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I have always loved cinnamon rolls especially the ones you find at your local mall – Cinnabon (nothing compares).  So what do you do when when the malls are closed and you’re living in the middle of a pandemic? You find a way to make them yourself. These are not the same but just as good and THEY. WILL. CHANGE. YOUR. LIFE! 

The perfect cinnamon roll in my opinion is one that rich in flavour,  extremely fluffy in the middle, not overpowering with cinnamon and served with cream cheese frosting.   It’s honestly like a dream when you think about it – butter, frosting, warm cinnamon sugar, yeasty dough, it’s truly a treat you can fall in love with.

There are many reasons to make your own rolls and the size is just once of them. You can make them as big as you want, but lets be real no one wants little cinnamon rolls. I recommend 1 1/2 inches for the perfect serving and if you find that’s too big you can always just have half or make them smaller and adjust the baking time accordingly.

Let’s Get Started!!!

Just as I mentioned above this recipe requires patience. This recipe is made up of 3 parts – rich leavened dough, cinnamon sugar filling, and creamy cream cheese frosting. The secret to making this recipe without it feeling too daunting is to WANT to make it and work on each part one step at a time. 

Dough 

•  Flour –  You can use either all purpose flour or bread flour for this recipe. They both have a good amount of protein and gluten, this will give your rolls structure and allow them to rise. Since I am not a chef, I like using all purpose flour – it’s safe and loyal to all my baking needs. There’s a lot of information out there with respect to flour and the different types, if you would like to learn more just click here. 

• Yeast – Active dry yeast or instant yeast can be used for this recipe. Keep in mind if you are using active dry yeast you will need to activate it first with a warm liquid and a bit of sugar. It takes around 8-10 minutes for your yeast to bloom and become foamy, once it has doubled in size you know it’s ready.   Your yeast may not bloom if the liquid used is either too hot or too cold so it is important to make sure it’s warm/tepid which renders a temperature of around 40 degrees Celsius (~ 105 F).  It is also important to refrigerate your yeast after opening and always make sure it’s fresh and not expired.

•  Milk/Water – The liquid used to bloom your yeast in this recipe can either be milk or water. If you use water definitely add sugar (1 tsp), if you use milk you can skip the sugar because milk has natural occurring sugars that will help the yeast to activate. I used milk for this recipe and also added sugar as I wanted my dough to be slightly sweeter. 

•  Butter – Unless specified otherwise, always use room temperature and unsalted butter. Unsalted butter allows you to control the amount of salt added to any recipe.  If you only have salted butter on hand reduce the amount of salt to 1/8 of a teaspoon.  

•   Eggs –  Large or extra large room temperature eggs are ideal for this recipe.

•   Sugar – granulated white sugar is good for this recipe, you can take 1tsp from this to bloom your yeast. 

• Salt – The main purpose of salt it to bring all the flavours together, enhance them and balance the sweetness. Remember to reduce the amount of salt if you are using salted butter.

Filling

• Cinnamon – You cannot have cinnamon rolls without cinnamon, this is undoubtedly the most important ingredient in this recipe.

• Brown Sugar –  Definitely holds more flavour and moisture. Make sure to pack your brown sugar and press out all the tiny air pockets stuck in between the large sugar crystals. This allows you to maximize the amount of sugar used.  

• Butter – As mentioned above, always use unsalted and at room temperature butter. 

Frosting

• Cream cheese – Make sure to use regular cream cheese at room temperature is best for this recipe, do not use low fat or spreadable cream cheese. 

• Powdered Sugar – This sugar is extremely fine and used to make icing for pastries and cakes. Icing sugar, confectioners sugar and powdered sugar are all the same. 

• Butter – unsalted and at room temperature

• Vanilla – honestly, real extract or artificial, they both work very well in this recipe. 

•  Salt – Enhances the flavours, a little goes a long way.

These are beyond delicious!

Notes:

• Can I freeze them? Honestly, I wouldn’t recommend it. Many other recipe blogs have suggested this can be done but like I have mentioned my recipes have gone through a lot of trial and error and this is definitely one you cannot freeze. The middle of the cinnamon roll becomes a hot mess and the outside is just not right. If you want the best cinnamon rolls, I suggest you make them fresh.

• How to store them? They can be placed in an airtight container and left on the counter for a couple of days. After that they should be refrigerated, but they’ll be eaten before you know it.

• Toppings? Um, yes, absolutely!!! Raisins, pecans, chocolate chips, the list can go on. Whatever your tastebuds fancy.

I Can’t Believe It’s Not Cinnabon!!!!!