Soft, sweet, no-knead cinnamon rolls with a decadent vanilla cream cheese icing makes for an easy yet unforgettable breakfast! (Jump to Recipe)
Welcome to the weekend. I have a feeling it’s going to be a good one.
How was your week? It was a busy one for me. I had a job interview, I met some lovely ladies in person for the first time that I had previously only known through Instagram, I tested lots of new recipes, went to Pure Barre a bunch, got coffee with a dear friend, and received SO MUCH positive feedback from you all about this little blog that my heart can barely stand it. Thank you. You don’t know how much every little comment means to me!
It’s so strange to work for so long by yourself on a project like this, feeling like you’re yelling into the void, and then to suddenly put it out there to the whole world and have people read it and react to it. I had been keeping this site private for so long because I was waiting for it to be perfect before putting it out there – but I realized that just like everything that is human, it will never be perfect, and it will always be changing, and that’s what’s great about it. So, this space isn’t just mine anymore – it’s yours too. And that is both weird and cool at the same time.
What can also be yours in less time than you’d think: these unbelievably soft, sweet, decadent cinnamon rolls.
Do yeast-based doughs scare you as much as they scare me? I always seem to shy away from them because I’m nervous that anything and everything will go wrong – I’ll over-knead it, the yeast will die because the water is too hot, I’ll let it rise for too long and everything will collapse and wind up in the trash can with my failed hopes. I’m not dramatic in the least.
Well, I’ve decided I need to just get over it and start trying, because when things like these cinnamon rolls exist, it’s worth it to push through your fear. This recipe is really not intimidating for a yeast-based dough, so it’s a good place to start. No mixer. No kneading. No bread flour. A very pliable dough that doesn’t stick to everything it touches. And the end result is HEAVENLY. Grab a cup of coffee and let’s do this!!
This recipe is adapted from The Pioneer Woman’s cinnamon roll recipe. You can see her make them here. Isn’t she great? I love her recipes because they’re so homey. They are also, however, sized for her whole family, and there are only 2 of us in this little apartment. So, to avoid being obscene, I’ve sized it down and added a cream cheese icing. I think it takes them over the top!
I love how simple this recipe is. All you need is a large pot (I used the second love of my life aka my Dutch oven) and a wooden spoon. Delicious baked goods do NOT have to be intimidating. The only thing you really need with these rolls is time and patience, because they will smell amazing long before you can sink your teeth into them.
See the pictures above for the basic steps. We heat milk, canola oil, and sugar together until just under a boil, then let it cool until it’s just warm to the touch (about 105-110 degrees F – I checked this with a digital thermometer but you can just stick your finger in there to judge too). Then mix in flour, baking powder and baking soda, and let it rise sitting on your stove until doubled in size.
Now, here’s the fun part.
Roll out half your dough to a rectangle shape, about 12 inches long, and spread it VERY liberally with melted butter. This is not a time to worry about calories. Sprinkle on brown sugar, then cinnamon.
Omg. Yes.
Now roll it up starting with the long edge furthest from you, and cut it into 8 evenly sized rolls with a very sharp knife. Arrange in a pie plate (my favorite vehicle for cinnamon rolls) or 9-inch round cake pan.
Now do the same thing with the other half of the dough, wait for a torturous 15-20 minutes while they rise again, and an even more torturous 20 minutes while they bake in the oven. Distract yourself from the smell by putting together the cream cheese icing while they bake.
Here’s the best part. Take these babies out of the oven and marvel at your accomplishment.
Would you look at those swirls??? Sadly we’re going to cover them all up with cream cheese, but it’s worth it.
Spread that icing generously over all the rolls, and serve warm to people you love. You’ll be their favorite person of the year. These rolls are soft, sweet, cinnamon-y, and the vanilla cream cheese glaze over the top is just outrageous enough to be repeated again and again. Good luck keeping these around longer than 24 hours.
Have the best weekend!
Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Icing
Ingredients
For the Cinnamon Rolls:
- 2 cups milk (I used whole milk)
- 1/2 cup canola oil (or another neutral oil)
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 packet active dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
- 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, divided (see below)
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
- 1 cup brown sugar, not packed
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon (or more to taste)
For the Cream Cheese Icing:
- 4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
- 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup powdered (confectioner's) sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
- Pinch of salt
- 1/4 cup milk of choice (or more if necessary)
Instructions
For the Cinnamon Rolls:
- Combine the milk, oil, and sugar in a large pot (I used a Dutch oven) and place over medium heat until just before boiling. Turn off the heat and let the mixture cool until just warm to the touch, about 105-110 degrees F.
- Sprinkle the yeast over the top of the milk mixture and let sit for 1-2 minutes. Add 4 cups of the flour and stir with a wooden spoon until an evenly combined dough has formed.
- Cover and let sit on the stove (with the oven on if your kitchen is cold) to rise for about 1 hour. Check after 30 minutes to make sure it is rising. If it's not, your yeast might not be active and you may have to start over. By the end of the hour, it should have doubled in size and smell yeasty.
- Add the remaining 1/2 cup flour along with the baking powder, baking soda, and salt, and stir until completely combined.
- Divide the dough in half and roll one half out on a floured surface to about a 12x8 inch rectangle. Spread half the melted butter evenly over the dough, then sprinkle half the brown sugar over top, followed by half the cinnamon.
- Starting with the long edge farthest from you, roll the dough towards you, moving your fingers evenly back and forth along the dough, until it is tightly coiled with seam down. Cut into 8 even rolls with a sharp knife, and place in a greased pie plate or 9-inch round cake pan.
- Repeat steps 5 and 6 with the second half of the dough.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Let the rolls rest on top of the oven for 15-20 minutes, until slightly risen. Bake for 20-22 minutes, until golden brown. Make the cream cheese icing while the rolls are baking.
For the Cream Cheese Icing:
- Whisk together cream cheese and butter in a medium bowl until completely combined and smooth. Add vanilla and salt and whisk again. Whisk in powdered sugar until fully blended. Add milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the mixture reaches a pourable, but still thick, consistency.
- Pour and spread the icing evenly over the warm cinnamon rolls in the pan, making sure the tops of the rolls are completely covered. Serve warm with coffee and watch people's eyes light up with unadulterated joy!
Notes
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I guess yeast isn’t so bad 🙂
I have been experimenting with different recipes (my first time working with yeast, too), but this one hits all the feels. The only problem I encountered was my own fault: I forgot to room-temp the butter & cream cheese earlier, & I neglected to melt the butter for the filling earlier as well, so it’s not so hot hitting the dough. The dough is very wet & sticky, a little tricky to roll out, but I loved the end product a little more than other, just-yeast-based, knead recipes. The rolls turned out soft, fluffy & evenly baked, no hard pikes in the middle.
Thank you for doing the heavy lifting on Pioneer Woman’s original recipe. I thought the cream cheese icing was particularly genius, adding enough milk so you can pour it over the rolls. These are my go-to from now on.
Hi! I noticed that your recipe doesn’t call for eggs, and I’m curious to know how that affects the overall dough texture?
I just made these and making a comment after eating one… these are really amazing. Best recipe for cinnamon rolls I’ve used so far. Since it’s only me, I halved the recipe. Love it! Thank you!
I was wondering if you could substitute the milk, with a non dairy option like sweetened almond milk, that’s all I have!:)
Thanks!
Yes I think that would work!
Making these right now as they look delicious in the pictures! The dough was quite sticky when rolling out, not sure if it’s supposed to be like that? I’m in the UK so maybe I’ve got the conversions wrong. I’ve put it in the oven without the fan is that right? Love your recipes!!
Hi Sara – the dough should not be very sticky, so I’d add a bit more flour. And yes, most American recipes do not use the oven fan. I don’t think my oven even has that option! I hope the recipe turned out well for you!
Do I do let them rise in the Dutch oven?
Hi Gabby – you let the dough rise in the Dutch oven for the first rise, then you shape the rolls and let them rise in the baking pans for the second rise. Hope you enjoy the recipe!
Planning on making these this afternoon and realized I only have instant yeast. Could I substitute it 1:1 for active yeast?
I am confused…written instruction in recipe says to add baking powder, baking soda and salt with the last 1/2 cup of flour AFTER the first dough rise. However, the photo instructions says the baking powder, baking soda and salt are added with the initial 4 cups of flour.
Hi Debyk – sorry about that! The recipe instructions are correct – add the baking powder and baking soda and salt with the last 1/2 cup of flour, after the rise. The reason for this is that baking powder starts reacting immediately when it encounters liquid, and you don’t want that when there’s still an hour of rising to do!
That’s awesome Katie
Please don’t be intimidated by yeast. I always use SAF Red Yeast (Fleishmans never) and keep it refrigerated in a sealed glass jar. Always proof the yeast for 5 minutes. Surrender to the fact that you will be controlled by kitchen timers. I now use Alexa to keep me on time when baking. Use YouTube as a primer on how to knead. While your recipe was good, I prefer the tried and true method of making the dough, kneading the dough, letting it rise, making the roll, slicing the roll, letting the dough rise again, baking the rolls. We make the same icing.
I admire your love of yeast! I hope to be that confident with it in the future!
I made these and cut the whole receipe in half for us as it is just the two of us. They came out perfect. Thanks for the wonderful receipe I know I will use over and over. Including holidays.
Yay! Thank you Shirley – great to know a half recipe works well!
My yeast didn’t rise ☹️ Repeating again now there goes 8 cups of flour and 4 cups of milk LOL
When you say 4 1/2 cups of flour, are you just scooping the flour into a measuring cup or are you weighing each cup to be super exact?
Also, when a recipe you decide to make calls for a certain number of cups, do you usually assume it’s measured or just scooped? Not sure what the standard is, ha.
Thank you so much for the recipe. I’m excited to make this for breakfast 😀
Hi Paula – I use the “scoop and sweep” method for measuring flour (i.e. use a spoon to scoop flour into the measuring cup, then sweep it level and do not pack the flour in). I don’t use the weight method right now, although I’d like to start as you are correct, it’s more exact. I usually assume when a recipe calls for cups that it is scooped. Hope you enjoy the recipe!
Hi Katie! I think this is my first time writing a review on a recipe, ever! And I use lots of recipes from fun people like you. This is an amazing recipe!! I can’t express how perfect it turned out in every way! I want to make these often. I halfed the recipe one more time, and it was perfect, and I can’t wait to make a full recipe.
Thank you!!!!
I am SO glad to hear that, Anna! This is one of my favorite recipes and I’m so excited it turned out well for you too! Thank you for leaving the comment 🙂
Milk mixture on stove while heating do we stir it?
Yes, you do stir it. Sorry your yeast didn’t work the first time – hope it turned out well the second time!
I’m about to make these for the second time this weekend, and they turned out soooo good last time! I shared them with friends and everyone loved them. Thank you for this amazing recipe! I used my own icing recipe but the cinnamon rolls were perfect.
Here’s a pic:
https://instagram.com/p/BgTvwAGAKXR/
Oh my gosh Jenn, they’re gorgeous! I’m so glad the recipe turned out well for you. Thanks for sharing the picture!!
Have you ever made these in advance and frozen or refrigerated before you were ready to bake them?
Yes – you can prepare the recipe the night before up to the point where you put the unbaked rolls in the pans, then keep them in the fridge overnight. In the morning, let them come to room temp for a half hour then bake as directed! I haven’t tried it in the freezer, but my guess is you could probably do the same thing –
just let them come to room temp for an hour or hour and a half before baking. Hope you love it!
I am making these right now. I do it the easy way. You add all the wet ingredients into your bread machine pan with the salt. Then add all your liquid then yeast always last. Put on dough cycle and you get the same results without standing over the stove. Bake as directed after you have rolled them, etc.
Wow, Lynne – what a great idea! I didn’t know you could do it that way, but it makes sense. Thanks for the inspiration! Hope they turned out well for you.
I put yeast in first and they came out fabulous!!
yeast scares me so much. the last time i used it, i stared at the yeast looking at minute bubbles and tried to rationalize each one as reason to believe the yeast was working. and there were plenty of research (though i ended up getting more yeast infection results than yeast in baking results). the last time i made cinnamon rolls they definitely flopped (p sure my yeast was too old), so i’ll have to try them again!
I totally understand! It’s a lot of work to go to for the yeast to wind up being inactive. I’ve read that if you’re testing the yeast in warm water, it should really foam up after a few minutes – not just a couple bubbles. I think the results with yeast dough make it worth trying! The experiments continue!
Yum!!