Fluffy homemade cinnamon rolls
Everyone loves homemade cinnamon rolls. While the kind that pop out of the can are tasty, nothing can beat made-from-scratch, hand-rolled, fresh from the oven homemade cinnamon rolls. These are particularly special because I made them from a simple French bread recipe, so the dough isn’t sweet and cuts through the sweetness of cinnamon sugar filling and frosting just right.
All four members of my household were sick this weekend, so all of our plans went down the drain. So what did we do after the boredom set in? Bake, of course. We baked holiday cookies, loaves of fresh bread, and of course these rolls.
How to make homemade cinnamon rolls
Really making these is super easy — you roll out your favorite bread recipe to about 1/4 inch and spread your filling on it, roll it up, cut into 1 inch pieces, and bake. I did tweak my bread recipe a bit… I used a simple French bread recipe but doubled the sugar from 2 tablespoons to 4 tablespoons and added 2 tablespoons of cinnamon before I let it rise the first time. After letting the dough rise about an hour, I divided it into two pieces and rolled each out to assemble the cinnamon rolls. I placed them in a pan with a good lip (a roasting pan or heavy duty baking sheet will work) on a greased parchment sheet and let them rise for about another hour before putting them in the oven at 375 Fahrenheit for 20 minutes.
Fluffy Homemade Cinnamon Rolls
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp yeast (or one packet)
- 2.5 cups warm water
- 4 tbsp sugar
- 1 tbsp salt
- 2 tbsp cinnamon
- 3 tbsp avocado oil (or other oil)
- 6 cups flour, plus a little for kneading/rolling out
For the filling
- 1 cup salted butter (two sticks), softened
- 1 cup sugar
- 2-3 tbsp cinnamon (or more, to taste)
Instructions
For the dough
- Place the warm water (no more than 100 degrees) in a large mixing bowl with the yeast and sugar. Allow them to get a little bit bubbly and activate by letting it sit about 3-5 minutes.
- Add the salt and oil and stir gently. Add the cinnamon and mix.
- Add about half the flour and mix thoroughly. You can mix by hand with a spoon or in a stand mixer.
- Add the rest of the flour, a little at a time, until the dough forms a ball.
- Adding flour as needed, knead the dough with your hands while it is still in the bowl until it is a smooth ball.
- Cover and let rise about an hour, or until it has at least doubled in size.
To assemble the rolls
- Flour a countertop lightly, then plop the dough out of the bowl. Separate into two balls.
- Using a rolling pin, roll the first ball of dough to about 1/4 inch thick.
- In a separate bowl, place the softened butter, sugar and cinnamon and mix until they form a gooey consistency.
- Spread half the mixture onto the flattened dough.
- Working slowly, begin to roll the dough lengthwise until it is completely rolled. At this point you may need to stretch it out a bit.
- Cut 1 to 1.5 inch slices. Place onto a greased sheet of parchment paper on a baking sheet with a lip.
- Repeat with the second ball of dough.
- Bake at 375 for 20 minutes. Allow to cool in the pan for at least 5 minutes.
- Serve alone or with cream cheese frosting!
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About The Author
Sarah
I am a mom of two and wife to a martial arts school owner, full-time social media professional and avid cook and gardener. I love creating recipes and involving my kids in the process. The food we cook is usually dairy-free and gluten-free, and sometimes paleo, but we make exceptions (ahem, sourdough bread). The “hippie” part of this blog comes into play in the ingredients we use—I’m pretty vigilant about the health of my family and you could even call me “crunchy.” The “modern” part is that I am busy! You won’t catch me making my own nut milk or churning butter (not that there’s anything wrong with that). I’m more than happy to take the shortcuts provided by our lovely grocery stores and online shopping —especially in the midst of this global pandemic.