The Best Cinnamon Rolls You’ll Ever Eat

I might be biased, but I think these are the BEST cinnamon rolls. Big, fluffy, soft and absolutely delicious. This recipe is for overnight cinnamon rolls, topped with vanilla cream cheese icing.

These cinnamon rolls take a bit more effort and time, but they are well worth it. And are definitely a weekend treat worth getting out of bed for.

Let me know if you give this recipe a go.

The Best Cinnamon Rolls

Big, soft and fluffy cinnamon rolls topped with cream cheese icing.
Prep Time30 minutes
Cook Time25 minutes
Rising Time + Overnight1 hour
Total Time1 hour 55 minutes
Course: Breakfast
Keyword: bread, breakfast, brunch, cinnamon, cinnamon rolls

Equipment

  • 9×13 inch baking tray

Ingredients

Dough

  • 600 g plain flour
  • 7 g instant yeast
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 240 ml whole milk
  • 75 g unsalted butter
  • 100 g caster sugar
  • 3 eggs

Cinnamon Filling

  • 30 g flour
  • 2 tbsp cinnamon
  • 125 g SOFT unsalted butter
  • 150 g light brown sugar
  • 100 ml cream For pouring over the risen rolls

Cream Cheese Icing

  • 180 g icing sugar
  • 50 g unsalted butter room temperature
  • 100 g full-fat cream cheese room temperature
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • ¼ tsp salt

Instructions

  • Take the butter and cream cheese out of the fridge for your cinnamon filling and icing. You need those soft.

Dough

  • Heat your butter, milk and sugar over a low heat. You don't want this to get too hot, just until the butter has melted. Take off the heat and put to the side.
  • In a large mixing bowl mix the flour, yeast and salt.
  • Add the milk mixture and eggs to your flour and combine. The mixture will be sticky, but don't be tempted to add more flour.
  • Now we need to knead the dough to strengthen the gluten. This helps the dough rise later. This can be done by hand by in a stand mixer with a dough hook. If you're doing it by hand (which I do the majority of the time for this recipe), there is a great video here.
  • Knead for about five minutes.
  • Clean the mixing bowl and put the dough back in and cover with a clean tea towel. Allow to rise at room temperature until doubled in size.

Swirl Time

  • While the dough is rising make your cinnamon roll filling, combine the 30g flour, soft butter, sugar and cinnamon into a paste.
  • When your dough has doubled in size, punch the air out of it. Feels counter intuitive, but it's necessary.
  • On a lightly floured surface, roll your dough out into a rectangle roughly 30 x 40cm. It does not need to be exact.
  • Gently spread the cinnamon butter mixture over the whole surface of the dough. This is why it's important to to have soft butter.
  • From the long edge, carefully roll the dough up swiss-roll style.
  • Cut the dough into 12, roughly 3cm slices. I like to use unflavoured dental floss to do this. Wrap the floss around the roll and pull tight until it slices through the roll. If you'd like larger rolls, then cut into 8. Arrange cut side up in a lined 9 x 13in tray. I line mine with greaseproof paper so the rolls are easier to take out later.
  • If baking immediately, then leave to rise for 30 minutes at room temperature. If the plan is to leave them overnight, then cover your rolls and place in the fridge. The dough will rise slowly in the fridge.
  • If refrigerated, leave come to room temperature for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven 170°C. Pour the cream over the risen rolls and gently spread. Use all the cream.
  • Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown. Leave cool in the tray.

Cream Cheese Icing

  • Beat all the ingredients together until smooth.
  • Spread generously over the cinnamon rolls.

Notes

  1. Best eaten on the day that they are made, but will be okay for a day or two in a airtight container.

Enjoy, R x