After looking over several 5-star clone recipes and adapting them I came up with my own! Who can resist the smell of these baking in the oven? Don’t have a bread maker? You will need a kitchen stand mixer with a dough hook.
Finally, it’s here! A Cinnabon cinnamon roll copy-cat recipe.
Ingredients
Dough
1 cup warm milk (to help the active dry yeast)
4 cups + 1 TBSP flour (and more for dusting surface)
½ cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup butter or margarine, at room temperature
2 eggs
1 package ( ¼ ounce) dry yeast
1 tsp salt
Filling
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 ½ tbsp cinnamon
1/3 cup butter or margarine, at room temperature
1 tbsp cornstarch or flour
Frosted Icing
¼ cup cream cheese, at room temperature
1 ½ cups + 2 tbsp powdered sugar
6 tbsp butter or margarine
½ teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions
Warm the milk in the microwave and heat to 110 degrees F. Once warm, dissolve the yeast in the warm milk. Stir for a few minutes and set aside. In a large bowl combine the flour, sugar and salt. Whisk mixture until it is well incorporated. Then add room temperature butter (or heat in microwave for 15 seconds!) and eggs to dry ingredients. Use mixer to mix well.
You will need to use a mixer with a dough hook for this part! Add the milk-yeast mixture in the bowl that was just mixed and use the dough hook to mix well until well incorporated.
Once incorporated, place the dough into an oiled bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and a dish towel. It will need to sit and rise at room temperature for 1-2 hour or until the dough doubles in size.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium size bowl mix light brown sugar, cinnamon, flour and butter; set aside. Uncover dough and punch down on a lightly floured surface. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough until it is ¼ thick; 16 inches long by 12 inches wide. Sprinkle the filling mixture evenly over the surface of the dough. Then, using a rolling pin gently press the mixture down so it sticks to the dough. Tightly roll the dough into a log starting with the long edge.
Lightly grease an 8×8 or 9×13 pan with room temperature butter. Cut the dough into 1 ¾ inch slices; you should have 8 rolls. Bake for 20 minutes or until light golden brown—cooking time my vary. Combine the ingredients for the frosted icing in a stand mixer. Beat well until fluffy. Allow the cinnamon rolls to cool on the counter for 10 minutes then spread the frosted icing.
Makes 8 rolls
Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls
Ingredients
Dough
- 1 cup warm milk ((to help the active dry yeast))
- 4 cups + 1 TBSP flour ((and more for dusting surface))
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup butter or margarine (, at room temperature)
- 2 eggs
- 1 package (( ¼ ounce) dry yeast)
- 1 tsp salt
Filling
- 1 cup light brown sugar (, packed)
- 2 ½ tbsp cinnamon
- 1/3 cup butter or margarine (, at room temperature)
- 1 tbsp cornstarch or flour
Frosted Icing
- ¼ cup cream cheese (, at room temperature)
- 1 ½ cups + 2 tbsp powdered sugar
- 6 tbsp butter or margarine
- ½ teaspoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Warm the milk in the microwave to 110 degrees F. Once warm, dissolve the yeast in the warm milk, it should start to bubble. Stir for a few minutes and set aside. In a large bowl combine the flour, sugar and salt. Whisk mixture until it is well incorporated. Then add room temperature butter (or heat in microwave for 15 seconds!) and eggs to dry ingredients. Use mixer to mix well.
- You will need to use a mixer with a dough hook for this part! Add the milk-yeast mixture in the bowl that was just mixed and use the dough hook to mix well until well incorporated.
- Once incorporated, place the dough into an oiled bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and a dish towel. It will need to sit and rise at room temperature for 1-2 hour or until the dough doubles in size.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium size bowl mix light brown sugar, cinnamon, flour and butter; set aside. Uncover dough and punch down on a lightly floured surface. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough until it is ¼ thick; 16 inches long by 12 inches wide. Sprinkle the filling mixture evenly over the surface of the dough. Then, using a rolling pin gently press the mixture down so it sticks to the dough. Tightly roll the dough into a log starting with the long edge.
- Lightly grease an 8×8 or 9×13 pan with room temperature butter. Cut the dough into 1 ¾ inch slices; you should have 8 rolls. Bake for 20 minutes or until light golden brown—cooking time my vary. Combine the ingredients for the frosted icing in a stand mixer. Beat well until fluffy. Allow the cinnamon rolls to cool on the counter for 10 minutes then spread the frosted icing.
17 Comments
Morgan
12/24/2013 at 1:32 pmCould I let the dough sit overnight with the yeast in it? It’s for Christmas morning so I don’t want to get up at 5am to do that part. 🙂
Jessica Knott
12/24/2013 at 4:17 pmHi Morgan, yes the dough can sit overnight with the yeast. Happy Holidays!
Chelsea
12/24/2013 at 9:35 pmCould I put the rolls in the fridge once they are cut overnight and bake in the morning?
Thanks!!
Jessica Knott
12/24/2013 at 10:26 pmIf baking the following morning, refrigerate dough. Leaving it out on the counter may develop a sour taste, but refrigerating it will slow the process of the yeast down and will have the same flavor and texture as leaving it out for an hour at room temperature on the counter top.
Heather
12/24/2013 at 9:40 pmif you let it set overnight should you refrigerate it, or just make the dough and leave it covered in the bowl?
Jessica Knott
12/24/2013 at 10:26 pmHeather, If baking the following morning, refrigerate dough. Leaving it out on the counter may develop a sour taste, but refrigerating it will slow the process of the yeast down and will have the same flavor and texture as leaving it out for an hour at room temperature on the counter top.
MS
01/23/2014 at 8:47 amRolls look Yummy. Hi can I please have this recipe in Grams measurements, as cups variation are lots and canot measure butter in cup properly.
Thanks
MS
Jessica Knott
01/27/2014 at 4:31 amMS, here is the best conversion equivalents I’ve come across. It converts everything needed for the recipe. It may come in use in future recipes as well.
http://cafefernando.com/conversion-tables/
Kellie
02/23/2014 at 6:19 pmI’ve tried so many of these copycat recipes for Cinnabon rolls. I’ve always had a hard time getting them to rise. I’ve found that when it calls for warm liquid there is a actual temperature that it needs to be at. Otherwise if it’s too cold the yeast doesn’t react or if it’s too hot you can kill the yeast. Can you tell me if there is a specific temperature that the milk is supposed to be at?
Jessica Knott
02/23/2014 at 8:15 pmKellie, between 100-110 degrees F. When the yeast is added, it should start to bubble.
Kellie
03/14/2014 at 11:11 pmThanks
Kellie
03/15/2014 at 1:22 pmWell, now I feel bad. I just came back to start making these and saw that you already had my question spelled out in the instructions for the recipe. So sorry about that. You do such a great job with your posts. Thanks for being so gracious in answering my question.
lobna
05/06/2014 at 1:57 pmThese look soo good i’m going to make them for sure, but i only have instant yeast how can use it then?
thanks in advance 🙂
Ceci
06/08/2014 at 10:21 pmHI! your recipie looks great! But I have only one problem: could you please tell me how many grams are 1/3 cup of butter? Thank you!
Jessica Knott
06/09/2014 at 9:58 pmHi Ceci, about 75.6 grams = 1/3 cup butter. Here is the conversion chart for butter. http://www.traditionaloven.com/conversions_of_measures/butter_converter.html
Gay
12/26/2015 at 11:58 amI have never attempted cinnamon buns before, let alone anything with yeast. But I made these Xmas day and they turned out amazing…the instructions made it so easy to follow.
Will definitely do them again.
I found I had rolled out the dough so it was quite long. I had so many buns because I cut them about 3″ wide, so with about a third of the roll left over, I rolled it in parchment paper and put it in the freezer. The next day I thawed them for about 15 mins and baked….they turned out perfect. Also, had lots of icing left over. Yummy for Boxing Day morning!!
Thank you for a wonderful recipe!!
anonymous
07/04/2020 at 2:01 pmSpectacular recipe, tasted amazing! Even better than Cinnabon!