Impossibly Soft Cinnamon Roll Recipe (+ Cream Cheese Frosting!)

homemade cinnamon buns on white background

5 from 34 votes

Impossibly Soft Cinnamon Roll Recipe (+ Cream Cheese Frosting!)

This homemade cinnamon roll recipe is tested till perfect with several tricks to make them the best ever. A swirl of sweet bread, oozing with buttery brown sugar and cinnamon, thickly topped with cream cheese frosting.

Prep Time30

Cook Time30

Resting time2 30

Total Time3 30

Course: Breakfast

Cuisine: Swedish

Keyword: Cinnamon buns, Cinnamon rolls with cream cheese frosting, Moist cinnamon rolls, Soft Cinnamon Rolls

Servings:

Author: Jennifer Pallian BSc, RD

Ingredients

For Cinnamon Roll Dough:

4 ½ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup granulated sugar
2 ¼ tsp instant yeast (see notes to substitute active dry yeast)
1 ½ tsp kosher salt
1 cup warm milk 110°F - 120°F
½ cup unsalted butter melted
2 large eggs at room temperature

For the Filling:

1 cup packed brown sugar
2 ½ tbsp ground cinnamon
½ cup unsalted butter softened

Cream Cheese Frosting (Optional)

4 oz cream cheese softened
¼ cup unsalted butter softened
1 ½ cups powdered sugar
½ tsp vanilla extract
A pinch of salt

Additional:

¼ cup milk for baking pan

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

To Make the Dough:

In a large bowl or stand mixer, stir together the flour, sugar, yeast, and salt.
TIP: tap the “metric “ button in my recipe card to see weight measurements.
In another bowl, mix the warm milk, melted butter, and eggs.
Add the milk mixture to the dry ingredients and stir it together to form a shaggy dough.
Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 7-10 minutes by hand or 4 minutes with a stand mixer with a dough hook attached on medium-low speed.
The dough will initially be sticky; refrain from adding more flour as it will absorb moisture while resting.
Let the dough rise in a greased, covered bowl in a warm place for about 30-45 minutes.

To Make the Filling:

Mix the brown sugar and cinnamon in a bowl.

To Assemble:

Roll out the dough on a floured surface into a 12x16-inch rectangle.
Spread the softened butter over the dough, then evenly sprinkle with the brown sugar-cinnamon mixture.
Roll the dough tightly from the long edge and cut into 8 even slices.
Place in a greased 9x13-inch baking pan and cover with plastic wrap. Let them rise again for about 2 hours, or until doubled in size.

To Bake:

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Just before baking, remove the plastic wrap and pour ¼ cup of milk around the rolls into the bottom of baking dish.
Bake for 30-40 minutes, covering with foil or parchment after 20 minutes to prevent over-browning. Bake until golden brown and they reach 190ºF with a meat thermometer.

To Make the Frosting (Optional):

Beat the cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, and a pinch of salt in a bowl until smooth.
Spread the frosting on warm buns for a melty, gooey frosting, or wait until completely cool if you prefer frosting not to melt.

Notes

TIP: tap the “metric “ button in my recipe card to see weight measurements.

Steal the 4 science-backed tips pro bakers use for the squishiest cinnamon rolls EVER.

Perfect doneness: Use a thermometer to tell when the rolls are done. Water quickly turns to steam at 212ºF, which is moisture lost forever from your dough.

The cinnamon rolls are done once the rolls reach 190ºF. They will be maximum moist at this time. Over-baking is a major culprit in dry rolls.

No sweat if you don't have a thermometer. As long as they aren't sticky-doughy, they're done.

Measure accurately: Weighing your flour is the only fail-safe way to make sure you don’t get too much.

Flour settles and compacts, which means one cup scooped by your mom is different from one cup scooped by you.

TIP: tap the “metric “ button in my recipe card to see weight measurements.

LIFE-CHANGING tip for FOOLPROOF deliriously-soft cinnamon rolls: Pour some extra milk into the bottom of the pan after you place the rolls in.

- The milk adds moisture, keeping the buns soft and squishy as they bake. It creates steam so that an outer crust doesn’t form too quickly and the dough can expand to its maximum volume and fluffiness.

- The dough slurps up the extra milk as it bakes. None will be left in the pan. You’re simply left with the most pillowy-soft cinnamon buns of your life.

Overnight Option:

Prep the rolls up to the second rise, then cover the pan and refrigerate overnight. In the morning, lift the parchment out and separate the cold rolls on the counter so they warm up and finish rising. Once they’re puffy and at room temperature, put them back in the pan and bake as usual.

To use active dry yeast instead of instant yeast:

Replace the 2 ¼ tsp of instant yeast with the same amount of active dry yeast.
Dissolve the active dry yeast in the warm milk (110°F – 120°F) and let it sit for about 5-10 minutes until it becomes frothy.
Then, proceed with mixing the warm milk and yeast mixture with the melted butter and eggs. Add this mixture to the dry ingredients and continue with the original instructions to form the dough, knead, and let it rise as directed. This extra step ensures the yeast activates properly.

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