No one who has lived in the Seattle area for any length of time has avoided tasting one of these 730 calorie treats. Now that they have gone national, I imagine there are even more people who know the cinnamon-y amazing-ness (I am butchering the English language here, sorry Webster) of these rolls. However, if you live in the middle of Nowhere, Arizona there is no hope of tasting one. Nope, not a chance. So, what’s a girl to do? You got it….Make Your Own.
Here is my version. It’s on a full size dinner plate. It’s at least 6 inches square. At least. Only six fit in a 9×13 pan.
There are a few things that separate a Cinnabon from an everyday cinnamon roll. The filling has more cinnamon, the frosting has more substance and of course, the roll has more size!
1. Info for Homemade Cinnabons
- Cook Time: 1 hr 20 mins
- Total Time: 2 hrs
- Servings: 12
- Calories: 502kcal
2. Ingredients for Homemade Cinnabons
- The Dough:
- 2 scant Tbsp yeast
- 1 cup warm water
- 1 cup milk
- 2 tsp salt
- 2 eggs
- 8 cups flour
- The Filling:
- 1½ cups sugar
- The Frosting:
- 1 cup butter, at room temperature
- 1 8 ounce brick cream cheese, at room temperature
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 tsp lemon juice
3. Directions:
- Dissolve the yeast in the warm water with the sugar.
- Place the milk and butter in a microwave safe bowl and heat until butter is melted.
- As long as it isn’t burning hot, add it to the yeast mixture along with the salt.
- Beat the eggs in a small bowl and add them to the yeast mixture.
- Mix in the flour until you have a stiff but sticky dough.
- Knead by hand or by machine.
- Cover and let rise one hour.
- Turn the dough out onto a floured counter and roll into a large rectangle (about 20 X 15 inches).
- Mix the cinnamon, butter and sugar into a paste and spread it all over the dough rectangle (I use my hands, but you could use a spatula, spreader or butter knife).
- Roll up jelly-roll fashion.
- Cut into 6 sections (Now of course, if you want the taste, but not the gluttonous portions, you could cut the roll into 12 pieces. That is entirely up to you).
- However, if you chose to make them BIG, put them into your greased pan and press them down beneath the height of your pan.
- This will make them more massive, but you won’t end up with 8 inch tall cinnamon rolls.
- Cover your pan and let them rise to just taller than your pan.
- Bake 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
- While you are in the last phases of making the rolls, get your butter and cream cheese out of the fridge to come to room temperature.
- Beat them together with a mixer.
- Add the powdered sugar.
- Once all of the sugar is incorporated, mix for an additional 5 minutes if using a Kitchen-aid (or other tough mixer) or 10 minutes if using a hand mixer.
- I kid you not. It makes all the difference in the world to beat it that long.
- Add the extract and juice until well mixed and spread on warm, but not hot rolls.