Straight up from scratch, these Quick and Easy Cinnamon Rolls have an abundance of cinnamon and brown sugar between every puffy swirl. Topped with whipped Cinnamon Cream Cheese Icing while still warm… makes for a messy, scrumptious sweet roll!
The main reason for calling these Quick and Easy Cinnamon Rolls, is because they truly are quick and easy!
I have made homemade cinnamon rolls (all from scratch) ever since I was a little girl. I have always remembered it being an all day process!
Even after having my boys, I’d have to take a whole day aside JUST to make cinnamon rolls. It was just a matter of waiting… and waiting… (and waiting) for the dough to do it’s thing and rise about a billion times before I could actually put it in the oven to bake… then finally get to EAT!
My boys (will always) have requests for their favorite sweets. But, the whole cinnamon roll thing– is almost weekly!
I don’t really have the time or patience to wait…and wait for dough to rise… and rise again. Do you?
So, I’ve decided it was time to create a recipe for the dough to still become puffy without it having to rise all day.
Please do not be intimidated by yeast if you’ve never worked with it before. It can truly be your friend. It just wants to stay nice and warm. Easy, right? Yes!
The only part of the actually rising in this recipe, is the yeast mixture. Simple!
Stir together the hot water, sugar, and YEAST in a small bowl. (Just hot water from your tap. And, hot enough to touch. Sorry, I don’t use a thermometer. This way has worked for me more than half my life.) Set aside in a nice and warm place for about ten to fifteen minutes.
TIP: Remember, a draft-free warm place is your microwave! Sit it in with a cup or bowl of hot water and just shut the door. It will do it’s thing.
When the yeast mixture has doubled, stir in the honey. It will deflate, but that is okay! Add it to the large mixing bowl with the 3 cups of flour, powdered milk, salt, and sugar in it. Add in the beaten eggs and gently stir with a wooden spoon. If using your mixer, use the dough hook and mix on low.
Once the flour mixture has incorporated in with the wet ingredients, slowly add in the rest of the flour. Continue to mix on low speed (or take out and knead by hand) for about 4-6 minutes. Add a tablespoon of flour at a time, if needed. As to make sure the dough is completely pulled away from the bottom of the bowl and no longer sticky. As shown here when I shared with you on how to make Homemade Fry Bread.
Take the dough out of the bowl and place on a lightly floured surface. Let the dough rest for about 5 minutes, uncovered. Or you can set your empty bowl upside down onto the dough. (I find myself doing that sometimes.)
Tip: By allowing the dough to rest, it will have more flexibility and elasticity when rolling it out.
This is a great time to head over to the cupboard and gather your brown sugar, cinnamon, butter flavored shortening–and a long piece of thread. (I’ll show you what to do with the thread in a bit….)
Roll out the dough (on the lightly floured surface) to a rectangle size of about 16 inches by 12 inches. And, about half an inch thick.
Spread the butter flavored shortening all the way across and to the edges. (I have tried using just regular butter. But I have found by using the butter flavored shortening it actually makes the cinnamon and brown sugar stay together… and not run out from the swirling dough and onto the bottom of your pan.)
Cover the dough with the brown sugar all the way across. Then sprinkle the cinnamon onto every inch of the brown sugar.
Start with one of the long sides, tuck and roll the dough until you come to the very end. Make sure to have the last part of the flap onto the bottom to hold it together. (As shown below.)
As you can probably tell, the dough is already starting to rise and get puffy as you are rolling it up. See? I told you this was quick!
Grab your long piece of thread and slice it up underneath the roll. Crisscross the thread while going down onto the dough. It will cut with out smashing the dough. Tip: Only use a knife to mark the top of the dough (to get even pieces) before using the thread.
Place the rolled up pieces of dough into a large baking pan. I used 2 round pie pans. Sometimes, I use a large baking sheet to fit them all and lined with parchment paper underneath to prevent sticking, of course.
Depending upon how many slices (and how thick you cut them), you will have about a dozen cut cinnamon rolls. (Each being 1 and a half inch to two inches thick.)
Put in a 350 degrees preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes– on the bottom rack. Every oven is different. And, these will cook more evenly so they do not brown too fast by being the bottom rack.
While your cinnamon rolls are in the oven, now is a good time to start making the Cinnamon Cream Cheese Icing. If you remember, I recently made the Pumpkin Snickerdoodles with this same icing. It happens to be one of my favorite icings. Can you tell?!
Spread on the icing as soon as the cinnamon rolls come out of the oven. I like to do this, because the icing starts to melt in between all of the swirling crevices.
There’s nothing like having a fresh, soft, and warm cinnamon roll (made from scratch!) straight out of the oven!
Enjoy, my friends!
Quick And Easy Cinnamon Rolls
Author:Simply Gloria
Straight up from scratch, these Quick and Easy Cinnamon Rolls have an abundance of cinnamon and brown sugar between every puffy swirl. Topped with whipped Cinnamon Cream Cheese Icing while still warm… makes for a messy, scrumptious sweet roll!
Makes about 1 dozen. Store in a closed container for up to 3 days.
Ingredients
- dough:
- 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1½ cups hot water (just hot, to the touch)
- 4 – 4½ cups bread flour (may use all purpose flour, but the texture will be different)
- 1 tablespoon powdered milk
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- fillling:
- ½ cup butter flavored shortening
- ¾ cup light brown sugar
- ¼ cup cinnamon
- thread, for slicing the dough
- icing:
- 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ¼ cup heavy whipping cream
- 2½ – 3½ cups powdered sugar (depending on how thick you want it)
- 3 teaspoons cinnamon
Instructions
- Combine yeast, water, and 1 tablespoon of sugar in a small mixing bowl. Set aside in a nice and warm place for about ten to fifteen minutes. (A draft-free warm place is your microwave! Sit it in with a cup or bowl of hot water and just shut the door.)
- Once the yeast mixture has doubled, stir in the honey.
- Add yeast mixture to a large mixing bowl with the 3 cups of the flour, powdered milk, salt, and sugar. Add in the beaten eggs and gently stir with a wooden spoon. If using your mixer, use the dough hook and mix on low.
- Once the flour mixture has incorporated in with the wet ingredients, slowly add in the rest of the flour. Continue to mix on low speed (or take out and knead by hand) for about 4-6 minutes. Add a tablespoon of flour at a time, if needed. As to make sure the dough is completely pulled away from the bottom of the bowl and no longer sticky.
- Take the dough out of the bowl and place on a lightly floured surface. Let the dough rest for about 5 minutes, uncovered or you can set your empty bowl upside down onto the dough.
- Roll out the dough (on the lightly floured surface) to a rectangle size of about 16 inches by 12 inches. And, about half an inch thick.
- Spread the butter flavored shortening all the way across and to the edges.
- Cover the dough with the brown sugar all the way across. Then sprinkle the cinnamon onto every inch of the brown sugar.
- Start with one of the long sides, tuck and roll the dough until you come to the very end. Make sure to have the last part of the flap onto the bottom to hold it together.
- Grab your long piece of thread and slice it up underneath the roll. Crisscross the thread while going down onto the dough. It will cut with out smashing the dough. Tip: Only use a knife to mark the top of the dough (to get even pieces) before using the thread.
- Place the rolled up pieces of dough into a baking pan.
- Put in a 350 degrees preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes– on the bottom rack.
- icing:
- Beat the softened cream cheese and vanilla for about 1 minute on medium high speed. Alternate the heavy whipping cream and powdered sugar until the right consistency. Add cinnamon.You may want to add more powdered sugar to make it thicker or to your liking.
- Spread on the icing as soon as the cinnamon rolls come out of the oven. I like to do this, because the icing starts to melt in between all of the swirling crevices.
- Eat, and enjoy!
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These Quick & Easy Cinnamon Rolls are shared and linked up to share with{A Little Clairification} & {Little Miss Celebration} & {Cooking With Curls} & {Snap Creativity}
