The very best, light and fluffy homemade cinnamon rolls! These Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Frosting turn out perfect every time! I top mine with a delicious homemade cream cheese frosting that perfectly compliments the soft cinnamon roll. They are perfect for breakfast, brunch, or any time of day snack! Make it with me!
Homemade Cinnamon Rolls using Live Yeast
I make these cinnamon rolls using my live yeast aka my sourdough starter. Sourdough Starter is the active ingredient in dough recipes that allow it to double in size and rise.
If you don’t have a sourdough starter, you can make one at home using a ratio of flour and water and time! I am currently working on a blog post all about sourdough and sourdough starter and will post it here when it is live.
No, using the sourdough starter as the active ingredient will not make these rolls taste sour.
This recipe requires fed starter. To feed your starter, the night before you plan to make this recipe, feed your starter 1 cup milk and 1 cup flour and leave it out on your counter, covered overnight. In the mourning, the starter should look bubbly and ready to use.
Do I have to let this recipe rise twice?
Good things take time. This recipe does take time and it does have to rise twice. The first rise will be just after you make the dough and knead it. It will need to rise for 4 hours in a warm place. Then, after you add the cinnamon sugar mixture and cut and roll each piece, you will then want to let them rise in the pan for an additional 1-2 hours until each roll doubles in size.
Allowing all this rise time is going to result in very fluffy and light cinnamon rolls, which is what we all want right! Make a day of it!
You can also make the rolls and instead of rising the second time, you can refrigerate them overnight and bake in the morning. You will want to pull the rolls out of the fridge and leave them on your counter for 2 hours before you bake them.
Cream Cheese Frosting
I LOVE cream cheese frosting! To be honest, I am actually not a huge frosting fan, but I do enjoy cream cheese frosting! The frosting compliments the cinnamon roll beautifully and it has an amazing flavor! My recipe for cream cheese frosting is written below.
You will love these homemade Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Frosting! Your whole family will!
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Homemade Cinnamon Rolls
Ingredients
Dough
- 1 cup fed sourdough starter
- 3/4 cup warm milk
- 1 egg
- 1/4 cup softened butter
- 3 1/4 cup all purpose flour
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon instant yeast
Filling
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 2 Tablespoons cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 Tablespoons melted butter
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 8 ounces cream cheese
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- Optional 1-2 teaspoons milk
Instructions
Make the Dough
- Mix together all the dough ingredients until the flour is evenly moistened and the dough has formed a cohesive, sticky mass, 2 to 3 minutes on low speed of a stand mixer.
- Turn the mixer up one speed and knead the dough until it’s smooth and supple though still somewhat soft and tacky, about 2 to 3 minutes.
- Cover the dough and let it rest in a warm place for 4 hours.
- Meanwhile, prepare the filling by mixing all the ingredients together. It should have the consistency of wet sand.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly greased or floured work surface and gently deflate it, patting or rolling it into a rectangle.
- Spread the filling evenly over the surface of the dough.
- Starting with the filling-coated short edge, roll the dough into a log. As you roll, the log will lengthen to around 18".
- Cut the log into twelve slices and place them in a lightly greased 9” x 13” pan.
- Cover the pan and let the buns rise until they’re puffy, 1 to 2 hours.
- Bake the buns in a preheated 375°F oven for 16 to 22 minutes, until golden.
- While the cinnamon rolls are baking, prepare the cream cheese frosting.
- To an electric mixture, beat together the cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla until smooth. Add a tablespoon or so of milk until you reach your desired consistency.
- Frost the hot cinnamon rolls and enjoy!
For the Frosting
Notes
*You can make the cinnamon rolls the day before and bake them the following morning. To do so, follow steps 1-8 then place the pan in the refrigerator overnight, covered, and bake the buns the next day. Remove the pan from the refrigerator and leave the buns covered at room temperature for one hour, then preheat the oven to 375°F. Bake as directed.
