Homemade Cinnamon Rolls: A Bread Machine Recipe
Ever since I posted this Bread Machine Cinnamon Roll picture on my Instagram and Facebook, I’ve gotten NUMEROUS requests that I share this mouthwatering recipe.
Is it healthy?
Well, depends on how you define, “healthy.” 🙂
They are homemade with real ingredients from your pantry unlike the roll of Pillsbury Rolls that include mystery ingredients like: soy lecithin, artificial color, high fructose corn syrup, whey protein concentrate, colors, sodium stearoyl, lactylate, dough conditioner, artificial flavor and citric acid as well as numerous preservatives such as monoglycerides, potassium sorbate, BHT, BHA, polysorbate 60, ascorbic acid, xanthan gum and locust bean gum.
I think I’d prefer to feed my pregnant body and my toddler a simpler version of cinnamon rolls, wouldn’t you?
But yes, as you can see from the recipe below, they are full of calories and sugar with no sneaky substitutions like a lot of our recipes have.
So are these cinnamon rolls worth it?
This is coming from a pregnant woman in her 3rd trimester but, absolutely! They are fluffy, moist, flavorful, filling, and easy to make if you have a bread machine. When I make them, people go nuts.
So, yes, you should probably make them. Here’s how.
Homemade Cinnamon Rolls: (printable recipe at the bottom of this post)
Place the ingredients for the dough in your machine in the order listed in the recipe below. (Here is the bread machine I use if you’re curious)
Run your machine on a dough cycle. (Mine takes around 2hrs and 20 minutes.)
After dough is done, take it out and split the dough into two mounds.
On a lightly floured surface, roll one mound of your dough out into some sort of a rectangle. It doesn’t need to be perfect. To get it flattened out, it might take a few minutes of working with it, but it will get there.
Spread half of the melted butter out on your dough and then top it with half of the cinnamon sugar mixture.
Starting at one of the short ends of your rectangle, roll up your dough.
Brush the outside of your rolled dough with melted butter.
Starting at one end, slice the dough into about 1 inch thick pieces. The result will be a pinwheel shaped form when turned on its side.
Place pinwheels on greased baking sheet. I like mine touching each other so they all are soft and not too browned on the outside but if you want them not touching, spread them apart on the sheet.
Repeat the steps above with the second mound of dough.
Cover assembled dough with a lightweight hand towel and let rise for 25-30 minutes.
Bake at 350 for 17-19 minutes or until lightly brown on top. Tap the middle of the roll to see if it bounces back. If it does, it’s probably done!
Combine ingredients to make icing and spread over warm rolls so it melts into them.
Icing Ingredients:
I’ll be honest, I have never really measured the exact amounts I use to make the icing. I just mix it until it looks like the consistency I like. Add more powdered sugar to thicken or add more milk to thin.
- 3-4 cup powdered sugar (I end up using about 2/3+ of the bag)
- 1-2 tablespoons melted butter
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 4-5 tablespoons milk
If you want to prepare the rolls ahead of time, assemble them as normal and then refrigerate for a day or so or freeze them up to a few weeks (maybe longer) for later baking. Just make sure you let them warm up to room temperature and rise a little before baking.
Hope you enjoy these rolls as much as we have.
Check out some other yummy bread machine recipes we have in our recipe index!
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Homemade cinnamon rolls. Let the bread machine whip up this cinnamon roll dough for you and follow the easy instructions to bake! Once you’ve made them from scratch, you’ll never go back to canned cinnamon rolls!
Ingredients
Dough
- 1 1/3 cup lukewarm water
- 1 stick of butter, cut into small chunks
- 5 tablespoons sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups bread flour
- ¼ cup powdered milk
- 1 tablespoon dry-active yeast
Filling
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 1/2 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
Icing
- I’ll be honest, I have never really measured the exact amounts I use to make the icing. I just mix it until it looks like the consistency I like. Add more powdered sugar to thicken or add more milk to thin.
- 3–4 cup powdered sugar (I end up using about 2/3+ of the bag)
- 1–2 tablespoons melted butter
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 4–5 tablespoons milk
Instructions
- Place the ingredients for the dough in your bread machine in the order listed.
- Run your machine on a dough cycle. (Mine takes around 2 hrs and 20 minutes.)
- After dough is done, take it out and split the dough into two mounds.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll one mound of your dough out into some sort of a rectangle. It doesn’t need to be perfect. To get it flattened out,it might take a few minutes of working with it but it will get there.
- Spread out half of the melted butter over the rolled out dough.
- Sprinkle half of the cinnamon sugar over the melted butter making sure to cover as much surface with the filling as you can.
- Starting at one of the short ends of your rectangle of dough, roll it up.
- Brush the outside of your rolled dough with melted butter.
- Starting at one end, slice the dough into about 1 inch pieces. The result will be a pinwheel shaped form when turned on its side.
- Place pinwheels on greased baking sheet. I like mine touching each other so they all are soft and not too browned on the outside but if you want them not touching, spread them apart on the sheet.
- Repeat the steps above with the second mound of dough.
- Cover assembled dough with a lightweight hand towel and let rise for 25-30 minutes.
- Bake at 350 for 17 minutes or until lightly brown on top. Tap the middle of the roll to see if it bounces back. If it does, it’s probably done!
- Combine ingredients to make icing and spread over warm rolls so it melts into them.
Notes
If you want to prepare the rolls ahead of time, assemble them as normal and then refrigerate for a day or so or freeze them up to a few weeks (maybe longer) for later baking. Just make sure you let them warm up to room temperature and rise a little before baking.
Also worth noting is that this recipe is in our free e-cookbook, Top 10 Easy Freezer Meals. You can download this, print it off, and have it for future reference when looking for great freezer meals.
Just made these and they are wonderful! Thank you for saving me hours of work.
We love hearing that, Judy. That’s awesome!
Ok I’m going to follow recipe exactly this time. My bread machine instructions say to add the wet ingredients first then flour then make an impression in the flour and add the yeast last so as not to touch other ingredients. Should I use the 11/3 cup of water in your recipe to activate the yeast first or just put the yeast directly from the package to the flour impression?
Love this recipe. It is my go to recipe as a nice surprise for someone, sorry for your lose someone, hope your recovery is quick someone, and thanks Gramma, those were delicious.
Wonderful, Judy. We love hearing that our recipes can be used to bless someone else. 🙂
For anyone asking if you can make this recipe in a stand mixer, yes you can. I got all the ingredients into my bread makes only for it to break down on me. I kneaded 10 minutes won’t doughr hook. Then let sit for 10 minutes and then kneaded another 10 minutes. After I put the doughr in a barely warm over for 30 minutes to rise a bit. Then I rolled them out and baked them and they turned out delicious!
★★★★★
Thanks for the tips, Holly!
Has anyone successfully tried this recipe without a bread maker?
I did it yesterday in my kitchen aid stand mixer!
★★★★★
If I want to use bread machine / instant yeast of active dry does that change the amount of yeast I should use? I was reluctant to by active dry because most recipes that came with my bread maker say to add yeast last and to keep it separate from the wet ingredients and the instructions on the active dry container say to activate in warm liquid first so to avoid confusion I bought bread machine quick yeast.
I honestly don’t know! Wish I knew more about how yeast works. I’ve just always done it this way and it works. 🙂
I am looking forward to making these cinnamon rolls, but only have bread flour. Would I have to make any changes to the recipe?
Thanks in advance,
I’m not sure, Nova. I haven’t tested it that way, but I think it would affect the outcome because Bread Flour is higher in protein.
Can you make these without a bread machine? Is it just combining the ingredients and letting it rise?
These are amazing! I get multiple requests from people to make this recipe!
★★★★★
Wonderful to hear that, Christa!
how much butter is a stick of butter?
8 tablespoons
These are awesome! My family wipes them out as soon as they are made. The recipe makes a good bit but I have six grandkids and 2 sons and daughters inlaws. I have made them multiple times. Come out perfect and are easy to make. We love them!
★★★★★
Wow! These are amazing and so easy to make. I was looking for something special but easy for Christmas morning and this is it. I will be making these again and again. Thanks for the recipe!
★★★★★
Thanks for the feedback, Mary Anne. I’m so happy to hear this was a special treat for your family on Christmas morning. 🙂
I see that the total flour capacity in this recipe Is 4 1/2 c flour. my older Panasonic machines’ total capacity is only 3 1/2 c flour. i’m worried that if I make this recipe it will overflow onto the heating element. does anyone else have this concern? my machine is over 20 years old and still works wonderfully, but it’s recipe section doesn’t have cinnamon roll dough, just crossiant/Danish dough…your recipe has a lot more in it than those recipes do.
I just found this recipe and have a machine that will only take 3 cups of flour. For cutting a recipe in half, go to this web site:
https://www.thenest.com/content/cooking-qa-cut-a-recipe-in-half
I hope this helps.
Glad I found this recipe. Made these last night…they are delicious. Definitely making them again.
★★★★★
can chopped pecans be added to this recipe
★★★★★
That’s sounds yummy. I don’t see why that wouldn’t work!
These are AMAZING. And quite possibly the WORST thing I could have ever done was make these rolls as a treat for my family one Sunday morning. Then it became EVERY Sunday morning. NOW, it’s every Sunday AND Wednesday. These are, without question, the BEST cinnamon rolls I have ever had in my life. You cannot eat just one. I can get the recipe to make 36 rolls and they are GONE within 2 hours (family of 5). FIGHTS have broken out over someone eating the last roll. They do not need to be reheated in the off chance they are around long enough to get to room temp because the bread flour keeps them soft after baking. The only thing I changed is that I don’t usually keep powdered milk in the house, so I use -1-1/3C warm milk, and ditch the water AND the powdered milk. I do also add 4oz of cream cheese to the glaze, and no, we do not share.
This. Is. Awesome.
Is there a substitute for the butter? I’d like to find something sweet for a dairy free kiddo.
I haven’t tried this, but you could look into using coconut oil. Try googling that and see if there any recipes out there. I use it in a lot of baked goods and love the flavor.
Hello!
Just made them! I can’t believe myself they were made by me. Well, by the machine lol, but my point is… they are amazing!!
I am from Brazil and have always wantes to try a cinnamon roll. Found this recipe and decided to give it a shot.
I highly recommend making them. The dough is soooo soft and light. Oh, and I haven’t made the icing. I’m having them with a cup of milk with coffee. Perfect combination.
I am so happy,
Thank you,
Mirelle
Congratulations, Mirelle! I’m so excited for you and that they turned out well.
These are good but we found them to be a little too sweet. I may try using a bit of salt in the cinnamon mixture or use a cream cheese frosting. But I really enjoyed making them anyway.
Mmmmm. Good idea on the cream cheese frosting, Denise!
These rolls are GREAT! I have had to make them 3 weekends in a row! Even my hubby, who doesn’t eat a lot of sweets, is now requesting them! Thanks for an amazing recipe!!
★★★★★
Made this recipe without bread flour and used 4.5 cups of all purpose flour and cheated a bit with a store bought cream cheese frosting. It was spot on, easy, and yeilded enough delicious cinnamon rolls to share with the neighbors!
Wonderful recipe, these are delicious! Our family will be hanging onto this recipe forever. Thanks so much!
★★★★★
Thanks, Ashley. This makes us so happy!
Regular flour, are you talking about self rising?
or All Purpose
All Purpose flour. We need to update that in the recipe, so thanks for your question.
Would it be possible for you to vary the recipe and turn them into sticky pecan buns instead ? Am not a cinnamon fan. Thanks
If you have a recipe, the dough should work for it just fine!
Just made these & kinda sorta maybe didn’t read the recipe before I started making them. I D idn’t have powdered milk & had already poured in 1 1/3 cup water when I read the part about substituting whole milk instead. But I’m very glad to report that they turned out very yummy despite my mistake. But I’ll definitely make them the right way next time. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
★★★★★
I made these over the snowy weekend and to say my husband and I enjoyed these is an understatement. They are delicious and according to all who ate them, better than Cinnabon. Cannot wait to eat them again tonight!
Yessss!!!
I made these, and they turned out perfectly! They were the best rolls I’ve ever had! I even divided the dough in half to make regular rolls and cinnamon rolls. I just rolled one of the halves into a log and cut pieces for rolls. They took a little less time to back than the cinnamon ones. They were SO good! Thanks to this recipe, I feel like a baker!
Alright! We love hearing success stories. Thanks for leaving a comment, Nancy.
i made these and they were good! I found a different icing to make – a cream cheese one and omg they tasted good. Thanks for sharing
You’re welcome!
I noticed that there is no sugar in the dough. I’ve never seen a dough recipe without sugar, doesn’t yeast need sugar to rise? I’m new at this 🙂
Wow. I don’t know how I’ve gone this long without noticing that recipe error. I just corrected it. However, it seems like people have been getting along just fine without the sugar!
I found this on pinterest this morning and have them in the bread machine now! I went looking because we had rolls from a can for breakfast, and it scares me every time I pop those suckers, so I thought there has to be an easier way! Looks like I might have found that way!!!! I’m making them with the intention of freezing, but I think the kids are going to hit the breakfast jackpot and get cinnamon rolls two days in a row 🙂
So glad you found us! Hope the kids enjoy their sweet treat!
I just made these this past weekend. They were amazing. I could tell as soon as I pulled the dough out of the bread machine. The dough was some of the best dough ever. I divided the dough and rolled into two 9×13 rectangles, brushed on melted butter and filling ingredients. I rolled the dough up long-ways and cut with floss. I ended up with about 24 mini-cinnamon rolls that I baked in a 9×13 for about 20 min at 350 (they all fit and were touching). They came out absolutely perfect. My husband said that they beat Cinnabon hands down. I brought them into my child’s school for teacher appreciation week and everyone loved them. Thank you for sharing!!!
Sweeeet!!! Seriously, these kind of comments make our day. 😉
About how many cinnamon rolls will this make? I’m making for work and wondering if I should make two batches!
Thank you! Can not wait to try!
We would guess 15-20 cinnamon rolls, but it depends on how much you roll it out and how big you make them. Polly says it easily makes two 9×13 pans worth.
I get 36 – 1inch rolls. I cut them with a ruler to make sure they are the same thickness. I put them on a large baking sheet (start placing them in center and work outward toward the edges). They will rise and easily fill the entire pan. I have never done it in 9×13 pans… although that would make it easier to share them that way.
Thanks for the feedback and ideas, Dee.
Hello!! Thank you for the recipe!!! As Sarah, i would also like to know if its possible to use a regular mixer… thank you!!
I have never done it outside the bread machine but I know you for sure can. I know Pioneer Woman has a few cinnamon roll recipes. A quick search should find it. Good luck!
Thank you!!!!
And when you see how much trouble the PW recipe is… and how LONG it takes… you’ll be right back here. So, maybe, just bookmark this page now. 😉
Is it possible to make these without using a bread machine? Like with a stand mixer with a dough hook?
Have you ever frozen the second batch? Think you could do that to just have a batch on hand when you feel like thawing them out?
Hi Amanda. I actually did this the last time I made these. I just defrosted them overnight in the fridge. They were great!
Can these be prepped the night the night before? If so, at what point would you suggest stopping to put in the frig overnight? Thanks!
Yes! I’ve done this before and what I did was put them in the fridge immediately after I assembled them. The next morning I took them out and let them return to room temperature and even rise a little before baking them. This can take an hour or so depending on how warm it is in your house so give them some time!
Do you cover them with plastic wrap or anything?
At what point? Not sure if I understand your question.
What if I don’t have bread flour?
I’ve used all-purpose flour instead of bread flour quite often and haven’t noticed much of a difference. You should be fine!
Here are some ideas for subbing other kinds of flour in place of the bread flour. http://www.ehow.com/how_6933472_substitute-flour-bread-flour.html
Instead of using a knife to cut the rolls, you can use dental floss. You just wrap it around the dough in the spot you want to cut, and pull. It keeps the rolls from becoming squished.
These rolls look delicious. They may not be the healthiest but at least the recipe has ingredients that a normal person can recognize. Ever heard of “sodium steraroyl” or “Potassium sorbate”? They are two of the ingredients in Pillsbury cinnamon rolls (see below).
One package of Pillsbury cinnamon rolls contains the dough as well as the glaze. Ingredients include enriched bleached flour, sugar, water, margarine, partially hydrogenated soybean and cottonseed oils, nonfat milk, salt, mono- and diglycerides, soy lecithin, vitamin A palmitate and artificial color. Additional ingredients include high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, whey protein concentrate, colors, molasses, sodium stearoyl, lactylate, dough conditioner, artificial flavor and citric acid as well as numerous preservatives such as monoglycerides, potassium sorbate, BHT, BHA, polysorbate 60, ascorbic acid, xanthan gum and locust bean gum.
Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/318338-nutritional-information-of-pillsbury-cinnamon-rolls/#ixzz2LBqpKMt9