Simple Homemade Cinnamon Rolls

My delicious homemade cinnamon rolls are super light and fluffy with a gooey filling and scrumptious, tangy cream cheese frosting. Even if you’ve never attempted homemade yeasted bread, I promise you can master these!

These ooey gooey cinnamon rolls are one of my all time favourite things to eat and make. The smell of raising yeasted bread is soo intoxicating!! It took me a long time to work up the courage to make cinnamon rolls from scratch but I promise these are so simple to follow along to. I know any kind of homemade bread always seems like a time consuming thing but you can knead, rise and bake these in about 2.5 hours! Most of that time doesn’t even require you to do anything either.

If you’re thinking you’d like to give these cinnamon rolls a try but are put off by the fact that you don’t own a stand mixer, don’t panic. You can absolutely make this recipe with a hand mixer or whisk and your hands! I actually prefer to do the majority of the kneading by hand. I find you get a much better feel for the dough then and don’t end up overworking it. It also just feels nice to knead it by hand and it’s kind of soothing. The smell and feel of fresh dough in my hands is one of my favourite things!

Is My Dough Kneaded Enough?

The easiest way to tell, whether kneading by hand or with a machine, is to do the windowpane test. To do this, pull a small piece of dough off and slowly pull it apart. Hold it up to the light as you do it. If you it stretches thin so you can see the light through, it’s ready. If it just tears, then you haven’t developed enough gluten and you need to continue kneading.

How the Dough Should Look

Prior to 2nd proof After 2nd proof

After pouring whipping cream on top Fully baked

**Of note: The pictures above are in a 10×15 pan, yours will be closer together after proofing if in a 9×13 pan.

Is My Dough Proofed?

The best way to tell if your dough is proofed, besides trying to gauge if it’s doubled in size is the poke test. Poke your ball of dough and if it springs back quickly, its’ underproofed. If it slowly springs back, it’s proofed and if it doesn’t spring back at all, it’s overproofed.

Frying the Dough Ends (AKA making Toutons!)

I’m honestly not the most artistic person and in trying to make all my rolls look pretty, while testing this recipe, I cut the ends off the dough once I’d rolled it. In doing this, I discovered the most amazing delicious thing to do! Rather then throw them out, you can fry them up and eat them! Eating these fried little cinnamon dough bites is what I look forward to most every time I make these cinnamon rolls.

Part of this is likely also nostalgia as I came up with the idea thinking of home. Back in Newfoundland, one of our most beloved and traditional dishes are toutons. Toutons are literally just fried pieces of bread dough but are bloody amazing to eat. If you ever have the pleasure of travelling to Newfoundland, I highly recommend eating toutons! But in the meantime, even if you don’t care about the aesthetic, I encourage you to cut the ends off your dough log just so that you can fry them and eat them, I would be shocked if you regret it.

Follow these steps to make them:

1. Cut the sloppy ends off, about an inch thick. Set them aside to cook for after you’ve finished cutting your rolls and placed them in a pan to proof.
2. Once you’re ready to cook them, heat up a frying pan over medium heat with a little oil or butter. Place the ends in, spiral side up.
3. Let them cook for 2-3 minutes before flipping. You want each side to be browned and golden in colour. To ensure they’re fully cooked through, because they’re so thick, I flatten them a bit with my spatula. This will also tell you if they’re fully cooked. If they flatten easily, then the dough in the middle is still raw, which I do not recommend eating.
4. Continue cooking until both sides are golden and the middle feels more firm. Don’t overcook them either though or you’ll end up with cinnamon croutons. There you go, you’ve made what I like to call a cinnamon roll touton!

Can I Make These the Night Before?

Yes!! I’ve made these the night before and let them proof overnight multiple times and nobody could tell the difference.

If you do want to do this to save time, you’re going to do everything the same except for the following:

1. Once you have the sliced rolls in the pan, you’re going to cover them with saran wrap and place them in the fridge. They will then do their second proof overnight.
2. Let them proof for 8-12 hours in the fridge, absolute max, 16 hours. Pull them out about 1-2 hours before you want to bake them. They should be double in size before baking.
3. Preheat your oven to 375℉ and then pour your warmed whipping cream over the rolls prior to putting them in the oven. Then bake for 20-30 minutes or until they start to turn golden brown and are no longer soft to touch.

Can I Make These Dairy Free?

I haven’t tried using vegan butter or cream but I have replaced the milk with oat milk and couldn’t tell the difference. If you try other dairy free ingredients, let me know how they turn out!

How To Properly Measure Flour

So when it comes to measuring flour, the most accurate and easiest way is to use a kitchen scale. I always use a scale and could never go back to measuring in cups. It’s such a hassle and way more dishes!

If you don’t own a scale, there are a couple steps to properly measure flour as it becomes compacted just sitting in the bag or container. I highly recommend you follow these as just scooping flour out of the bag can potentially lead to at least an additional 1/4 cup of flour. This equals dry and dense baked goods which is not what anybody is going for.

1. Fluff the flour by giving it a mix with a whisk or fork.

2. Spoon the flour into your measuring cup.

3. Level the excess flour off using a butter knife. (With the back of the knife level to the top of the measuring cup, run it over top, pushing the excess flour back into it’s container.)

4. Repeat until you’ve measured the amount the recipe calls for.

Baking Tips

• I highly recommend pouring the whipping cream over the rolls prior to baking as this helps keep the rolls soft and fluffy and creates a more gooey filling.
• For best results, ensure all your ingredients are room temperature. This allows your ingredients to incorporate into each other leading to a much better bake and texture.
• See “Is my dough proofed” above for an easy guide to know when it’s ready.
• See “Is my dough kneaded enough” above to know when it’s ready to proof.
• To help all the rolls bake evenly, I cut the sloppy ends off each side once I’ve rolled the dough. DON’T throw out these scraps though! You can fry them up and eat them and they are scrum-diddly-umptious! See “How to frying the dough ends” for more information!
• I create my recipes based off weights so I recommend measuring by weights if you own a scale. It’s actually so much easier and makes for much less cleanup. I wish I had baked by weight from the beginning, I could never go back now.