Cinnamon Rolls Recipe (2024)

Cinnamon Rolls will fill your house with the wonderful smell of freshly baked sweet rolls that are full of cinnamon and topped with a homemade whipped cream cheese frosting. Try my Quick Cinnamon Rolls or my Air Fryer Cinnamon Roll for the same great cinnamon roll taste!

Cinnamon Rolls

It made sense to add this classic cinnamon rolls recipe to my growing number of sweet roll recipes, including my Raspberry Cream Cheese Sweet Rolls, Orange Sweet Rolls, and Lemon Blueberry Sweet Rolls.

No matter the bakery you walk into, you are almost certainly going to find a cinnamon roll on the menu. But, you will have to travel to Sweden to find the giant cinnamon rolls that measure 12 inches in diameter or more! But don’t be intimidated, the cinnamon rolls from this recipe are pretty average in size, so you should be fine eating the entire roll.

Cinnamon Sweet Rolls Recipe

There are three main parts to this recipe–the dough, the filling, and the homemade frosting.

Sweet Roll Dough

The base for this sweet roll dough is the same as a few of my other sweet roll recipes. It is one of the easiest doughs to work in part due to the ingredients and in part due to the process. To make this dough:

• Whisk together the milk, 1 tablespoon of sugar, and the yeast.
• Let that sit at room temperature for about 5 minutes. The mixture will get a little foamy.
• Add in eggs and whisk until the mixture is smooth.
• Next, move to your stand mixer. Make sure it is fitted with a dough hook. In the bowl, combine the remaining sugar, flour, and salt.
• Add the milk mixture and turn the mixer on low. Slowly add pads of butter, blending well between additions.
• Once everything is combined, turn the mixer to medium for 1 minute and then switch to medium-high to knead until the dough is soft (about 5 minutes). Keep a close eye on your dough. It should be soft and pliable, but not sticky.

If you watch the video you will see that the dough is so soft that you almost don’t need a rolling pin. I use one at the end just to try and make sure the dough is even.

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Can I Make Cinnamon Rolls without a Dough Hook?

Yes. For best results, use a stand mixer with a dough hook, but if you have to knead the dough by hand, it will take about 25 minutes of gentle kneading (and some arm strength) to equal the 5 minutes using the dough hook. It can still be done, but it gets a little messy, and sometimes there is too much extra flour added to the recipe in the kneading process. Or, try my Amish Cinnamon Rolls, which you can make without an electric mixer!

How to Slice Sweet Rolls with Dental Floss

After rolling all the goodness up into sweet rolls, sometimes it’s hard to slice them into individual-sized rolls without smooshing them. If the knife you are using is not sharp enough, that can lead to the squishing of the rolls before they are baked. A great method to save you from frustration is dental floss! Yep, dental floss.

To use dental floss, first, make sure it is plain (not flavored) floss. Slide a long piece of floss underneath the rolled-up rolls and wrap the floss around the roll about 2 inches in. Pull to slice through the roll. Continue this method every two inches or so. Now, don’t forget to go floss your teeth, but use a new piece of floss!

Can I Freeze Cinnamon Rolls?

Yes! You can freeze cinnamon rolls in a few different ways.

1. Before they rise and bake, cover them with plastic wrap and aluminum foil. Take them out of the freezer when you are ready to bake them and let them thaw and rise before completing the rest of the steps. If you are planning to freeze the rolls longer than a couple of weeks, you will want to add a bit more yeast to the recipe (about 1 extra teaspoon).
2. You can also freeze them after baking the rolls, but before adding the frosting.
3. A third way to freeze the rolls would be to cook them only 10-15 minutes. Then, remove them from the oven and let the rolls cool completely. After the partially baked rolls have cooled, cover them (in the pan) with at least two layers of plastic wrap and freeze for up to 2 weeks. When you are ready to bake them, let them thaw in the refrigerator overnight before popping them in the oven for about 15 minutes. That would be the perfect time to make the frosting.

Whenever you store food in the freezer, always remember to label and date the storage containers or wrappings where the food is held. I sometimes like to add a couple of instructions to remind me how to reheat or cook the food when I am ready to do that.