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Hi Bold Bakers!
What You Get In My Cinnabon Cinnamon Roll Recipe: A yeasted cinnamon roll, huge, soft, and slathered in cream cheese frosting — almost indistinguishable from the one you’d get from a mall. It is a yeasted dough, mind you, but don’t let that scare you off, I make it easy with my years of professional experience and tips, all of which you’ll find in this article! If you’re not ready for a yeasted dough, though, you can always try my 1-Hour No-Yeast Cinnamon Rolls recipe.
Look, I’m no stranger to a Cinnabon cinnamon roll! When I lived in Tahoe, there was a Cinnabon in the casino I worked in. The smell of those warm cinnamon rolls practically pulls you into the store. One day, I got wafted in and ordered one. I still remember it to this day!
The soft roll, loaded with cinnamon sugar and dripping in cream cheese frosting. If memory serves, it was so filling that it was the only thing I needed to eat that day.
Now, Cinnabons are few and far between — unless you frequent a mall or airport regularly, it seems. I thought, “Wouldn’t it be great if you could recreate those incredible rolls from scratch at home?”
So I got to work! Below is the closest thing I think you will get to the iconic cinnamon rolls at home. This discovery might be the best thing I ever made or my undoing!
What Are Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls?
Cinnabon cinnamon rolls aren’t you’re typical cinnamon roll. The cinnamon is really powerful, the cream cheese frosting is the perfect amount of sticky, and the dough is so pillowy and never overbaked.
If you ever encountered one, you could probably smell those warm rolls baking before you even spotted the storefront. They put their ovens right at the front of the store to make sure!
What You Need To Make Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls
- Measuring Cups and Spoons
- Mixing bowls
- 9×13-inch pan
How To Make Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls
All the deliciousness of a Cinnabon roll without having to head to the airport! Here’s how you make a mock Cinnabon roll, just make sure you head down the page for all the measurements and printable version:
- In a measuring jug, warm the butter and milk together until the butter has melted. Whisk in the eggs and set them aside.
- In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar, yeast, and salt.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry and combine to form your dough. It should form a tight ball with nothing left in the bowl.
- Once your dough is in tight ball form, cover and let it proof at room temperature for 70-90 minutes, or until doubled in size.
- After the dough has doubled, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll the dough out into a 24×12 inch rectangle.
- In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar and cinnamon. Spread 6 tablespoons (3oz/85g) of softened butter over the dough, and then sprinkle the cinnamon/sugar all over the surface.
- Starting with the long end of the dough, roll it up. Cut into 12 2-inch rolls. Place them into a lightly greased baking pan. Cover and let the rolls proof for a second time until nearly doubled. This takes about 45-60 minutes.
- Preheat your oven to 400°F (200°C). One preheated, bake the rolls until they are golden brown, about 18-20 minutes.
- While the rolls bake, make the cream cheese frosting by creaming together the cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt.
- While the rolls are still warm, spread the cream cheese frosting all over the top.
Gemma’s Pro Chef Tips For Making Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls
- Make the dough the day before and keep it in the fridge after the initial proof.
- Don’t be shy with the vanilla in the frosting! It’s what has you coming back for more.
- Bake the rolls until they are lightly golden brown. You don’t want to overbake them, so there’s no need to get a dark color.
- Make the cream cheese frosting in advance and have it at room temperature, ready to be smeared.
- Smear the cream cheese frosting over the buns when they are warm from the oven, so it melts into place.
How Do I Store Homemade Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls?
These rolls are best eaten the day they are made; however, you can cover and store any leftovers at room temperature for 2 days. Reheat in your microwave for 20 seconds before enjoying.
Try These Recipes!
- Crazy Dough Cinnamon Rolls
- No-Yeast Giant Cinnamon Roll
- Cinnamon Roll Cake
- Cinnamon Roll Pancakes
- 1-Hour Cinnamon Rolls
And don’t forget to buy my Bigger Bolder Baking Cookbook!
Try These Recipes!
Watch The Recipe Video!
Homemade Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls Recipe
Ingredients
Cinnamon Roll Dough
- 6 tablespoons (3oz/85g) butter (melted)
- 1 cup (8floz/240ml) milk (warm)
- 2 large eggs (room temperature)
- 4 ½ cups (22 ½oz/639g) all-purpose flour
- ½ cup (4oz/115g) granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons instant yeast
- 1 teaspoon salt
Cinnamon Sugar Mixture
- 1 cup (6oz/170g) dark brown sugar
- 2 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 6 tablespoons (3oz/85g) butter (softened)
Cream Cheese Frosting
- ½ cup (4oz/115g) cream cheese (softened)
- ¼ cup (2oz/57g) butter (softened)
- 1 ½ cups (6oz/170g) powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- In a measuring jug warm the butter and milk together until the butter has melted. Whisk in the eggs. Set aside.
- In a separate, large bowl mix together the flour, sugar, yeast, and salt.
- Add the wet ingredients into the dry and mix to form your dough. Your dough should form a tight ball with nothing left in the bowl.
- Once your dough has formed a tight ball, cover and allow to proof at room temperature for 70-90 minutes, or until doubled in size.
- After the dough has doubled in size turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll dough into a 24x12 inch rectangle.
- In a small bowl, combine brown sugar and cinnamon. Spread dough with 6 tablespoons (3oz/85g) softened butter and sprinkle generously with sugar/cinnamon mixture all over the surface.
- Starting with long edge roll up the dough and cut into 12 (2-inch) rolls. Place rolls in a lightly greased 9x13 inch baking pan. Cover and let rise until nearly doubled, about 45-60 minutes.
- Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Bake rolls in preheated oven until golden brown, about 18-20 minutes.
- While rolls are baking, cream together the cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt. Set aside.
- While the buns are warm from the oven generously spread on the cream cheese frosting. Enjoy while warm. Cinnamon rolls are best eaten the day they are baked.
I baked these for my nurses who administer my chemo. They love them. I received a lot of thumbs up from the group. 😄👍
Can these be proofed overnight for the second rise to bake the next morning?
I add raisins and walnuts
I saw this recipe shortly after Thanksgiving, and I couldn’t get it out of my head. So I gave in and gave it a try. I am in Costa Rica and I have a lot of issues with the weather, too hot, too humid, too damp, etc. I had to put the dough in the oven to get it to rise because it felt cool and the dough wasn’t making any progress. Well, after getting the dough to rise, everything went smoothly after that. These are wonderfully delicious and very fragrant. We couldn’t wait to taste them and have been… Read more »
First yeast dough recipe I’ve made that worked (I’ve tried several ). These were easy and they taste amazing!! Thank you Gemma – your site is my go to for recipes!
These came out perfectly. My 10 year old loves them and says they are “mind blowing”. Thanks for sharing this recipe! 🙂
I’ve made this recipe a few times and the cinnamon rolls are delicious, but I find the dough is very wet when mixing and never forms a ball. I always end up adding more flour, which I worry will affect the texture of the rolls. Rolling out the dough is tricky, as it is so soft, but I get there in the end. I find it easier to mix the butter, sugar and cinnamon together and spread that over the rolled out dough.
These came out perfect. Thank you so much for helping me to bake from scratch. I am 68 and this was my first time making homemade cinnamon rolls. They came out perfect!
Hi, Gemma. I plan to half the ingredients so I just need to divide it by 2, correct?
I can’t eat 12 cinnamon rolls! Hahaha
Just made these. They turned out delicious! Thank you for the best recipes!