You NEED these big, fluffy, irresistible cinnamon rolls packed with a cinnamon brown sugar filling and a vanilla cream cheese glaze IN YOUR LIFE!!!

These cinnamon rolls are my boys’ (and my husband’s 😉 ) absolute favorite treat to indulge in on weekends! Fine. Mine as well! I’ve been using this recipe for 5 years and I have no idea where I got it from. I have it scribbled down on a beat up recipe card & I’ve altered a few things from the original recipe and they are PERFECTION! They are soft, fluffy and just melt in your mouth.

I know a lot of people are intimidated working with yeast. This may seem strange, but working with yeast has always been therapeutic for me -whether it’s pizza dough, dinner rolls, cinnamon rolls, bread, etc… and even though most of these do take a little time, love and patience from start to finish, seeing the end result still excites me after 10 years of baking. 🙂 That extra time is always worth it.

This recipe is very simple to follow and pretty much fool-proof. If you follow all the steps carefully, you’ll get the best batch of cinnamon rolls you’ve ever had. You can also make these the night before so you can have fresh, warm cinnamon rolls in the morning with hardly any work. I’ll have some instructions below. Before I learned this trick, I used to wake at 5:30 am (yes, you read that correctly) to get a head start on these so we could have them with breakfast or brunch. Not anymore!!

I feel like I need to keep repeating myself. These are the BEST cinnamon rolls in the WORLD. You’ll never go back to those tin of pre-made ones! 😉 Do yourself a favor and give these a try.

Serves: 12 cinnamon rolls

INGREDIENTS

DOUGH

• 1 cup warm milk
• 1 tablespoon instant dry yeast
• 2 tablespoons white granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons salted butter, softened
• 1 large egg, room temperature
• 3 cups bread flour (all-purpose flour works, too. Bread flour just gives you a fluffier roll.)

FILLING

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon

CREAM CHEESE GLAZE

• 6 oz butter, unsalted & softened
• 1/2 cup cream cheese, room temperature
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

INSTRUCTIONS

1. For the dough, in the bowl of a stand mixer, combine warm milk, yeast, sugar, salt, butter, and eggs. With a fork, give it a quick stir. Add in flour. Using the dough hook, turn the mixer on to a low speed and mix well until well incorporated.
2. Increase the speed to medium. The dough mixture should be tacky, but not stick to your hands. Add more flour as necessary. The dough should be soft.
3. Place the dough into a lightly greased bowl, cover and let rise in a warm place about 1 hour or until the dough has doubled in size.
4. Lightly grease a 9×13 inch baking dish with cooking spray or butter.
5. Punch down the dough and roll it out on a lightly floured surface, until it is approximately 18 inches long by 12 inches wide.
6. Spread the 1/2 cup of butter evenly over the dough. In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar and cinnamon, then sprinkle evenly over the surface of the butter.
7. Working carefully, roll up tightly lengthwise so you have one long roll.
8. Cut the dough into 12 one inch slices, and place in a lightly greased baking pan. You can also use plain dental floss or a sharp knife to cut into slices.
9. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let them rise for another 40 minutes, or until doubled in size.
10. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Bake the rolls for about 17-20 minutes, until just lightly browned on top. (as shown below) Cooking times can vary.
11. While the cinnamon rolls are baking, make the cream cheese glaze by using a hand mixer to whip together cream cheese and butter in a bowl until light and smooth. Add the powdered sugar, vanilla and salt.
12. When the rolls are done, spread generously with cream cheese glaze while they’re still warm. Serve immediately.

RECIPE NOTES

OVERNIGHT INSTRUCTIONS

Prepare the cinnamon rolls up until step 8. Cover the rolls loosely with plastic wrap, set them in the refrigerator overnight. The next morning, just set out the rolls about one hour before baking. Depending on the temperature of your house, they do rise better in a warmer environment. I usually set mine in a preheated oven at the lowest temp (179F). But be sure to turn the oven off after putting the rolls in to rise!