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Desserts

Cinnamon Rolls

Learn how to make soft cinnamon rolls: a yeasted dough filled with butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon, finished with a simple glaze.
Recipe Cinnamon Rolls
  • Difficulty Easy
  • Preparation 30 minutes
  • Cooking 25 minutes
  • Servings for 8 cinnamon rolls

Let yourself be wrapped in the warm aroma of homemade cinnamon rolls, the baked sweet yeast rolls that turn any breakfast or afternoon snack into a real treat. These lovely swirls, with their soft, spiced center, are a dream for anyone who loves the pairing of cinnamon and sugar. They’re perfect for days when you want to spoil the people you love with a soft, sweet dough and a smooth glaze, and they’ll win you over with their fragrance and comforting flavor.

This soft cinnamon roll recipe is a treat for the senses: the cinnamon brioche dough, made extra light by two rises, wraps around a filling of butter, sugar, and a generous amount of cinnamon. As the rolls bake, the filling melts into the dough, so every bite is wonderfully tender. To make your sweet break even more special, finish them with the glaze for cinnamon rolls, which sets into a thin, sweet coating once poured over the swirls.

These easy cinnamon rolls are perfect for an indulgent breakfast or an afternoon snack, perhaps with a steaming cup of tea or a scoop of vanilla ice cream for a memorable contrast of temperatures and flavors. And if you’d like to explore more sweet yeasted bakes, try the Cinnamon Rose Cake, the fragrant Buchteln, or the soft Sweet Danubio Bread.

Want to give your cinnamon swirls a fruity note? Just add a few cubes of apple and a pinch of cornstarch to the dough to make fragrant apple cinnamon rolls, similar to the Apple Cinnamon Cake. Bake these soft, sweet rolls with us and discover how special the smell of home can be.

Ingredients for 8 cinnamon rolls

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Method

  1. To make the cinnamon rolls, warm the milk until lukewarm, no hotter than 36 °C (97 °F), and pour it into a bowl. Add the crumbled fresh yeast and 40 g of sugar. Stir with a fork until everything dissolves, then cover with plastic wrap and let it rest for 10 minutes at room temperature.
    Fresh yeast and sugar in lukewarm milk for cinnamon rolls
    Yeast dissolved in milk for the cinnamon roll dough
  2. Next, add the melted butter (it should not be hot), another 40 g of sugar, the whole egg, and the egg yolk (beaten in a separate bowl). Mix everything well with a fork, then start adding the flour and salt a little at a time. Knead by hand or with the dough hook of a stand mixer.
    Adding butter, sugar, and eggs to the yeast mixture
    Working the flour into the cinnamon roll dough
  3. When the dough is well combined, elastic, and no longer sticks to your hands, lightly grease a large bowl with vegetable oil and place the dough inside. Cover it with plastic wrap and let it rise for 60 to 90 minutes, or until it has doubled in size.
    Cinnamon roll dough in a greased bowl
    Cinnamon roll dough after rising
  4. When the dough has almost finished rising, make the filling. In a bowl, combine the brown sugar, the softened butter, and the cinnamon, and mix until creamy.
    Brown sugar, butter, and cinnamon in a bowl
    Butter, sugar, and cinnamon filling mixed until creamy
  5. Take the risen dough and stretch it out, first with your fingertips and then with a rolling pin, until it is about 5 to 6 mm thick. Spread the butter, sugar, and cinnamon cream evenly over the dough.
    Rolling out the cinnamon roll dough
    Cinnamon filling spread over the rolled-out dough
  6. Roll it up from the short side, keeping it snug without squashing it.
    Rolling up the dough with the cinnamon filling
    Cinnamon dough rolled into a log
  7. Divide the log into equal portions and use a piece of kitchen string to cut the rolls. Arrange them in a high-sided baking pan lined with parchment paper, cover with plastic wrap, and let them rise for 30 minutes.
    Cutting the cinnamon log into rolls with kitchen string
    Cinnamon rolls arranged in a lined baking pan
  8. Remove the plastic wrap and bake in a preheated conventional oven at 180 °C (350 °F) for 20 to 35 minutes, or in a convection oven at 160 °C (325 °F) for 20 minutes. Once baked, take them out of the oven and let them cool to room temperature.
    Cinnamon rolls ready to bake
    Baked cinnamon rolls cooling
  9. When the cinnamon rolls have cooled, make the glaze: put the powdered sugar in a bowl and add a few tablespoons of water, stirring well until you have a glossy, thick glaze with no lumps.
    Powdered sugar and water in a bowl for the glaze
    Thick, glossy glaze for cinnamon rolls
  10. Using a pastry brush, coat all the rolls with a nice, generous layer of glaze.
    Brushing glaze over the cinnamon rolls
    Cinnamon rolls covered with glaze
  11. Once the glaze has set, your cinnamon rolls are ready to serve and enjoy. Finally, remember to download our App with exclusive content and fewer ads!
    Cinnamon rolls covered with sugar glaze

Variations and Alternatives

To make your Cinnamon Rolls even more indulgent, top them with a cream cheese frosting made with 60 g of powdered sugar, 58 g of cream cheese, and 25 g of softened butter. Beat the ingredients with an electric mixer until smooth and creamy, then spread the frosting over your Cinnamon Swirls.

Tips

If you don’t have a stand mixer, you can also make the Cinnamon Rolls with the dough hooks of a hand mixer, then knead the dough by hand for about ten minutes in the final stages.

Storage

Cinnamon Rolls keep at room temperature for up to 2 days in an airtight container. You can also freeze them for up to 2 months.

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