A quick yeast-made Cinnamon roll recipe (with a “secret ingredient”). These soft, fluffy, cinnamon rolls are loaded with gooey cinnamon-y interiors and topped off with a simple cream cheese frosting. Less than an hour needed to rise! Recipe includes a how-to video at the bottom of the post!
We love enjoying these cinnamon rolls any time of the day, but they make an especially indulgent breakfast option. Just like my buttermilk pancakes, and sausage gravy, having my favorite cinnamon roll recipe on the Christmas morning breakfast table is non-negotiable.
Cinnamon Rolls
Whew, we made it through a whole week of candy recipes. I don’t know about you but I am exhausted. Hopefully by now you are ready for something a little different, and I’m pretty excited to be sharing this well-tested recipe for fluffy, perfect cinnamon rolls!
In the past, my most popular cinnamon roll recipe was a yeast-free version. While I still love that one for how simple and quick it is, I’ve been working on overcoming my long-running aversion to working with yeast. I started earlier this year with my easy pizza dough and then threw myself into developing a true, yeast-y cinnamon roll recipe.
Because yeast recipes are a newer territory for me, I had to make sure this recipe worked inside and outside of my kitchen. I had many, many fails (maybe you saw them on my Instagram stories), and when I finally landed on this recipe I was almost shocked by how incredibly perfect it was. The first bite was light and fluffy, the centers were just perfectly gooey, the taste was everything you could ever want in a cinnamon roll.
I then proceeded to test this recipe 5 more times just to be sure and even made my mom try it at home in her own kitchen. This cinnamon roll recipe is a winner.
The “Secret Ingredient” for Perfect Cinnamon Rolls
When you read through the recipe, you’ll notice that I use cornstarch. Cornstarch has been my “secret ingredient” in so many of my recipes (most popularly my chocolate chip cookies) that I can hardly call it a secret anymore. After dozens of recipe fails where I couldn’t manage to achieve the perfect fluffy texture I wanted in my cinnamon rolls, I decided to try adding it to my cinnamon rolls.
Bingo. Once I added the cornstarch, recipe development finally started to move in the right direction. The cornstarch gives these cinnamon rolls a softer texture, helping to give you a tender, light and fluffy roll.
Tips for Making Cinnamon Rolls – Flour & Judging by Feel
You’ll notice in the recipe that these cinnamon rolls call for a range of flour and there isn’t a specified amount of kneading time listed. This is because the specifics will vary in every kitchen, and the best way to know your dough is right is by watching and feeling it.
Your cinnamon roll dough should cling together and form a ball that pulls away from the sides of your mixer bowl. Most likely you’ll need to add more flour to achieve this, but you also don’t want to add too much or you’ll end up with dense and dry cinnamon rolls. I call for up to ⅓ cup in the recipe, but you may need even more, or even less! Add additional flour slowly until it’s clinging together but still slightly tacky to the touch. Watching my video is a good visual if you’ve never made cinnamon rolls before or have any questions about what your dough should look like.
You also don’t need to knead (haha) the dough for a certain amount of time. Some recipes call for 5 minutes of kneading or 10 minutes etc., but all mixers vary so, again, we are going by feel. Over-working this dough can make your cinnamon rolls tough, so once the correct texture is reached, your dough is good to go.
Can I make these Cinnamon Rolls in Advance?
Unfortunately, I found that the quality of the cinnamon rolls degraded after the dough sat for a night in my fridge. For best results, I recommend using the dough as soon as you make it (and it’s had time to rest properly, as per the instructions).
However, I have found that they keep their fluffy texture and soft interiors when stored after baking. I store mine in an airtight container at room temperature. Enjoy within 2 days of baking, and I definitely recommend reheating them before eating. Just popping one in the microwave for a few seconds is sufficient!
I am so excited to hear what you think of these cinnamon rolls once you try them for yourself! Please leave me a comment, tag me on Instagram, or share a pic in my free Facebook Baker’s Club!
Enjoy!
Other Breakfast Recipes You May Enjoy
How do You Make the Best Cinnamon Rolls?
1 Hour Cinnamon Rolls
Ingredients
CINNAMON ROLLS
- 1 ½ Tablespoons of butter for greasing pie plate
- 2 ¾ cups all purpose flour (345g) plus additional ⅓ cup (45g) flour
- ¼ cup sugar
- 2 Tablespoons cornstarch cornflour in UK, shake the jar or box before scooping and leveling your cornstarch
- 2 ½ teaspoons rapid rise/instant yeast I use Hodgson mill fast rise yeast
- 1 ¼ teaspoons salt
- ½ cup whole milk (120ml)
- ¼ cup water (60ml)
- 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter cut into 8 pieces
- 1 large egg + 1 large egg yolk lightly beaten, room temperature preferred
FILLING
- ½ cup light brown sugar tightly packed (100g)
- 1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup unsalted butter softened (it needs to be soft enough to easily spread, so pop it in the microwave for a few seconds if it’s still firm at room temperature)
ICING
- 2 oz cream cheese softened
- 2 Tablespoons unsalted or salted butter softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup powdered sugar (125g)
- 1 Tablespoon milk or heavy cream
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 200°F and prepare a 9 ½” pie plate by melting 1 ½ Tablespoons of butter in your pie plate. Set aside.
- Combine flour, sugar, cornstarch, yeast, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and stir until well combined.
- In a small saucepan* combine milk, water, and butter over low heat. Stir occasionally until butter is melted and mixture reaches between 110-115°F (if your mixture gets too hot, just remove it from the heat and allow it to cool back down to the indicated temperature range).
- Turn your stand mixer to low speed and slowly pour heated milk mixture into the bowl, stirring until just combined. Add your lightly beaten eggs and increase speed to medium, continue to stir until completely combined (if needed, pause to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl so all flour is absorbed).
- Switch your paddle attachment out for a dough hook if you have one and continue to stir on medium low speed. Gradually add up to ⅓ cup (45g) additional flour as needed until dough clings together and pulls away from the sides of the bowl. It should develop a soft, elastic texture and will be slightly sticky/tacky to the touch.
- Transfer your dough to a lightly oiled heatproof bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Allow to rest in a warm place (I usually place mine on top of my preheating oven) for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare your filling.
FILLING & ASSEMBLY
- Whisk together brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a small bowl. Set aside.
- Once your dough has finished resting (it may not have risen very much, this is fine) transfer to a clean, lightly floured surface and use a rolling pin to roll out to a 15x9” rectangle. Spread softened ¼ cup butter evenly over the dough and then sprinkle evenly with brown sugar mixture, leaving about ½” of dough uncovered around the perimeter.
- Starting with the long end, roll your cinnamon rolls into a tight roll. Cut into 9 slices (about 1 ¾” width per slice) and arrange into prepared pie plate.
- Cover with foil and place in your 200°F oven and turn off the oven. Allow dough to rise for 15 minutes. Once 15 minutes has passed, remove covered pie plate and place on top of your oven. Preheat your oven to 350°F and leave rolls covered, allowing them to continue to rise while your oven preheats.
- Once oven is preheated, remove foil and bake rolls for 18-20 minutes or until lightly golden brown on top.
- While your cinnamon rolls are baking, prepare your icing.
ICING
- Use an electric mixer to beat together softened cream cheese, butter, and vanilla extract until creamy. Gradually add sugar until completely combined. Add milk or cream, and stir well until creamy and smooth.
- Once rolls have finished baking, allow them to cool for 10 minutes before covering evenly with frosting. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
Barbra-Anne
These are unbelievably good! I made them for Christmas (was going to do the overnight ones – but we had a flood and so pivot and made these) they were so soft and fluffy- I’ll definitely make these again – loved that the recipe makes 9 – so I could use a pretty pie dish to bake them in 🙂 and sometimes you don’t need so many so it’s nice to have the variety in # of buns from the different recipes also! Thank you for another banging recipe Sam! I hope you and your family had a wonderful Christmas
Sam
Yay! So happy to hear you enjoyed, Barbra-Anne! Thank you so much for trying this recipe (and I’m sorry to hear about the flood!). We had a lovely Christmas here and I hope you did as well!
Kelly Luthy
This was such an easy and delicious recipe! Big hit for Christmas breakfast. It took me a little bit longer just because me oven runs cold so I had to bake them longer. The icing was to die for. Just curious is there a good method for reheating these cinnamon rolls?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Kelly! We’re so happy you liked the rolls. If you microwave them for a few seconds, they’ll be nice and gooey again 😊
Misty
We loved these! I made the overnight rolls three times. Two of the times I baked them the same day & they were great! Another time I did the overnight method and I don’t think I let them rise long enough after pulling them out of the fridge bc they were dense (I measured the flour with a scale & the yeast was active). I let them rise on my preheating oven for about an hour.
Anyways! I wanted something quicker and used this recipe for a Christmas gathering and everyone loved these!! I will be making more soon!
Both cinnamon roll recipes are great!
Miriam
Made these for church this morning, and they were delicious! I made about 40 or so, and they were all gobbled up! A couple people said they were the vest they ever had.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Wow! Sounds like they were a huge hit for you, Miriam. Thanks for using our recipe and letting us know how it went 🥰
DT
Delicious, fluffy and easy to do.
These really did only take an hour, and the rolls were the softest ones (or in the top two!) I’ve ever managed I make. My two boys gobbled them down.
My mixer is broken so I did it al by hand! Thanks for this recipe and it’s the first time I’ve used cornstarch – definitely a keeper from here on out! Wish I could show you the pics of how they turned out!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much! Unfortunately, you can’t add pictures here, but if you are on Instagram you can tag me @Sugarspun_Sam or join my facebook group. 🙂
Terry Hanusik
Hey Sam, Just curious about using cornstarch. I’ve always used a recipe of my grandmothers and wanted to try yours this time. What does the cornstarch do? Lighter/fluffy rolls??
Sam
Hi Terry! Yes! See the section in the post about my favorite “secret ingredient”, I explain it in detail there. Enjoy! 🙂
Ashley
Can these be made with bread flour?
Sam
Hi Ashley! That will work just fine. 🙂
Gina
Hie. Can i use a hand mixer?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Yes, but we’d actually recommend making by hand rather than with the hand mixer, as it could burn out the motor. Do step 5 as much as you can by hand in the bowl, then transfer to a clean, lightly floured surface and knead until you have that smooth elastic texture. We hope that helps! 🙂
Jeannine
😩I so wanted this to be my break through with trying to make cinnamon rolls but didn’t quite work for me. They just didn’t rise and are very dense, not light and fluffy. I don’t have a mixer with all of the attachments so I tried using my food processor and am guessing I overworked the dough. What should I use to mix, just my regular beaters? I checked the temp of liquid and it was right at 110. I am going to try again but need some advice.
Sam
Hi Jeannine! I would recommend against ever using a food processor for a yeast dough. This can be done by hand. You will end up having to knead the dough by hand instead of with a mixer.
Linda
Hi, Sam,
I’d like to use a combination w/w flour and bread flour for this recipe. Think it would still be delicious and light? Please advise when you can. Thank you.
Sam
Hi Linda! I’m not sure it would be so light and fluffy. The bread flour will definitely change the texture a bit.
Jaleela abdul latheef
Omg….I just tried them and it’s a fail proof recipe.thanx to my niece who shared ur recipe with me.luvd each bite.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Jaleela! We’re so happy you loved the cinnamon rolls 😊 Thanks so much for commenting–enjoy!
Roxy
I am known for my cinnamon rolls. I mean, people break diets for my cinnamon rolls. I made these, and OMG! THIS is my new recipe for cinnamon rolls from now on! Thanks so much for all your wonderful content.
Sam
Woohoo! I am so thrilled to hear that this recipe was such a hit, Roxy! Thank you so much for trying my recipe and letting me know how it turned out for you! <3
nancy
You posted another winner. They came out perfect. Thanks for sharing
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Nancy! 🙂
Tracy
I just made these for a relative’s birthday and stole a little piece to try. They are SO SO good! With a little more practice, I will get faster with the recipe but it was still very easy to follow. Can’t wait to make these for MYSELF!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Tracy! 🙂
Lisa
I’m excited to try this recipe but I don’t keep dairy milk in my home. Do you think I could substitute almond milk?
Sam
Hi Lisa! I haven’t tried it, but I think it could work here. 🙂
Cavet
I was a little worried about the quick recipe too. As always they turned out amazing! Thank you again