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!
PrintOvernight Cinnamon Rolls With Cream Cheese Frosting
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.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: 12 1x
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
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
I have an overnight cinnamon roll recipe that makes two dozen rolls. I like to make them for our small group on Sunday mornings. I’m gonna give your cream cheese icing a try!
Hope you all enjoyed!
The icing made all the difference!
These were absolutely wonderful! We made them on Christmas Eve and since we are traveling we realized we didn’t have ingredients for cream cheese frosting so we made the glaze as another reader suggested! I used rapid rise yeast and I think it caused the rolls to rise too much so will go with regular next time. One question – I thought it seemed easier to add the melted butter first and then the flour – for easier mixing. I did this and it worked fine. Do you know of any reason not to do this? Thank you so much! This recipe is a keeper.
Thank you for the feedback, Marguerite. So glad you enjoyed! I’m really not sure what the reasoning is behind adding the melted butter halfway through the flour. This recipe is adapted from a butterhorn dinner roll recipe, and that is what the recipe says to do so I have just always done it that way.
I’ve never posted on a blog before, but I just have to. These are GOOD. Like really really good. I made them 12/23 for Christmas Eve morning, and they were everything you want a cinnamon roll to be. The flavor developed with the slow rise in the fridge. They weren’t dried out when cooked. They weren’t “glue” when cooked either. They were perfect. And of course I made the full recipe of icing 🙂 …although I forgot to buy heavy cream. The consistency was perfect without it; I didn’t even have to add a little milk. I bet the cream would make it ultra-rich (will remember for next time). THANKS!
I”m so glad you loved them!
ok open sew quilting meets in morning. Im going to make these and i will let you know how they turned out and what everone thinks
Thank you Fran. Hope you all enjoy!
Big hit with all the sewers. All want the recipe. Thanks again They were great
I’m so glad Fran! Thanks for letting me know!
YUMMM!!!! I prepared these last night and am eating a nice hot cinnamon roll right now, this is such a great recipe and it wasn’t difficult to make at all. Thank you for this scrumptious recipe. I will be making this plenty in the future. 🙂
Love,
Molly
Oh yay Molly! I’m so glad the rolls worked out for you.
This is the best recipe. Made these twice and successful both times. Definitely my go to recipe for cinnamon rolls. Thank u!
I’m so glad you love them too! Thanks for letting me know how they turned out.
What a great recipe! So wonderful for when the in laws are spending the weekend! Thanks for the recipe!
Thanks for the good report Christine!
Just a tip for the cutting, if you use a thread, it’s a whole lot easier. Cut a piece of thread about 7 or 8 inches long, shimmy it underneath the dough and wrap around the log of dough and pull through. It will slide right through the dough with no squishing. It works really well.
Thanks Ainsley!
I have made this recipe a couple times, and I LOVE it! The only thing I ended up changing was that I almost tripled the amount of salt, because I thought the dough was a little bland. Thanks for sharing!
I made this recipe yesterday . We had them this morning for breakfast. Yumm!!! Love!! Recipe is a keeper. I like that it makes just one pan.
So glad Sheila! Yes, sometimes one pan is all you need :0)
Can you substitute the milk with buttermilk instead? Love baking with buttermilk!
TIA
I have never tried that but you have me curious! Let me know how they turn out if you decide to go for it.
I made these for a brunch this past weekend. I made them in the morning and let them rise on the counter. They were seriously amazing. Thank you for this recipe!
Wow that’s so great Jen! I’m glad they turned out so well for you! Now I want to make some :0)
I am 21 years old and I have been looking for a good recipe to try for home made cinnamon rolls. I have never made them, but these were amazing! My whole family is begging me to save them one as I write this. Even my grandmother, who is a wonderful cook. Thank you so much for sharing, I will definitely be keeping this recipe!
That’s so awesome Jessica! These cinnamon rolls are one of my very favorite things to make – mostly because everyone just loves them so much!
I’m considering making your recipe for when we move next weekend. (for those who come to help us) Would it ruin the dough to triple or quadruple the recipe? I’m planning on making about 4 dozen rolls. I know some recipes are bad to double (or quadruple), and wasn’t sure about this one. Thanks!
Hi Jessica, I think it would be hard to triple or quadruple the recipe – mainly because that would require working with such a large mass of dough. I think I would suggest doubling the recipe twice instead. That is a lot of rolls, and I will gladly come help you move in exchange for one :0) Best of luck!
Thanks!!
I absolutely love this recipe. I have been using bread flour and it makes them so fluffy. I have shared it with so many of my mama friends.
Thanks so much Jannamarie, so glad you love it!
Can I make the frosting the night before too?
Sure, you can just keep it in the fridge, and the let it sit out in the morning while the rolls bake so it will be soft enough to spread. Enjoy!
I make cinnamon rolls alot ,when I cut them ,I use dental floss it works really well ,try it, I think you’ll find it works alot better then a knife
Thank you for the tip Peggy!
These cinnamon rolls are fantastic! Everyone in the family LOVED them. They also freeze really well which is nice. I love the fact that you adapted the recipe to make part of it the night before…makes it a lot less work in the morning! Thank you SO much for sharing!
Hi! I’ve been craving cinnamon rolls since the cold weather began here in Portugal and randomly came across your recipe on Pinterest today.
These cinnamon rolls are perfect for a sunday morning treat and I’m gonna try them this next weekend, for sure!
xoxo
Hope you enjoyed Helena!
If I double the recipe does the yeast amount stay the same?
No, you should make two separate batches exactly as written for the best results. Thanks for your question!
Can these be left in the refrigerator longer than overnight? Was wanting to make these Christmas Eve Eve 🙂 and pull out to bake Christmas morning (so they’d be in the fridge ~36 hours). Will they still turn out?
Hi Laura, I can see how that would be super nice to have them ready to go so early, but I would worry about how they would turn out after being in the fridge longer than overnight – just because I really haven’t had the chance to test the recipe that way. Hope this helps! Merry Christmas!
I am making these today, so that we have freshly-baked, warm-gooey cinnamon rolls for our Christmas breakfast. A tradition. Is there a limit to how long these can be refrigerated? I want to make them this morning and put them in fridge, but that would be a lot longer than just overnight. Thanks!
I have never made them more than 12 hours before baking, but I don’t think a few more hours would matter too much. Hope you enjoy!!!
I LOVE this recipe! I’ve made these for breakfast on Christmas morning the last 2 years and they’re always a big hit, and I haven’t had any issues living at high altitude which is andolurely wonderful. The only thing I changed was doing a mix of white sugar and brown sugar, so yummy! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe!
*absolutely 😳
This makes me SO happy Sarah!
Just made these for the time. Perfect for this blustery winter morning. I used brown sugar for the filling and threw in about 1/3 cup of raisins. Super delicious. Since I only had 4 oz of cream cheese I made half recipe of frosting which was more than enough. The flavor of the cheese was strong
Can these be made with gluten-free flour?
I’ve never tried them with gluten-free flour so I’m not sure. Let me know how it goes if you decide to try it!
This was such an easy recipe! Thank you!!!! They were amazing also. 😁
I’ll be honest. I am always a bit skeptical about pulling recipes off Pinterest. After failing at quite a few other cinnamon roll recipes I dug deep into your reviews, past the “these look good’, before committing. I am glad I committed. They are a winner. Thank you!
Tanya
Thanks so much for the good feedback Tanya!
I bake my rolls, cool, slice apart and freeze in ziplock bags. Place frozen roll on plate and microwave 38-40seconds. Every roll is oven fresh.
These were so good! Just finished baking them and they’re already gone. Next time I might change up the frosting. I really enjoyed the tangyness of the cream cheese, but my kids and husband prefer a more traditional frosting. Thanks for the great recipe!!
You are so welcome! Glad you liked them.