Traditional cinnamon rolls with that wonderful yeast dough flavor, gooey cinnamon-sugar filling, and a sweet icing drizzled on top.
Whooooo! This is my 100th post! I cannot believe that I have posted that much already. I guess it has been almost 4 years so that may not seem like much. But because I don’t post as much, I only post my best recipes … ones that I make frequently. I’ve really been treating this blog as my online recipe box so that I can have all my favorite recipes handy and so that when people ask me for a recipe I can just send them here!
Anyways, I wanted the recipe for my 100th blog post to be extra awesome and what is better than a warm homemade cinnamon roll with a cup of coffee on Christmas morning?
The best part about this cinnamon roll recipe is that it is “quick” in comparison to most cinnamon roll recipes. I adapted this recipe from Sally’s Baking Addiction because when I tried her quick version I knew I couldn’t go back to the 6 hour process cinnamon rolls used to be. Usually cinnamon rolls have to rise twice: once after you make the dough and once after you have assembled the rolls. This recipe cuts the first rise down to 10 minutes from what could be an hour or two. I don’t know about you, but I’m impatient … I want my cinnamon rolls done as soon as possible!
The trickiest part of these cinnamon rolls is not killing the yeast. Use a thermometer to make sure that your liquid mixture is right around 115ºF before adding it to the dry ingredients. You need it hot enough to activate the yeast but not so hot that you kill it. Either direction (too hot or too cold) will result in very dense rolls instead of light and puffy.
When you are spreading the filling over the dough make sure you get right up to the edges or you’ll have some rolls less cinnamon-ey than others.
Then roll it up and cut into 10-12 pieces. 
Then place the rolls in the pan, cover with foil, and place in a draft-free spot. I like to use the microwave or the oven to let them rise … just make sure it’s turned off! 
After the 1 or 1 1/2 hours of rise time, they should have doubled in size. If they do not double, don’t fret too much … it probably means that you don’t bake with yeast much in your kitchen. Yeast tends to rise better and faster if you bake with it a lot because you build up the yeast spores in your kitchen. I have made these in a couple of kitchens … one with frequent yeast baking and another without much yeast activity. They rose beautifully and in only 1 hour in the yeast kitchen and just sort of ehh with 1 1/2 hours in the non-yeast kitchen. BUT they baked up well in both kitchens. The more important part is that you don’t kill the yeast when you are making the dough.
These are after baking in the non-yeast kitchen:
These would be a great addition to your Christmas morning breakfast! You can make them ahead of time and then zap them in the microwave to heat them up when you’re ready to eat them. You can also assemble them the night before and instead of letting them rise for 1 or 1 1/2 hours, put them in the fridge overnight. Pull them out the next morning and give them the 1 or 1 1/2 hours of rise time and then bake. 
Enjoy!
- 3 cups (380g) all-purpose flour, divided plus more for kneading
- 3 Tablespoons (38g) granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 packet or 2¼ teaspoons instant yeast (not active dry yeast)
- ½ cup (118g) water
- ¼ cup (56g) milk
- 3 Tablespoons salted butter
- 1 large egg
- 3 Tablespoons salted butter, melted
- ⅓ cup (65g) granulated sugar
- 1 Tablespoon + ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 cup (120g) powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1-2 Tablespoons water or milk
- In a large bowl, mix 2¼ cups (285g) flour(reserve the rest), sugar, salt, and yeast. Set aside.
- Heat the water, milk, and butter in the microwave until the butter is melted and the mixture is about 115ºF. If it's too hot, let it sit for a few minutes. If it is too cool, zap it in the microwave for 5 seconds at a time.
- Mix the butter mixture into the flour mixture.
- Add the egg and mix until it's almost completely combined.
- Add the reserved flour a little at a time until the dough is elastic enough for you to work with it with your hands. I needed the ¾ cup but you may need less or a bit more.
- On a floured surface, knead the dough for about 4 minutes adding flour as needed so that it doesn't stick to your hands too much. I ended up adding in about ¼ cup more flour.
- Place in a bowl greased with non-stick spray, cover the bowl with a towel, and let sit for 10 minutes in a draft-free spot (like the microwave or oven ... turned off).
- Mix the sugar and the cinnamon.
- On the floured surface, roll the dough out into a 14 x 8 inch rectangle.
- Spread the melted butter over the dough and sprinkle the cinnamon sugar over the butter.
- Roll the dough up tightly so that you have a 14 inch long log.
- Cut the log into 10-12 pieces.
- Place the rolls in a greased 13 x 9 inch pan and cover the rolls with aluminum foil shiny side down.
- Place the pan in a draft-free spot (like the microwave or oven ... turned off) and let the rolls rise for 1 - 1.5 hours. The rolls should puff up and double in size.*
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
- Take the aluminum foil off the pan and bake the rolls for about 30 minutes or until lightly browned. Cover the rolls after 15 minutes with the aluminum foil so that the rolls don't brown too quickly.
- Mix the icing ingredients together until smooth. Add the extra 1 Tablespoon of water/milk if the icing is too thick.
- Drizzle the icing over the slightly cooled rolls. This icing recipe makes enough so that you can completely cover the tops with icing ... I tend to be a bit lighter on the icing so I don't use all of it.
Adapted from Sally’s Baking Addiction
More of a sticky bun person? Check out my recipe here. They use a slower rising dough which you could replace with the faster rising dough recipe above.
I can’t wait to try these over the holiday – don’t know how you managed to have time to post AND do all the other things that you do! Thank you.
Let me know how they turn out! Have a good holiday!