You’ll love these copycat Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls made from scratch. Soft and fluffy, filled with cinnamon sugar and covered in buttery cream cheese frosting, they taste just like the real thing.
Big, fluffy Cinnamon Rolls made from scratch 🙌🏻
Just like Cinnabon’s famous Cinnamon Rolls, these gorgeous cinnamon buns are filled with buttery brown sugar cinnamon and covered in gooey cream cheese frosting.
A truly sumptuous way to start the day.
Whenever we travel to America, we always make sure to stop by Cinnabon for one of their big, buttery cinnamon rolls. One mouthful and I’m in cinnamon-covered heaven. It’s almost worth travelling halfway around the world for one.
Since there’s no Cinnabon here in Australia, I have to make my own when I need to get my Cinnamon Roll fix.
And now you can too 👇🏻
This recipe gives you soft and fluffy Cinnamon Rolls that are filled with butter, brown sugar and cinnamon. But let’s be real. It’s all about that drippy cream cheese frosting.
Poured over hot cinnamon rolls fresh from the oven, the cream cheese frosting melts into every nook and cranny – making these Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls extra creamy-licious.
I know making bread, including Cinnamon Rolls, can be a bit daunting, but trust me, it’s worth the effort. There is nothing quite like fresh homemade bread straight from the oven.
Especially when it’s filled with buttery cinnamon and topped with creamy frosting 😍
Before you make these gorgeous rolls, take a quick read of my tips to make sure your Cinnamon Rolls turn out perfect 👌🏻
Secrets for amazing cinnamon rolls
Softened butter not melted
Use softened butter for the filling not melted butter. I’ve tried both. When baked, butter that has already been melted just seems to disappear, where as softened butter melts as it bakes which give you that lovely wet filling that Cinnabon is famous for.
Use brown sugar in the filling
I tried both caster (or granulated) sugar and brown sugar. Brown is better by far because it slightly caramelises and makes a much more flavourful filling.
Don’t roll the dough too wide
It can be tempting to roll the dough too wide which will give you smaller buns. For these big and beautiful copycat Cinnabons, you want to roll a large rectangle and roll from the smaller end to the longer end so you have more layers in each roll.
Frost the rolls while they’re still hot
This cream cheese frosting is best when poured over the cinnamon rolls while they are still warm. It goes delightfully drippy ❤️
And enjoy them while they’re warm!
Did you make this recipe? Don’t forget to rate the recipe and leave a comment below. Hungry for more? Join me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter for more amazing recipe ideas.
Let's Bake
Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls
Deliciously soft and tender Cinnamon Rolls covered in cream cheese frosting.
Ingredients
Cinnamon rolls
- 120 ml (1/2 cup) warm water
- 2 and 1/4 teaspoon instant yeast
- 50 grams (1/4 cup) caster sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 120 ml (1/2 cup) milk
- 60 grams (1/4 cup) unsalted butter
- 490 grams (3 and 1/2 cups) plain flour, plus extra for dusting
- 2 large eggs, beaten
Cinnamon sugar filling
- 60 grams (1/4 cup) unsalted butter
- 90 grams (1/2 cup) brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
Cream cheese frosting
- 60 grams (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 125 grams (1/2 cup) cream cheese, room temperature
- 190 grams (1 and 1/2 cups) icing or powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon milk
Instructions
- Set aside a 9 x 13 inch quarter sheet pan. Add warm water to a small bowl and sprinkle yeast over the top and set aside. Add sugar and salt to a large mixing bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook.
- Add your milk and butter to a small saucepan and pop on a low heat, to warm the milk and melt the butter. Once the butter is melted, remove the milk from the heat.
- If the milk is hot to the touch, leave to cool for a minute or two. You want the milk to be warm but you should be able to stick your finger in there without it burning. Also check that your yeast has reacted and started to bubble a little on the edges.
- To make the dough, add eggs and milk mixture to your sugar and salt. Slowly start to mix together using a dough hook. Add flour.
- Then add yeast mixture, water and all, and continue to mix. Continue to mix for another few minutes until a nice soft dough forms. Once the dough comes together, remove it from the bowl and place it on a lightly floured bench.
- Knead the dough by hand for 2 minutes or so until it is soft and smooth. Add a little flour to the bench if it’s a little sticky but not too much as we want the dough to be nice and light.
- Then bring your dough into a ball and place in a large mixing bowl that has been greased well with butter or a little vegetable oil. Cover with cling wrap and leave to rise for at least 1 hour – it should double in size.
- Next, gently push the air out of your dough using your fist. Take the dough out of the bowl and knead gently for a minute before rolling the dough out into a large rectangle, roughly 10 x 16 inches.
- Smear softened butter all over the dough using a butter knife going right to the edges. Combine sugar and cinnamon and generously sprinkle all over the butter.
- Roll up your dough, from the short end, then cut into rolls using a serrated knife. Place 12 rolls in sheet pan leaving space between each roll for them to rise. Cover with cling wrap and leave to rest for at least 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 180 C (350 F) standard / 160 C (320 F) fan-forced. Bake for approximately 20-25 minutes or until golden brown on top. Meanwhile, make the cream cheese frosting.
- Add butter and cream cheese to a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth and creamy. Add sugar, vanilla and milk. Beat until smooth. When cinnamon rolls are ready, pour over cream cheese frosting while they’re still warm.
Notes
The rolls are best served on the day they are made.
If you don’t have a quarter sheet pan, you can use two 9 inch pie plates and just place 6 rolls in each.
Josh says
These are amazing – and they really do taste like the real thing!
★★★★★
Jessica Holmes says
So glad you enjoyed them Josh!
Elle says
I had been craving these cinnamon buns for months and I finally found the time to make them. I was a bit disappointed, though. I did not make any changes to the recipe, although I was a bit skeptical about the instant yeast that needed to be sprinkled over the water. Normally you shouldn’t have to activate instant yeast, right?
I ended up with a really sticky dough. Almost too sticky and elastic to handle. I added more flour before and during rolling them and it was still almost impossible to properly roll them. Which is why I ended up with very thick cinnamon buns with very uneven layers of sugar and cinnamon. Such a shame. I might try it again, but without the 120 ml water and with a bit more flour. Fingers crossed!
★★★
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Elle, it’s standard to bloom the instant yeast before using. See here for more information about yeast. If the dough is too wet, you can add a little extra flour but be careful, as too much flour will result in dry rolls. Perhaps instead flour your bench, hands and rolling pin when rolling the dough.
Monica says
Hi, I made these and really wanted to like them but the cinnamon sugar mixture completely melted out of the rolls so when they finished, I had very lovely rolls with cream cheese frosting. I noticed when I left the rolls to proof for the extra 30 minutes that they were slightly unraveling and the mixture was somewhat oozing out. While baking, the cinnamon sugar butter mixture was bubbling on the bottom of the pan and the cinnamon rolls soaked it up…how to fix this in the future?
★★★
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Monica, if you didn’t change anything in the recipe, my thoughts are perhaps your butter for the filling was too soft (it shouldn’t be melty) and you didn’t roll the buns tight enough if they were unravelling – which would have contributed to the filling falling out. Hope that helps!
Hannah says
Hi Jess
I just made these and they were delicious!
However, my dough was extremely sticky and I struggled to roll them and they came out a bit deformed.
Do you know why this happened?
Jessica Holmes says
So glad you enjoyed them Hannah! If you didn’t make any changes to the recipe, it sounds like you just needed to add a little extra flour. Try adding a little extra just until the dough is smooth enough to roll out and shape.
Karen says
How does procedure change if I’m not using Instant yeast but Active Dry Yeast?
Jessica Holmes says
I’m not sure Karen, but there are some yeast converters online.
Heba says
I tried it at last. The rolls were soooo delicious! Great recipe!
★★★★★
Jessica Holmes says
Yay! So glad you enjoyed it!
Jasmine says
Hi Jess,
Is it possible to make ahead and refrigerate before baking? I would love to serve these for brekkie when we have friends sleepover but want to avoid the morning prep. Cheers.
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Jasmine, I haven’t actually tried it myself but it should be fine! The general rule of thumb is to make the dough, let it rise, fill it and cut it into rounds as per the recipe. Then instead of letting it rise a second time, pop the rolls in the fridge (covered tightly with plastic wrap so they don’t dry out) overnight and then let them rise in the morning until they’ve doubled in size and then bake. I hope that helps!
Serwah says
Hi Jess,
I made this recipe but used fast dried action yeast (without realising I did not need to add water). It was very wet so I had to add more flour but tasted amazing. Great recipe! Thanks
★★★★★
Jessica Holmes says
Ooh so glad it worked out for you!
Hikmah says
Do I really need to do the step to activate the yeast? I read that for active yeast, we can skip that step.
Jessica Holmes says
I recommend following the recipe as written for best results.
F says
Hi – I would like these ready for house guests to have fior breakfast. Can some / any of the prep be done the night before and then the buns simply baked in the morning?
Jessica Holmes says
Hi, I haven’t tried it myself but it should be fine! The general rule of thumb is to make the dough, let it rise, fill it and cut it into rounds as per the recipe. Then instead of letting it rise a second time, pop the rolls in the fridge (covered tightly with plastic wrap so they don’t dry out) overnight and then let them rise in the morning until they’ve doubled in size and then bake. I hope that helps!
Nicole says
Hi,
I’d love to make these but I don’t have a stand alone mixer or dough hooks.
I’d have to knead by hand then? How long would you suggest?
Thank you!
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Nicole, you can definitely make this by hand. Most of the instructions include kneading and rolling by hand, the dough hook is only used for the initial combining of ingredients and mixing together, so you can do that by hand and then follow the recipe as is.
Patricia Fabisiak says
I wanted a cinnamon roll that utilized cream cheese in the frosting, and this recipe is PERFECT! I think it will be my official cinnamon roll go-to recipe from now on. The rolls were light and fluffy, the cinnamon sugar was perfect, and the frosting delicious! Tip: make sure the eggs, cream cheese, and butter are at room temperature, you won’t be disappointed!
★★★★★
Jessica Holmes says
Aww thank you so much for your kind review Patricia. So pleased you enjoyed them!