Cinnamon rolls are one of my favorite things in the whole wide world. Good cinnamon rolls that is. I hate to say it, but I’m kinda picky about them. I like my cinnamon rolls moist and not too bready, with the perfect ratio of cinnamon, and with just the right amount of cream cheese icing on the top.
My mouth is watering just thinking about them.
I have a confession to make about this recipe. It’s my husband’s. He is the cinnamon roll maker around our house and until recently, he kept his recipe a secret. He took his mother’s prized cinnamon roll recipe and tweaked it just a bit to turn out the most absolutely perfect cinnamon rolls I’ve ever tasted.
Goodness gracious am I ever thankful he’s finally sharing his recipe.
I think you’ll be pretty thankful for his cinnamon roll recipe, too.
Here’s how he makes them.
Pour the yeast and sugar into your warmed milk. Allow the yeast to bubble.
Mix in the butter, salt, eggs, and flour. Mix until well-combined.
Turn dough onto a lightly floured counter. Gently knead to form a soft dough.
Place dough in a large buttered glass bowl. Now let the dough work it’s magic and rise for two hours.
After two hours, punch the dough down and allow to rise another hour.
Place dough onto a large lightly floured surface. We use one end of our island countertop for rolling the dough. If you are limited on space, divide dough in half and repeat the next steps for each portion of the dough.
Roll dough to about 1/4 inch thickness.
Spread softened butter on your dough.
I’ll declare, this is one of the most important steps to a yummy cinnamon roll. Don’t skimp.
Mix together your brown sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle liberally all over the buttered dough.
I like for my cinnamon rolls to taste like cinnamon rolls. So this is a good balance of cinnamon and sugar for the filling. It’s absolutely perfect for me, but if there is any area to make your own with this recipe, it would be the portion of cinnamon and sugar for the filling. You could reduce if you like.
But I wouldn’t.
Make sure you’ve gotten every little bit of your your dough covered with the cinnamon and sugar filling. You’ll want every little bite to have some of this deliciousness.
Gently begin rolling the long edge of your dough.
Roll.
Roll.
And roll.
Grab a long piece of dental floss or thread, about a foot long, and slide it under one end of your rolled dough.
Quickly pull the two ends of your thread together to cut the dough at about 3/4 to 1 inch.
Place rolls onto a buttered, rimmed sheet pan and allow the rolls to rise for 30 minutes. Go ahead and turn on your oven to 400 degrees now to be preheating for baking.
Stare at your sweet puppy or play with your kids during this part. Or, better yet, you could go ahead and mix up your icing.
Whatever floats your boat.
Pop your cinnamon rolls into your oven and bake until your rolls are slightly brown and not doughy. For my oven, this takes about 15 – 25 minutes.
Now is not the time to run off and do something really involved. Stick close to your oven.
You absolutely, without a doubt do NOT want to over bake these babies. That would be an absolute travesty.
When they are done, they should look like this. Oh my goodness, I’ve just gained another five pounds just looking at this picture. But wait, the other five comes in just a second.
And there it is. The most perfect cinnamon roll I’ve ever put into my mouth.
Thank you sweetheart for sharing your recipe. Now I get to make your cinnamon rolls whenever the fancy strikes me.
- 3 packages yeast, 2.25 tablespoons
- 1½ cups warm milk
- ½ cup sugar
- ½ cup melted butter
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 eggs
- 4 cups all-purpose flour + a little for handling
- 1½ cups packed brown sugar
- 5 tablespoons cinnamon
- ½ cup butter
- ½ cup butter, softened
- 1½ cup confectioners sugar
- ¼ cup cream cheese
- ½ tablespoon vanilla
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- Dissolve sugar and yeast in milk.
- Allow yeast to bubble in the milk.
- Mix butter, salt, eggs, and flour into yeast mixture.
- Gently mix until well-combined.
- Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead into a large ball.
- Place into a large buttered glass bowl.
- Cover and allow to rise for two hours.
- Punch down dough, cover, and allow to rise for another hour.
- Place dough on a large lightly floured surface and roll to a ¼ inch thickness.
- Spread dough with softened butter for filling.
- Mix together brown sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle generously all over buttered dough.
- Roll dough beginning at the long edge until a log of dough has been formed.
- Using about 1 foot of dental floss or thread, place under one end of the dough and pull thread together to cut ¾ – 1 inch slices.
- Place onto a lightly buttered sheet pan.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Allow rolls to rise for 30 minutes on sheet pan.
- Place rolls into oven and allow to cook until lightly browned and not doughy. This varies for each oven, but about 15-20 minutes.
- Do not over bake.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool for about five minutes.
- Mix all icing ingredients together until creamy with an electric mixer.
- Spread rolls generously with icing.
Enjoy!
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I’ve been craving cinnamon rolls! BOOKMARKED!
Thanks to the hubs for sharing the recipe! 
I think you’ll like it Courtney. Let me know when you make them. I’d love to hear what ya think.
These look divine…and I certainly appreciate the step by step… it gives me confidence to maybe even try them!
I haven’t posted as many step by step photo tutorials lately, but knew this one was definitely one to show that way. It’ll surely help me when I’m making them, too.
My husband was looking over at my computer just now…and says “what’s THAT?” as I was scrolling down through this post…I said Cinnamon Rolls…he then said THEY LOOK GOOD!! and gave me these puppy dog eyes – guess I know what i am doing tomorrow morning lol!
Hopefully that takes away the fact I never ever make him the ham and cabbage he wished for on New Years Day! (toooo stinky)! These look amazing! Thanks and Happy New Year!
Oh, he’ll not even mind missing ham and cabbage tomorrow if you make these for him. My husband is making another batch today so they are ready for tomorrow’s breakfast. We just pop them in the microwave for 20 seconds and they are just like fresh from the oven.
Looks delicious! Gonna have to give ‘em a try
I wish. No carbs for me.
I’ve been making a lot of breads from scratch lately. Now it’s time to try cinnamon rolls. These look fantastic. I can’t wait to make them.
Robyn, I LOVE that your husband makes these. What a gift that must be. I LOVE cinnamon rolls and so does my family. I’m bookmarking this to try soon. Your photos and directions were perfect! Happy New Year Friend…
I’ll be there in 1 hour!
Robyn ~ there is NOTHING in the world like a good cinnamon roll . . . UNLESS your husband makes said cinnamon rolls!!! DIVINE!!! HAPPY NEW YEAR!
They look amazing! Yum! I’m cracking up that your husband finally shared the recipe with you and you then shared it with all of us! LOL I just might have to try these tomorrow! Happy New Year!
Yep, I’m cool like that! I had to get special permission
These are absolutely beautiful! I adore cinnamon rolls. And, that puppy is absolutely adorable, too.
These look fantastic and so perfectly rolled!
hi, i’m from spain, & we don’t have yeast by the pack, so how much in total do you need to make this yummy rolls, they look to die for!!!!!!!!!!!thanks & love your blog
Hi Teresa – One package equals about 2 1/4 teaspoons of yeast.
this receip is the best I ever taste! Smooth and perfect texture! Thank You!!!! Easy to do and so good to eat!!
Hey Robyn! Do you ever freeze your muffins or cinnamon rolls after they are baked? I’m trying to find recipes for make ahead things that can be frozen and thawed for when our twins come!
I sure do, Alissabeth. then just pop them in the microwave or oven to reheat
Hi Robyn! I’m hoping to make these delicious looking cinnamon rolls this week for breakfast over Christmas weekend! I was wondering if it mattered what kind of milk I should, or if it evened matter?? Also, does it matter if I use salted or unsalted butter? Sorry for all the question, but I’m making this for a big group of family and want it to be really good! Thank for any help you could give:)
Hi Katie,
I sent an email to you directly answering this earlier, but started thinking others might have the same question and thought I should also include the answer here.
We use whole milk and salted butter.
Thanks so much and Merry Christmas!
Drooling big time over these!!!
My favorite cinnamon roll recipe! Get asked to make them often
Thank you!
Thank you so much, Kari. They are so addicting, aren’t they?
Can I make these the night before up to the baking or cutting process and bake them the following morning?