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These cinnamon buns are soft, pillowy, and filled with just the right amount of cinnamon sugar — not too much, not too little. The vanilla icing takes them over the top. They take a couple of hours start to finish, but most of that is hands-off rise time, which makes them perfect for a relaxed weekend morning.
Why You’ll Love These
- Perfectly spiced filling — enough cinnamon flavor to be the star, without being overwhelming
- Soft, airy dough — that pull-apart texture you want in a great cinnamon bun
- Vanilla icing that melts right in — spread it on warm and it gets perfectly glossy in all the crevices
- Mostly hands-off time — the dough does its thing while you do yours
- Done in about two hours — great for weekends or holiday mornings when you have a little extra time
A Few Notes on the Ingredients
The yeast — yes, it’s a tablespoon and a half, and yes, I know that sounds like a lot. I double-checked it the first several times I made this. It’s correct. Don’t cut it back.
Use whole milk if you can. I’ve made these with 2% and they’re fine, but whole milk gives the dough a softness that you’ll notice. Same thing with the butter — go real, go salted if that’s what you have. I think salted butter in baked goods gets unnecessarily criticized.
The icing sugar measurement is fairly forgiving — start with a tablespoon of water, add more by tiny amounts until it’s spreadable but not so thin it disappears into the rolls. Some days I end up closer to two tablespoons, some days one and a half. It depends on humidity, I think, or just the mood of my kitchen.
Ingredients
For the dough:
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 egg, beaten
- ¼ cup butter
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 3½ cups all-purpose flour (you might need a tiny bit more)
- 1½ tablespoons instant yeast — yes, tablespoon
For the filling:
- 1 cup brown sugar, packed
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- ¼ cup butter, softened
For the icing:
- 1 cup icing sugar
- 1 to 1½ tablespoons water
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
How to Make Them
Warm your milk, sugar, salt, and butter together in a small saucepan over low heat. You’re not trying to boil anything — just melt the butter and get everything friendly with each other. Then you have to let it cool down to between 100 and 110 degrees before you add the yeast, which is the part that used to make me nervous. Too hot and you kill the yeast; too cool and it won’t bloom. I use a thermometer now. I didn’t used to, and I had some failures I’d rather not discuss.
Once the mixture’s in that temperature range, stir in your yeast and watch it get a little foamy and fragrant. That’s what you want. If nothing happens after ten minutes, your yeast is probably old — it’s happened to me, especially with the kind that’s been sitting in the back of a cabinet since some holiday baking project I only half-finished. Add your beaten egg at this point, and then it’s time to deal with the flour.
I use a stand mixer with the dough hook, and if you have one, use it. Start with a cup and a half of flour and let it work, then add more gradually. You’re looking for a dough that’s soft and slightly tacky but doesn’t stick to your hands. Don’t rush this part. Let the machine knead it on a medium-low setting for a good five minutes, or do it by hand if you’re in that kind of mood — there are worse ways to spend twenty minutes.
Put the dough in an oiled bowl, cover it with a damp dish towel, and tuck it in a cold oven for an hour. I always feel vaguely superstitious about this step, like I’m putting something to bed. It works though. Every time.
When it’s risen, punch it down — and I mean actually punch it, not just politely press — and roll it out on a floured surface into a rough rectangle, about nine by twelve inches and half an inch thick. Spread your softened butter all the way to the edges. Mix the brown sugar and cinnamon and scatter it over the butter as evenly as you can, though honestly it doesn’t have to be perfect. Roll the dough up from the long side into a tight log, then slice it into twelve pieces. I use a serrated knife.
Nestle the rolls into a greased 9×13 dish — they should be touching, or close to it — and cover them again for another thirty minutes. They’ll puff up and look almost ready before they even go into the oven, which is a very satisfying thing to witness. Bake at 375 until they’re golden, somewhere between fifteen and twenty minutes. My oven runs hot, so I check at fourteen.
Make the icing while they’re baking. Stir the vanilla into the icing sugar, add your water slowly until it looks right, and then spread it over the rolls the minute they come out. Some people wait until they’re fully cooled. I don’t understand those people.
Variations Worth Knowing About
Adding cream cheese to the icing makes it richer and more indulgent but also somehow more dessert-like in a way I don’t always want at nine in the morning. Orange zest in the filling is a variation I’ve been meaning to try for approximately four years and have not yet gotten around to.
If you want to make these the night before — which I’ve done for holiday mornings more times than I can count — you can assemble them, cover them tightly, and let them do their second rise in the fridge overnight. Pull them out an hour before baking, let them come to room temperature, then bake as usual.
Leftovers (If You Have Them)
Cover them and leave them on the counter — they’re fine there for a day or two. Reheat individual rolls in the microwave for about twenty seconds, maybe thirty. They won’t be quite what they were fresh out of the oven, but they’ll be close enough to make you happy on a Tuesday morning, which is its own kind of small miracle.
The icing gets a little sticky as they sit. That’s fine. That’s actually fine.
Classic Homemade Cinnamon Buns
Ingredients
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 egg beaten
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour plus more if needed
- 1 1/2 tbsp instant yeast
- 1 cup brown sugar packed
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
- 1/4 cup butter softened, for filling
- 1 cup icing sugar
- 1-1 1/2 tbsp water
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Warm milk, butter, sugar, and salt in a saucepan until butter melts. Let cool to 100–110°F, then stir in yeast and let foam.
- Add beaten egg and gradually mix in flour until a soft dough forms.
- Knead dough for about 5 minutes until smooth and slightly tacky.
- Place dough in a greased bowl, cover, and let rise for 1 hour until doubled.
- Roll dough into a rectangle. Spread with softened butter, then sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon mixture.
- Roll up tightly and slice into 12 rolls. Place in a greased 9x13 pan.
- Cover and let rise for 30 minutes.
- Bake at 375°F for 15–20 minutes until golden brown.
- Mix icing sugar, water, and vanilla. Spread over warm rolls before serving.