over the butter.
- Now comes the fun part: rolling.
- Roll the dough tightly into a log and cut it into approximately 2–2 ½-inch pieces. You should end up with about 9–10 rolls.
- Line the bottom of your 9×13-inch baking dish with parchment paper and arrange the cinnamon rolls about an inches or so apart.
- Brush the tops with the remaining melted butter. Then pour about 1 tablespoon of heavy cream over each roll.
- Cover them again and let them rest for about 15 minutes.
Making the Rolls and making The Frosting
- Cover them again and let them rest for about 15 minutes.
- Preheat your oven to 375°F.
- Bake the rolls for about 20 minutes, but start checking them around the 15-minute mark. Every oven is a little different, and you don’t want to take these from soft and fluffy to overbaked.
- Once they’re finished, remove them from the oven and allow them to cool on a flat surface.
- You don’t have to let them cool completely before frosting them. In fact, I like adding the frosting while they’re still a little warm so it can slowly melt into all those cinnamon-sugar layers.
- For the frosting, beat the room-temperature butter for about 30 seconds using a whisk or whisk attachment.
- Add the powdered sugar, vanilla, and heavy cream or milk.
- Mix until everything is smooth and creamy about 3 minutes.
- Then pour that frosting over your cinnamon rolls.
- And that’s it.
- Grab a fork and enjoy one while they’re still warm. I won’t tell anybody.
TMI TIPs for Making These Cinnamon Rolls
Pay attention to your temperatures. Your milk and butter should be warm, not hot. Extremely hot liquids can cause problems with your yeast. I usually warm my milk to around 100–104°F and let my butter cool to around the same temperature.
Humidity matters. If you’re making these on a particularly humid day, you may need up to an additional ¼ cup of flour.
Don’t automatically add extra flour. Cinnamon roll dough can be slightly sticky. If you add too much flour, your rolls can end up dense instead of soft.
Use room-temperature eggs. They incorporate into the dough much more easily.
Don’t skip the second rest. That extra 15 minutes gives the shaped rolls a chance to puff up before baking.
Don’t overbake them. Start checking around 15 minutes because oven temperatures vary.
Use the cinnamon you love. I personally reach for Ceylon cinnamon because I love its flavor, but you can absolutely use your favorite cinnamon.
Vanilla paste and Vanilla Powder are my preference. I use vanilla paste and a little vanilla powder in a lot of my recipes because I love the flavor and those little vanilla specks.
Storage
These cinnamon rolls are definitely best when they’re fresh.
If you have leftovers, store them in an airtight container in a cool, dry place. They should stay soft for up to about 3 days. after that you may have to warm them for 10 seconds in the microwave.
Cinnamon Roll Variations
One of my favorite things about cinnamon rolls is how easy they are to switch up. Once you have the basic dough down, you can have a lot of fun with the filling and frosting.
Cream Cheese Frosting
Swap the vanilla frosting for a classic cream cheese frosting. The slight tanginess works really well with the sweet cinnamon filling.
Peach or Strawberry Cinnamon Rolls
For a summer version, add small pieces of peaches or Strawberries, to the filling and finish the rolls with a vanilla or peach-flavored glaze.
Citrus Cinnamon Rolls
Add a little orange or lemon zest to the dough or frosting. Orange and cinnamon together make such a good combination.
Chocolate and Red Velvet Cinnamon Rolls
Add cocoa powder, chocolate chips, or chopped chocolate to the cinnamon filling before rolling the dough. RED VELVET: add Red Velvet flavoring to the dough along with your vanilla. These both would be great for Valentines day. Add berries to the chocolate. Just either flavor of rolls in to heart shapes.
Fall Cinnamon Rolls
APPLE: Add finely diced apples to the cinnamon-sugar filling. You can even toss the apples with a little cinnamon and brown sugar before adding them. PECAN: Add chopped pecans to the brown sugar and cinnamon mixture for a little crunch. MAPLE: Replace some of the heavy cream in the frosting with maple syrup and add a little maple flavoring if desired.
Halloween Cinnamon Rolls
For Halloween Rolls add fun halloween candy on top, use fun halloween colors, or experiment with different decorating techniques like I did. Click here for Decorating tutorial
Christmas Cinnamon Rolls
For Christmas morning, add a little extra cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla to the filling and finish them with a festive sprinkle or drizzle. Add cookie dough to the rolls for so Santa gets his cookies and rolls, add fun festive sprinkle to get the kids excited
More Festive Recipes:
Enjoy!
Final Thoughts
I love recipes that feel like something you can make for your family on a regular weekday but also pull out when you want to make something special.These cinnamon rolls are one of those recipes for me.
They’re warm, buttery, sweet, cinnamon-y, and covered in vanilla frosting. They’re the kind of thing that makes people wander into the kitchen asking, “What are you making?” And that’s one of my favorite parts of baking.
Torrie Made it Original Cinnamon Roll
Equipment
- Oven
- Standing Mixer
- Large Mixing Bowl
- Measuring Cups and Measuring Spoons
- Pastry Brush
- Rolling Pin
- 9×13 Inch Baking Dish or Aluminum Pan
Ingredients
- 4 1/2 Cups All-purpose Flour
- 1 Cup Milk warmed
- 1/3 Cup mostly melted Butter
- 2 1/4 Teaspoons or 1 packet of Yeast (fast-acting)
- 2 Room temperature Eggs
- 1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar
- 1/4 Cup Sour Cream
- 1/2 Tablespoon Vanilla extract or Vanilla Paste
- 1 Teaspoon Salt
- 1/4 Cup Heavy Cream
Filling
- 1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
- 1/3 Cup Butter
- 1 1/2 Tablespoons Cinnamon
- 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Powder, optional
For the Frosting
- 1 3/4 Cup Powdered Sugar
- 4 Tablespoons Room Temperature Butter
- 3-4 Tablespoons Heavy Cream or milk
- 1 Teaspoon Vanilla extract or Vanilla Paste
Instructions
- Start by warming up your milk in a bowl to 100 -104 degrees(use a microwave or stove), pour the packet of yeast into the milk, take a teaspoon of sugar from the half cup and add it to the yeast. Stir the mixture once or twice.
- Let the yeast mixture sit for 10 minutes or until foaming(whichever comes 1st).
- While the yeast mixture is setting up, put the sugar, sour cream, eggs, vanilla and flour in the mixing bowl.
- Melt your butter and set it to the side to cool to 100 degrees.
- Add the yeast mixture to the mixing bowl and using a dough hook attachment, mix all the ingredients together.
- Once the ingredients start to blend together, add in the melted butter. Continue to let the dough hook knead the dough for 8 minutes until the dough is uniform and not sticking to the bowl. Put the dough into a ball shape.
- Lightly oil a bowl or square shape pan and place the dough ball in it. (*if the ball of dough is still a very sticky knead it 3-4 times before putting it in the bowl.) Cover the bowl with cling wrap or kitchen towel for 40 minutes. ( I do both to calm my nerves lol)
Prepping The Filling
- Mix together the brown sugar, cinnamon and vanilla powder in a bowl.
- On clean surfaces sprinkle a light coating of flour. Then roll out the dough to a 24 -26” X 8-10” (inch) rectangle.
- Slightly melt 1/3 cup of butter and using a pastry brush, spread most of the butter all over the dough and pour the cinnamon sugar mixture all over the buttered dough.
- Now you can either roll the dough into a log and cut it to make into 2-2 1/2 inch strips and then snuggly roll the strips to create the 9-10 rolls.
- Place the rolls in the pan about 1- 2 inches apart.
- Brush the top of the rolls with the remaining melted butter and then pour 1 tablespoon of heavy cream over over each cinnamon roll.
- Cover the rolls like you did previously for 15 minutes to allow them to rise.
- Preheat the oven at 375 degrees.
- Place the rolls in the oven to bake for 20 minutes. Check the rolls at the 15 minute mark to see if they’re done since ovens vary.
- Place the rolls on a flat surface to cool down.
The Frosting
- Using a whisk or whisk attachment, beat your butter for about 30 seconds.
- Next add the powdered sugar,Vanilla, and heavy cream. Mix the ingredients together until smooth and fully combined.
Notes
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