Homemade Memories: Cinnamon Rolls
Cinnamon rolls have always been in the thread of my life.
As a child we lived far away from our extended family. When we would pull into our grandma’s house, we would head straight to the freezer where she always had cookies and cinnamon rolls waiting.
I remember eating the cinnamon rolls piece by piece, slowing unraveling the spiraled treat until I got the gooey center.
My grandma would always put raisins in her cinnamon rolls and by the end there was always a pile of raisins on the side of my plate.
She started making a batch without raisins for me. 🙂
“Anyone who gives you a cinnamon roll fresh out of the oven is a friend for life.”
Lemony Snicket
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I felt the love in those cinnamon rolls and how they made me feel at my grandma’s house. I couldn’t wait to share that feeling with my kids.
The only problem is my favorite cinnamon roll recipe took about 6 hours to make – start to finish! Making cinnamon rolls became a lot less appealing to me.
One afternoon after my kids had begged me for cinnamon rolls for days, I found quite a few 90 Minute Cinnamon Roll Recipes. I tried one and they were almost as good as my 6 hour cinnamon rolls! SCORE!
Over the years I have tried many of those recipes and made slight adjustments to them and finally settled on this recipe. It’s almost as easy as making cookies–only now you have time to watch a show or play a couple rounds of candy crush while you are making them!
Important Rules for Making Cinnamon Rolls!
- Don’t walk away from your milk when it is on the stove. The second you do it will overflow and will be a big pain to clean up.
- Make sure they have time for two rises. It makes such a difference in the consistency of the dough.
- Don’t add raisins. Everyone just picks them out.
- Use an unflavored floss to cut the dough – not spearmint flavored. Trust me.
And without further ado….Cinnamon Rolls!
90 Minute Cinnamon Rolls
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Cinnamon Rolls are easy to make when you use this simple recipe. 90 minutes and you can be eating hot fresh cinnamon rolls!
Author: Alison
Recipe type: Pastry
Cuisine: American
Serves: 12
Ingredients
- ¾ cup milk
- ¼ cup butter, softened
- 3¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 (.25 ounce) package instant yeast
- ¼ cup white sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup water
- 1 egg
- 1 cup brown sugar, packed
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ½ cup butter
- Icing
- ½ cup softened butter
- 4 ounces softened cream cheese
- 3 Tablespoons Milk
- 1 ½ Tablespoon Vanilla
- 4 cups Powdered Sugar
Instructions
- Heat the milk in a small saucepan until it just bubbles and then remove from heat.
- Mix in the butter. Stir until melted. Let cool until lukewarm. I like to pour it into a new bowl and set it on the counter. It is usually perfect temperature by the time I need it.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine 2¼ cup flour, yeast, sugar and salt and mix them all together. I use my Kitchen aid mixer and it combines it like a dream.
- Add water, egg and the milk mixture to the dough. Mix it completely together.
- Add the remaining flour about ½ cup at a time, stirring well after each addition.
- When the dough has just pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth, about 5 minutes. Or if you have it in a mixer turn it to level 6 for 5 minutes with the dough hook.
- Cover the dough with a damp cloth and let rest for 10 minutes.
- Mix together brown sugar, cinnamon and butter.
- Roll out dough into a 12x9 inch rectangle. Spread dough with butter/sugar mixture. Fold the dough in half and pinch the seam to seal. Cut into 12 equal size rolls. I love to use dental floss to do this!
- Place cut side up on a lightly greased 9 x 13 pan. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 17 minutes or until browned. Let cool.
- For the Icing: Cream the butter and cream cheese with an electric mixer until they are thoroughly combined and smooth.
- Use the beaters on low and add in 2 cups powdered sugar. Add in the milk. Combine. Mix in the rest of the powdered sugar. Put the vanilla in and mix together.
- If you would like the consistency to be thinner add in more milk. Place on top of slightly cooled cinnamon rolls!
If you have a great cinnamon roll recipe (even if it does take 6 hours!) we would love to try it! Send it to us!
Do you have any memories with Cinnamon Rolls?
We're Alison and Renée, and we're so glad you've joined us! Our kitchens are our happy place, where we're whipping up memories. Get comfy and check things out. We hope you find inspiring dishes and ways to better your life. Feeling optimistic, trying new things and sharing with those we love brings joy in all we do. It's time to cook, create and celebrate. CHEERS! 
My favorite is homemade cinnamon rolls, but I prefer the raisins. Can’t wait to try these.
So great to have you here at CK Jared. Let us know what you think, and I’m with you on the raisins!
looks good. I only eat cinnamon rolls once in a while. not a fan though. but. you know what? I keep going to your site. I am a fan of your site. 🙂
Oh Aika, thanks so much. We love you too!!!
You know what? I don’t think I’ve ever had homemade cinnamon rolls. If it took 6 hours to make, I’d be discouraged, so I’m glad you’ve found a way to make them in half an hour. Big fan!
I’m with you Sara, excited to try Alison’s fast and fabulous rolls!
I didn’t know that cinnamon rolls could take that long! Here in Sweden you see them everywhere and usually I just buy them. However as being in Sweden, I’m supposed to be able to make a kanelbulle as we call them here. This recipe is perfect, 1,5 hour is still ok! Great knowing that they are almost as good as the old fashioned ones. Traditions are there to keep!
I think this is a great recipe although I am not much of a baker. I have never made cinnamon rolls, yet you make it look so easy and delicious. I support not adding raisins! I never ever eat them, I pick them out and leave them on the plate so great that you added that. One more thing, I love the layout and color of your blog, and the recipe index is fantastic!
My first reaction on 90 minutes to make cinnamon rolls were like … it takes that long??? And then to learn from you that you used to take six hours to make them, so 90 minutes appears really quick. As always, you featured a snack I happen to like!
These look incredible! Better than anything we can purchase locally. SCRUMPTIOUS!
Homemade is almost always better than buying it unless you can buy it fresh from the oven!
I’m appreciating all the recipes that you’ve been posting – now if you would only come over and cook them for me 🙂
Wow!!! Didn’t know that they took so long to make. But while reading your blog I just started to crave for some! I also love love love whipped cream on mine. Saving your recipe in my cookbook!
I have never put whipped cream on my cinnamon roll before! I am totally trying that next time I make them! Thanks for the tip!
These sound pretty good!! I love homemade cinnamon rolls!
Wow! This looks good! I love Cinnamons and I will try to make it by myself at home. Thanks for the recipe.
Lovely Alison, your blog is a delight to me everytime i visit. In fact i also thought cinnamon roll should be kind of tedious to make. but you make i tlook so easier. A should do thing for me now. Lots of love
Oh, Himanshi! You are the sweetest! Thank you! Yes, cinnamon rolls can be a lot of work but this recipe is so quick and so good! Have a great day – you totally made mine!
My goodness, this looks absolutely delicious. Cinnamon rolls are so much favorite for me & my mom prepares the best of them when I meet her. I would love to try your ideas on the same, as I made a mess of it when I tried last time!
Roll ’em up Lisa and let us know how it goes this time around!
I didn’t know cinnamon rolls take that long. Thanks for sharing us an easier one! I’m not that good with baking yet, but I’ll try this one of these days 🙂
Wow 6 hours to make cinnamon rolls, I never knew. I’m so used to just picking them up in the supermarket or bakery so didn’t realise the cook time was so long! 90 mins is a little easier to take and I’m happy to wait that long as I love cinnamon rolls so much, I love them with raisins but my other half hates them so I’m sure he would be a fan of your recipe!!
I was drooling about the idea of finally baking some cinnamon rolls but then I saw 90 minutes. That may be a bit took long for a quick snack for the kids. 🙂 I personally love them with my black coffee but aside from picking out the raisin (agreeing with you on this haha), my kids just lick off the icing and then I’m left to finish all that bread.
I made up a double batch of these rolls his morning for a meeting, and they were devoured in minutes! So delicious and tender. This will be my new go-to recipe for cinnamon rolls. Thanks!
That makes me so happy! There is nothing better than finding a new recipe to make! I am so glad you liked it!
I absolutely love cinnamon rolls. My mom makes the best cinnamon rolls. But yesterday I tried making these for her. They were ok. Honestly no even close to how yummy yours looks. But she liked it. Thanks for the recipe!!!
And ya , I wished I would have read the tips before. I made a huge mess with milk. 😉 lols
Well now that you know better Nimi, you have a good excuse to try them again!