I feel like a cinnamon roll making machine lately! I have been using the same cinnamon roll recipe for a while now, but I really wanted to see if I could successfully make a few changes that would simplify the recipe and also make it more convenient. My old recipe makes A LOT of cinnamon rolls. I really just wanted one pan. Though I’m sure my family would have no problem taking care of more! Also, I wanted to see if I could make the dough the night before, and have the rolls ready to bake in the pan the next morning.
It’s just so nice to be able to pull the cinnamon rolls out of the fridge, and not have to make too much of a mess in the kitchen first thing in the morning. Great for special occasions and holiday breakfasts.
I made these rolls three different times last week trying to get them just right. I brought some to friends, and some to my mom’s group, and then well yah, I ate a bunch myself! I used to be a little ho hum about cinnamon rolls in general, but lately I’m just wanting to dive right into that pan face first!
And this is some serious cream cheese frosting my friends. We are not messing around AT ALL! It’s not too sweet, and it really thick and fluffy too. Oh my, YUM! You could easily cover the whole pan with a thin layer if you half the frosting recipe, but if you love a good thick layer of frosting, make the full recipe and see what I mean!
Can you all guess which part of the roll is my absolute favorite? Oh man, that oh-so-soft and cinnamon-y core! I always save the best for last.
So let me give you a few tips so that your cinnamon rolls with come out just right.
1. You want to make sure that all of the liquid ingredients are warm, but not too hot. Make sure you are using good yeast, like not from two years ago.
2. Use the right amount of flour. This recipe calls for 3 1/2 cups of flour, and then more for rolling out the dough. You really want to go more by feel than by measurement. You want to add just enough flour to make your dough not too sticky to handle, but no more. The softer/stickier your dough is, the more tender your roll will be. But you can’t roll it out properly if it sticks to your work surface, so its a fine balance. Lift the dough up every now and then as your roll it out to make sure it’s not sticking, and add more flour to the counter as you need it.
3. If you haven’t worked with yeast dough very much, you will get better with practice. Don’t be afraid, just jump in there and try it!
Make sure you use a sharp serrated knife when you are cutting your dough, and let the knife do the work as you gently saw back and forth so that you don’t squish the dough. Don’t worry if they don’t look perfect. They’ll fill out as the rise and bake.
This is what your dough will look like in the morning after you have let it rise for an hour. The rolls will rise even more when you bake them, so don’t worry if there is quite a bit of space in the pan.
Hope these tips are helpful for you, and that you get a chance to make these and fall in love with them just as we did!
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Overnight Cinnamon Rolls With Cream Cheese Frosting
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: 12 1x
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
Description
Cinnamon Rolls you can make the night before and bake first thing in the morning! Plus the thickest, fluffiest cream cheese frosting you’ve ever had.
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 teaspoons dry active yeast (1 packet)
- 2 tablespoons warm water
- 1 cup milk
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 egg beaten
- 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, divided
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 6 tablespoons melted butter
For the Filling
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter softened
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 2–3 tablespoons ground cinnamon
For the Frosting
- 4 tablespoons butter, softened
- 8 ounces cream cheese softened
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
Instructions
- Pour the yeast into a large bowl. Pour warm water over the yeast and stir to dissolve.
- Pour the warm milk over the yeast. You want all your liquid ingredients to feel warm, but not hot.
- Stir in the sugar and beaten egg.
- Add 2 cups of the flour and salt, and then mix well by hand.
- Pour melted (but not too hot) butter in, and mix.
- Add the remaining 1 1/2 cups of flour, and mix by hand until the dough is sticky, but pulls away from the sides of the bowl into one large ball.
- Cover the bowl and allow the dough to rise in a warm place for 1 1/2 hours.
- Turn the dough out of the bowl onto a well floured surface. I usually use another 1/4 cup of flour on my work surface, adding some to the top and bottom of the dough as I roll it out to prevent it from sticking to the counter.
- Roll the dough out to about 1/4 inch thick, into the shape of a rectangle measuring 12 by 18 inches.
- Smear your softened butter all over the dough. Then sprinkle sugar and cinnamon over the butter, taking care to go to the edges.
- Starting with a long edge of the rectangle, roll the dough up.
- Using a sharp serrated knife or dental floss, cut the rolled up dough in half. Cut each half in half again. Then cut each quarter into equal thirds so you have 12 pieces.
- Place each piece into a greased 9 by 13 inch baking dish with the spiral side up.
- Cover the baking dish and refrigerate overnight.
- In the morning, remove the baking dish from the fridge and let it sit in a warm spot in your kitchen for one hour. I usually turn my oven on for 30 seconds, then I turn it off and let the rolls rise covered in the just warm oven. Or you may have a “bread proof” setting on your oven.
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Place the baking dish on the center rack of your oven, and bake for 24-27 minutes. The tops will be golden brown.
For the Frosting
- Place softened butter and cream cheese into the bowl of an electric mixer. Whisk together until smooth and then add powdered sugar and whisk again on low speed. When all of the powdered sugar is mixed in, add heavy cream and whisk on medium high speed for about a minute.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Cinnamon Roll
- Calories: 500
- Sugar: 29g
- Sodium: 260mg
- Fat: 27g
- Saturated Fat: 16g
- Unsaturated Fat: 8.2g
- Trans Fat: 0.8g
- Carbohydrates: 60g
- Fiber: 2g
- Protein: 6.9g
- Cholesterol: 88mg
Shari says
Make this recipe exactly as written and resulting cinnamon buns were perfect-tender dough and perfect amount of sugar/cinnamon. Great recipe that I’ll be making again Christmas morning.
Julie says
Shari, how kind of you to take a moment to let me know how they turned out. I’m so glad you like them! I’ll be right there with you Christmas morning :0)
Emel says
Recipe sounds great…making it for Christmas breakfast.
Preparing the night before is convenient. (Who needs sleep!)
Julie says
Exactly! I’m sure I’ll be up wrapping presents :0)
Mary says
Can these rolls be made several days ahead and kept in fridge then remove 1 hour to rise and bake on xmas morning. Thanks
Julie says
I would not make them several days ahead Mary. I think the yeast might loose some of its rise. I have only tested the recipe making them the night before. Hope this is helpful for you!
mary says
Thanks I wondered about the yeast
fenny says
hi thanks for the recipe
i want to know the butter u use is it salted or not? for the filipine, u use white sugar or browsing sugar + cinnamon powder? and also the degree of the oven use.350 degree celcius? n u keep it 350 degree for 24-27 min?
Julie says
Hi Fenny,
The butter I used is salted, and the filling is white sugar with ground cinnamon. The temperature of the oven is 350 degrees fahrenheit, which is 176 degrees celcius. Thank you for your questions, hope this helps!
fenny says
tks julie 🙂
sorry for the typo. my mobile autocorrect itself 🙁
^^ cheers,fenny – indonesia
Noreen says
Have you tried this recipe with whole wheat flour? If so, are there any changes to the recipe for that? I like whole wheat rather than white. My mother use to make rolls like that, but 40 years ago they used white unbleached flour…. do you have a good recipe for raised donuts??? She made the best of those as well… but with a family of 11 children and I was one of the youngest…. she never taught us to cook. I guess because it was faster to do it while we were in school than to wait for the weekends.
Noreen says
Have you tried this recipe with whole wheat flour? If so, are there any changes to the recipe for that? I like whole wheat rather than white. My mother use to make rolls like that, but 40 years ago they used white unbleached flour…. do you have a good recipe for raised donuts??? She made the best of those as well… but with a family of 11 children and I was one of the youngest…. she never taught us to cook. I guess because it was faster to do it while we were in school than to wait for the weekends. She was a great baker.
Julie says
Hi Noreen, I have not tried the cinnamon rolls with whole wheat flour, but if I did, I would try subbing half of the flour for whole wheat first. Raised donuts sound so good right now, unfortunately I do not have a recipe for them yet!
Cheryl Mattos says
If you use whole wheat flour, try half white and half wheat. Add one teaspoon vital wheat gluten. It will help the whole wheat flour rise more.
Karen says
These sound amazing! If I make them now at 10am, do you think they should be ok to bake tomorrow morning, around 24 hours later? TIA!!
Julie says
I haven’t tried making them that far in advance so let me know how it goes if you try it. Hope you enjoy!
Karen says
They came out so awesome!!! They were the perfect amount of fluffy and sweet!!!!! I got lots of compliments and I myself ate way more than I should have 🙂 will definitely be making these again!!!
Julie says
I know the feeling Karen! I appreciate you letting me know how they turned out. Makes my day to hear that you loved them too!
Tori says
I was wondering how the recipe would differ if I used quick rise yeast instead of active dry. I know they are different so I wasn’t sure
Thanks!
Julie says
I’m not sure because I haven’t tried it before in this recipe. I would try to search for a cinnamon roll recipe that uses that type of yeast, just to be sure. Thanks for your question!
Jessica Dimas says
Oh my gosh, Julie!!! You probably don’t remember me, but I used to go to your church. I’ve had this pinned for awhile now but on my mobile I never saw your pic. Have my laptop out tonight to make these for Christmas morning and I was so shocked to see your profile pic, I was like “hey, I know her!” 🙂
These look so good, can’t wait to taste them in the morning!
Julie says
That is so funny! You look familiar to me too. Did we go to the same church in high school? Hope you enjoyed the cinnamon rolls and had a great Christmas.
Linda says
These lovely cinnamon rolls are rising and almost ready to bake. We are spending Christmas with our bachelor son and improvising in his kitchen. Last night I accidentally used Bisquick instead of flour in my first batch of cinnamon rolls. (A Senior Moment!!!) Then I made a second batch using all the correct ingredients. Both batches are in baking now. I’ll let you know the results later. Thanks for the recipe. Have a Merry Christmas! Linda@Wetcreek Blog
Julie says
Oh bummer that you had to start over. Happens to me too! Merry Christmas to you as well!
Splashing in Puddles says
I made these last night and we ate them this morning and they turned out perfectly. They were so delicious !! Thanks so much for figuring out how to make them the night before, it would be a lot to do in the morning for breakfast.
Julie says
I’m so glad they turned out so well for you. I made them this morning too!
Joan says
These are really good! I was concerned that you didn’t knead the dough, but it turned out perfectly. Best recipe I have tried for our Christmas morning cinnamon rolls!
Julie says
Joan, I’m so happy to hear that you liked the cinnamon rolls! Thanks for letting me know!
Lindsey : LRstitched says
I just had to comment and tell you what a fab recipe this is! I have had disastrous experiences with homemade cinnamon rolls in the past and had about given up hope of being able to eat them on Christmas morn. I tried your recipe this year and OMG, amazing! These are the.best.cinnamon.rolls. The dough is so flaky and delicious and the frosting is perfect! I can’t wait to make these next year.
Thank you for sharing your talent!
Lindsey
Julie says
Lindsey, I’m SO HAPPY that you loved them! Yay!
Maria says
I switched Christmas breakfast recipes over and over these past few weeks. I ended up with starting this Christmas Eve and we ate them Christmas morning. We loved them! So happy this was the winning recipe.
Julie says
Isn’t it just the best feeling when a recipe turns out to be as good as you hoped? I’m so happy you liked these Maria! Thank you for letting me know!
Cat Bogoje says
Just made these for the first time and they are amazing. Took them out of the oven & glazed about 5 mins ago & alot of them eaten already. I hadn’t used yeast before so followed instructions & worked out well.
Julie says
That’s great! Working with yeast really isn’t too complicated after you get the hang of it. Thanks for letting me know how they turned out!
Aimie says
Just a little hint I learned from my Grandma- an easy way to cut beautiful and uncrushed rolls is to use dental floss! Place the piece perpendicular to the roll and pull the ends up, cross them over and pull tight. Easy as that and it makes WONDERFUL cuts every time!
Julie says
Aimie, it’s so funny that you just left me this tip. I made some cinnamon rolls for the freezer yesterday, and I found that the dough was extra soft and wasn’t cutting easily. I had heard that tip before, but I only had mint flavored floss on hand. I decided to try it anyway (I don’t think it flavored the rolls at all) and you are so right, it works perfectly! Thank you for stopping by and saying hi!
toni says
Can you please clarify the flout measurement? The recipe calls for 2 1/2 cups, but your photo comments say 3 1/2. Thanks for sharing.
Julie says
Hi Toni, you are going to add two cups of flour, then the melted butter, and then keep reading and you will see another 1 1/2 cups of flour is added. So it is 3 1/2 cups of flour total (plus more for dusting your work surface to roll it out). Didn’t mean to be confusing :0) Hope you enjoy the rolls!
Rhondi says
Hi Julie. I made these for breakfast this morning for my 3 girls and hubby. They were delicious! Your instructions and tips made it easy. I followed them exactly and the cinnamon rolls rose nicely in the bowl and in the pan the next morning. They were tender and the icing was heavenly. My family was very Happy and declared them the best I’ve ever made. Honestly, they were way better than the ones I posted on my blog years ago. Thanks for the amazing recipe. I look forward to trying more of your recipes. Have a Great weekend!
Julie says
This makes my day Rhondi! So glad everyone loved them. Hope you have a great weekend too!
Sarah says
I’ve made these twice now and LOVE how easy it is in the morning. Actually the whole recipe is pretty darn easy. Only thing I do different is use dental floss to cut the rolls instead of a knife. This is a keeper recipe!
Julie says
I love that dental floss tip! So glad you like this recipe, Sarah. Thanks for letting me know!