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Pan of simple cinnamon rolls with white frosting
Frugal Family Farms

Simple Cinnamon Rolls for Beginners

This simple, fluffy cinnamon roll recipe comes together quickly, and the dough is easy for beginners to work with.  They are divine with a cup of coffee or milk and can be devoured as breakfast, brunch or dessert. 
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Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Rising Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Total Time 2 hours 30 minutes
Servings: 20 Rolls
Course: Breakfast, Dessert
Cuisine: American
Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients
  

Dough
  • 1½ tsp Yeast
  • 1 cup Milk
  • 2 Eggs
  • ¼ cup Butter, softened
  • 1 Tbsp Butter, for pan
  • 4 cups Flour
  • ¼ cup Sugar
  • 1 tsp Salt
Filling
  • ¾ cup Brown Sugar
  • 4 tsp Cinnamon
  • 2 Tbsp Butter, softened
  • ½ cup Walnuts or Pecans, chopped finely optional
  • ½ cup Raisins optional
Frosting
  • 4 oz Cream Cheese (½ block), softened
  • ½ cup Butter, softened
  • 2 tsp Vanilla
  • 1½-2 cups Powdered Sugar

Method
 

    If mixing, kneading and rising in a bread machine start at Step 5.
  1. Heat the milk to 100°F.  Pour into mixer bowl then stir the yeast into it. 
  2. Mix in the 2 large eggs, softened butter, white sugar, salt and 2 cups of the flour.   Mix until blended.
  3. Add in remaining flour and mix until loosely blended.
  4. If kneading by stand mixer, switch to dough hook and knead on low 10 minutes or until stretching the dough creates a windowpane.  If kneading by hand, knead on the counter until windowpane stage.
  5. If you’re mixing, kneading and rising in a bread machine, fill the bread pan according to the manufacturer instructions. My bread machine directs me put all wet ingredients in the bottom of the pan, followed by dry ingredients floating on top, then yeast in a pile on top of the dry ingredients.  Set the machine to the dough setting and it will mix, knead and rise. Once the cycle is complete move to step 7.
  6. Cover the bowl and let the dough rise about 1 hour in a warm place.
  7. While dough is rising, mix Cinnamon & Brown Sugar in small dish.
  8. Butter a large 9”x12” casserole pan.
  9. Dump dough onto a floured surface.  Punch down and divide in half.  Allow dough to rest 5 minutes then stretch each half into a roughly 8”x12” rectangle. Spread each with 1 Tbsp butter and sprinkle with half of the filling.  Starting at the 12” edge, roll each rectangle up into a log and pinch the seams to close. 
  10. Cut the log into about 1” wide pieces.  Place the pieces in the buttered casserole pan and put in a warm place to rise for about 30 minutes.  After about 15 minutes of rise, preheat oven to 350°F.
  11. Bake at 350°F for 30 minutes or until golden brown on top.
  12. While the cinnamon rolls are baking, mix your frosting.  With a mixer, blend the cream cheese and butter until smooth.  Add the vanilla and powdered sugar and mix until fluffy and to your desired consistency.
  13. Take the cinnamon rolls out of the oven and frost them while warm in the pan or cut individual rolls and drizzle with frosting as desired.  My family loves them covered in gooey frosting, warm out of the oven so I smother the whole pan with frosting to appease the crowd.

Notes

Storage: When the rolls are completely cool, cover the pan they’re in or wrap individual rolls in saran wrap and eat within 3 days.
Filling: You can add or reduce the amount of brown sugar and cinnamon to your liking.  I’ve also added a dash of nutmeg to mine during the Christmas holidays when we’re drinking eggnog with these for a little extra holiday flavor.  You can use ½ cup of raisins and nuts in the filling as well if you’d like.  Some in my family like raisins, so I’ll do one roll with raisins and one without.
Frosting: Again, this is where you can go as sweet as you’d like.  My family loves lots of gooey frosting on these, so I smother the whole pan when it’s warm.  You can use less frosting or just drizzle it on individual rolls.  The possibilities are endless.  You can also use any frosting or glaze recipe you like.  My son likes this one:  ½ c butter, 1 tsp almond extract, 1 c powdered sugar.  He really likes the almond flavor.