Delicious Homemade Classic Cinnamon Rolls
These Delicious Homemade Classic Cinnamon Rolls are the best thing you'll ever taste---seriously! Big, fluffy, tender, and smothered in a rich, but light cream cheese frosting, these cinnamon rolls are sure to win over any sweet tooth. Gluten-Free and Vegan options available.
Servings 12 servings
Ingredients
DOUGH:
- 3 cups organic All-purpose flour (See Notes!)
- 2 cups Artisan Bread flour
- 1/2 cup organic brown sugar + 1 Tbsp
- 1 packet Rapid Rise Yeast (That's 2 1/4 tsps!)
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- Pinch of ground allspice
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 2 large eggs, room temp.
- 1 1/4 cups Almond milk, room temp. (You can also use regular dairy milk, if preferred!)
- 1/4 cup WARM water (See Notes!)
- 6 Tbsps unsalted butter, melted (Make sure that it's WARM, not hot!)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
FILLING:
- 1/2 cup organic brown sugar
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened at room temp.
- 1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp ground ginger
- Pinch of ground allspice
CREAM CHEESE GLAZE:
- 4 oz. organic cream cheese, at room temp. (That's 1/2 a pack!)
- 4-5 cups organic powdered sugar, sifted
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1-2 Tbsps organic heavy cream or plant-based milk
- Pinch of ground cinnamon
OTHER:
- 1 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted (For brushing the tops)
Instructions
FOR THE DOUGH:
- Combine yeast and 1 Tbsp brown sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and slowly pour in warm water while stirring frequently. Allow 10 minutes for the mixture to sit and for the yeast to activate.
- Add in the room temperature milk and warm butter to the yeast mixture and whisk until well combined. Add in the eggs (one at a time) and vanilla, whisking to incorporate.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, bread flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, allspice, and sea salt and add them to the wet ingredients and mix on low-speed until well combined and everything begins to form into a dough-like consistency, about 2-3 minutes.
- Change “Mixer head” to kneading accessory and knead dough for 5-10 minutes on high speed until dough ball becomes smooth and elastic and dough springs back when lightly pressed together with 2 fingers. NOTE: If dough is still too sticky, add 1 Tbsp of flour at a time until texture is achieved!
- Lightly grease a large bowl with a small amount of olive oil and place the dough ball in the bowl, tossing it around until coated. Cover with plastic wrap (or a towel) and let sit for 1 hour, allowing the dough to rise and double in size.
- In the meantime, you can work on the filling!
FOR THE FILLING:
- Add the softened the butter (best if done at room temp. so that it's more "paste-like" in texture once smeared) in a bowl and set aside. In a separate bowl, combine the cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice, and brown sugar, mixing them together. Set aside.
- Once the dough has risen fully, preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and line a large 9x13 baking dish with parchment paper, allowing excess to hang from the sides.
- Add a bit of flour to a surface and place the dough onto it, lightly adding a bit of flour to the top. Using a rolling-pin, roll out the dough into a rectangular shape (approximately 9″x14 and 1/2-inch thick), trimming the edges if needed. NOTE: Try not to make the dough too thin or else rolling it up will be hard to do!
- Then, generously add 3/4 of the softened butter atop dough (spreading it out evenly with a spoon or knife), followed by the brown sugar-spice mixture, ensuring that the top is coated evenly. NOTE: I also use a 'pastry brush' to sweep sugar mixture evenly across the dough to ensure that every bite is sweet!
- Tightly roll dough (long-ways) and using a pastry cutter, cut dough into 1.5" rolls, placing each roll (cut side down) into a large baking dish (lined with parchment paper!).
- Then place plastic wrap over the baking dish with rolls, smear the tops with remaining softened butter and let them rise again (for another 20 minutes).
- Once the rolls have doubled in size (once again!) or have gotten significantly larger, bake them for approximately 35-40 minutes in the preheated oven.
- While all the baking magic is happening, make the Cream Cheese Glaze.
FOR THE CREAM CHEESE GLAZE:
- In a large bowl, beat (using a hand-mixer) the softened cream cheese until creamy and smooth. Add the powdered sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, and heavy cream/milk, beating everything together until the glaze becomes smooth and velvety. NOTE: Add additional heavy cream (1 Tbsp at a time) if the glaze is too thick or powdered sugar (1 Tbsp at a time) if too thin.
- Remove the rolls from oven and wait 25-30 minutes or until it completely cools, before spreading the frosting/glaze atop the rolls using a rubber spatula evenly until fully covered.
- To serve, cut out each roll desired and enjoy.
- Bon Appetit!
Notes
- TO STORE: Cinnamon Rolls can be kept fresh at room temperature when tightly wrapped or sealed for up to 3 days. Fresh for up to 1 week in the Refrigerator. Baked rolls can be frozen up to 2 months.
- RAPID (INSTANT) RISE YEAST VS. ACTIVE DRY YEAST: If you’re not using the Rapid Rise Yeast for this recipe, please know that the rise time will be twice as long (about 3 hours) since regular Active Yeast doesn’t work as quickly.
- FLOUR: If you don’t have bread flour, you can always just use all-purpose flour entirely instead.
- GLUTEN-FREE OPTION: If you're looking to make these GF, I recommend substituting both flours with Bob's 1:1 Baking flour and slightly reducing the amount by 1 cup, slowing adding more if the dough is too sticky.
- OVERNIGHT OPTION: If you don’t want to make your Cinnamon Rolls on the same day, you can simply follow all steps (including the initial 1+ hour rise) and after cutting rolls and placing them into your baking pan, just cover them tightly (using foil paper of plastic wrap) and refrigerate them overnight or for 8-12 hours instead. The following day, remove from refrigerator and keeping them covered, let cinnamon rolls rise at room temp 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
- VEGAN OPTION: To make these classic cinnamon rolls vegan, simply omit the eggs and substitute with 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar. Also, substitute the butter with vegan butter and omit the cream cheese and add 1/4 cup of softened vegan butter instead.