These no yeast cinnamon rolls are the easiest homemade cinnamon rolls you’ll ever make. With no dough-punching & no waiting for the dough to rise, the hardest thing about these cinnamon rolls is waiting for them to come out of the oven!
This is one of my older recipes on the blog (originally published April, 2015), and also one of my favorites. My old pictures didn’t do justice to these amazing easy cinnamon rolls, so I’m updating the pictures and re-publishing today. Originally I was going to re-write the whole post, but instead I’m leaving about 90% of the original writing, because it just didn’t feel right to change it. I left the old photos at the very bottom of the post, too, in case you wanted to have a laugh.
I present to you: The lazy girl’s cinnamon roll recipe.
No yeast. No dough-punching. No two-hour rise time followed by another hour of rise time.
Nothing but cinnamon-y, gooey, need-a-fork-to-eat-it goodness <3.
I (obviously) enjoy baking, and considering that you’re reading this I assume you don’t hate spending time doing it either. I’ve even previously posted a recipe for orange sweet rolls that require all of those heinous, time-consuming things mentioned above, taking over 3 hours from start to finish.
However… if you want cinnamon rolls for breakfast on a Saturday morning, you shouldn’t have to get up at the crack of dawn just to have them ready before it’s actually lunch time. These cinnamon rolls can be ready in less than one hour (probably faster if you spend more time actually baking and less time sampling the cinnamon filling… or is that just me…).
Since these rolls don’t use yeast they have a softer, flakier texture to them, which is perfect for those of us who love melt-in-your-mouth cinnamon rolls that require a fork to enjoy.
And wait! We haven’t even discussed the frosting yet!
That lovely, crowning cream cheese-based, sticky frosting that any cinnamon roll would just be sad and naked without. Pour this cream cheese frosting on heavy over these cinnamon rolls while they’re still warm, and enjoy!
If you try these out, I’d love to know how you like them! Please leave a comment or tag #sugarspunrun on Instagram!
Easy Cinnamon Rolls (no yeast required!)
Ingredients
Rolls
- 2 cups all-purpose flour (240g)
- 3 Tablespoons sugar (38g)
- 1 Tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 5 Tablespoons cold butter, + additional 2 Tbsp butter for baking
- 3/4 cup milk (178ml)
Filling
- 2/3 cup brown sugar (133g)
- 3 Tablespoons white sugar (38g)
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 4 Tbsp butter melted
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Icing*
- 3 oz cream cheese softened (85g)
- 3 Tablespoon butter softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar (300g)
- 1 Tablespoon milk (15ml)
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 375F
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Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt and mix.
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Using a pastry cutter (or fork and knife if lacking) cut butter into dry mix
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Add milk and mix until all ingredients are combined.
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Dump dough onto a very well floured surface and roll until it forms a cohesive ball. Continue to flour the surface you are working with as needed.
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Generously sprinkle flour on the top of the ball of dough and place a large piece of wax paper on top. (If dough is too sticky, work in more flour until it is manageable)
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Use a rolling pin to roll dough out to roughly a 10x12" rectangle.
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Remove the wax paper and make your filling by combining brown sugar, sugar, and cinnamon and then stirring in butter and vanilla. This will be very much like a paste.
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Spread the filling over the rectangle of dough, leaving about 1/4" of space as a perimeter around the filling.
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Carefully roll dough starting with one of the 12" ends and rolling tightly.. Press the edge of the roll into the dough so that it sticks.
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Cut the log, spacing your cuts about 1" apart. If the log is not holding its shape well, transfer it to your freezer for about 10 minutes and then try to cut again (it should hold it's shape this way so you will have mostly round cinnamon rolls)
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Place the reserved 2 Tbsp of butter into a 9" pie pan and set it in your preheating oven for a few minutes until the butter has melted. Remove from oven.
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Place your cinnamon rolls in baking dish, they do not need to be touching, they will spread to fill their surrounding area.
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Bake on 375F for 28-30 minutes (beginning to lightly brown around edges). Prepare your icing while the rolls are baking.
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With mixer, combine cream cheese and butter and vanilla.
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Gradually add sugar, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
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Add milk, stirring until combined.
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When cinnamon rolls are finished, remove from oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes before spreading icing over rolls.
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These cinnamon rolls are nice and soft. Keep in mind that the warmer they are, the harder it will be to separate one from the other. But if you go in for one cinnamon roll and end up with one and a half, it's really not the worst thing that could happen, right?
Recipe Notes
*This recipe makes a lot of frosting! If you don't like much frosting on your cinnamon rolls, feel free to cut it in half.
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Original photos:
Heather says
Oh my gosh! These hit the spot, and were so easy to make! I did make just a regular glaze because I didn’t have any cream cheese, but still, these were sooooooo delicious! Thanks for sharing this fantastic recipe!
JoAn says
I thought they were too sweet.
Brenda says
These did not get soft and fluffy:(
Tanushree says
Can I use a square cake pan to make this? I don’t have any other pan to make this in.
Sam says
That will work! If it’s a metal pan it may just need a little less time.
Serena says
I just made these this morning, and they are amazing! My husband had to talk me out of eating the whole pan. 🙂 They’re fluffy, sweet, cinnamony, and everything I expect from a cinnamon roll–I didn’t even miss the yeast! I made them with whole wheat flour (that’s all I had on hand), and with an extra splash of milk to get the dough to the right consistency, they turned out great!
Dawn says
Made these today for a snow day treat. The hubby and son adored them!! <3
Sam says
I’m so glad to hear it! Thanks for letting me know how they turned out for you, Dawn! 🙂
Brittney says
I plan on making these Easter morning. Since it will probably be crazy, can I make the rolls the night before aND put them in the fridge until I’m ready to bakeat them? TIA!
Sam says
Yup, I’ve done this before and they turned out great 🙂 Just be careful if you use a glass dish as sometimes going from cold to hot temperature can make them shatter, if I use a glass pie plate I usually let it sit at room temperature for about 20 minutes before putting it in the oven.
David says
I have made these 3 times and they came out excellent.very gooey.very flavorful.
Dinah says
These were great! I made them for breakfast and the family loved them. Thanks for the recipe!
Trisha says
I’m usually a good baker/cook, I’m not sure where I went wrong with these lol. the picture I took is really funny I wish there was a way I could post it on here, I messed up soooooo bad x) everything was going fine until I was about to roll it all up into a log, the dough must have been too thick because when I started to roll it, I barely made it over once before the whole thing came apart into a big sticky mess. I wasn’t able to cut it so I just put the whole log into the oven. Fingers crossed that it still tastes yummy though! x)
Christina says
These turned out terrible. 30 minutes was way too long to bake them. I should have figured that myself. Definitely bake them for less than 30 minutes if you make them. The dough and filling were great, it’s just that 30 minutes is way too long to bake.
Sam says
By chance does your oven run hot? Or did you cook them in a different type of pan? I just made these the other day and 30 minutes was right on the money so I’m just not sure why it didn’t work for you.
Kim says
When I first saw the recipe, I did not realize that you were using a glass dish (yes I realize it shows a glass dish but I had thought that was just for presentation). But when I looked at the comments I realized that and adjusted the baking time a bit as I was using a 9′ round non-stick Metal pan. In the instructions, if you could just put to adjust the time lower if using a metal pan, I bet everyone would give you 5 stars! I think about 21-23 minutes would cook it properly as I did mine about 19 minutes and it was barely doughy. But the recipe was great! My son told me he only wanted these cinnamon rolls and no other. I told him he needed to buy me a pastry cutter then. Thanks for the recipe!
Sam says
I am so happy to hear your son enjoys them so much! I will have to remake them to test how long would be optimal for a metal pan, as they normally bake a little faster. Thanks for the suggestion and I will test it out!
Vienna Wilson says
Hi Sam! I made your Cinnamon Rolls today and they are a total success. Your suggestion about putting them in the freezer for 10 minuets is an excellent idea. Worked for me! Last week I didn’t do that and I wrestled with slices that had minds of their own. I did get them in the pan and I did bake them but they were not photo worthy. Today yours were so perfect I hesitated to put the yummy icing on them. My husband said he would like one without icing but I guess I don’t take special orders. He ate an iced one and was kind of speechless. He did manage to say they were excellent, the best he’s ever tasted and some other lovely compliments. Thank you for a great recipe which I will be using often in Parry Sound, Ontario!!!
Sam says
Thank you so much! Chilling them definitely helps with the handling, although it is hard to wait some times. I’m glad you enjoyed it!
Pat White says
Always find this no yeast recipe a success memorized by now. Thanks for sharing it family always loves them. Always do half the icing.
Sam says
They never last long in my house!
Kristin says
I have been tasked with making LOTS of these for a wedding weekend. The only way I can do this would be if they could be frozen. At what stage would I freeze them and then how would I cook/reheat them?
Sam says
Hi Kristin! You should make the dough slice it and then put it in an air tight container and then freeze them. 😃
Salem says
Mine turned out great. I subbed 1/3 of the milk for cinnamon applesauce in the dough and sprinkled crushed walnuts over the filling before rolling. Delicious!
Sam says
The walnuts on top sound like an excellent addition! I am so glad you enjoyed them!