These warm, fluffy cinnamon rolls are the perfect thing to have on Christmas morning! You may have heard it before, but these are seriously the best cinnamon rolls you’ll ever eat and they are so easy to make.
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I make these for my family and friends every Christmas and hand them out with our Christmas cards. It’s become such a fun tradition that we look forward to every year.
Cinnamon rolls can be intimidating at first. Making dough, letting it rise, kneading it…but it’s really very simple! I’ve broken it down in easy step by step directions and I’ve revealed some of my top secret tips and tricks.
So here we go!
Step 1
Start by warming 4 cups of whole milk, 1 cup of white sugar and 1 cup of unsalted butter.
Top secret number one: using butter instead of vegetable oil like other recipes call for. Butter makes everything better don’t you know? Once the sugar and butter have melted, remove from the heat and let it cool to lukewarm.
Step 2
Once mixture is lukewarm sprinkle 4 1/2 teaspoons (or 2 packets) of yeast on top and let it sit for exactly one minute.
Step 3
After the minute is up add 8 cups of the flour and stir until combined. Cover with a clean towel and set in a relatively warm place for one hour.
Step 4
After the hour is up, add the remaining one cup of flour along with 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon baking soda and 1 tablespoon.
Top secret number 2: mix the flour, b. soda, b. powder and salt in a separate bowl and whisk together before adding to the dough.
It’s time to get rolling!
Step 5
You want to remove half of the dough and knead it a couple of times. Your main goal here is to make sure the dough isn’t too wet and to get it into a rectangular shape. Don’t worry about measuring it or making sure it’s perfect-just try your best!
Step 6
Evenly spread 1 stick melted butter and sprinkle with the cinnamon and sugar mixture.
Step 7
Roll ‘em up like a typewriter and get ready to cut them.
Step 8
Here you can use a sharp knife, dental floss or whatever you’d like to slice the dough. I prefer jumbo cinnamon rolls so I make them about an inch to an inch and a half thick.
Put them in a warm area and let them rise for about 20-30 minutes.
Now you’re ready to bake your rolls!
Step 9
Bake cinnamon rolls at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes.
While the rolls bake you can start on the delicious icing!
In a large mixing bowl add 2 lbs (one bag) of powdered sugar, 6 tbsp of unsalted butter, 3/4 cup whole milk and 1 tablespoon of vanilla. Mix until smooth.
After removing your cinnamon rolls from the oven let them sit for about 5 minutes to cool.
Then generously pour the icing over the cinnamon rolls and watch the magic happen.
Awe, perfection!
These cinnamon rolls are perfect any day of the year, but especially on Christmas! Enjoy!
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Perfect Christmas Cinnamon Roll
Ingredients
Cinnamon Roll
- 4 cups Whole Milk
- 1 cup Butter
- 1 cup Sugar
- 4 1/2 tsp Active Dry Yeast (2 packages)
- 9 cups All-Purpose Flour
- 1 tsp Baking Powder
- 1 tsp Baking Soda
- 1 tbsp Salt
Filling
- 2 cups Melted Butter
- 1/4 cup Cinnamon
- 2 cups Sugar
Vanilla Icing
- 2 pounds Powdered Sugar
- 3/4 cup Whole Milk
- 6 tbsp Butter-melted
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- 1 tbsp Vanilla
Instructions
- For the dough, heat the milk, butter and sugar in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Only heat long enough to allow sugar to dissolve-do not allow mixture to boil. Set aside and let it cool to lukewarm.
- Sprinkle the yeast on top and let it sit for one minute.
- After one minute, add 8 cups of the flour. Stir until combined, cover with clean tea towel and set aside in a relatively warm place for one hour.
- In a separate bowl combine the remaining one cup of flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and whisk together.
- After one hour, add the flour mixture to the dough. Use dough right away or place in a mixing bowl and refrigerate for up to 3 days.
- To assemble the cinnamon rolls, remove half the dough and place on floured baking surface. Roll the dough into a large rectangle.
- To make the filling, pour 1 cup of the melted butter evenly over the dough.
- In a separate bowl, combine the 2 cups of sugar and 1/4 cup of cinnamon and whisk together. Generously sprinkle half of the mixture over the butter.
- Then carefully begin at one end of the dough and begin tightly rolling the dough towards you. When you reach the end pinch the seam together.
- Using a sharp knife, twine etc slice the cinnamon rolls into 1 1/2 inch slices. Each log should produce about 18 rolls.
- Place the sliced rolls into desired baking pan, cover with a kitchen towel and set aside to rise for at least 20 min.
- Preheat oven to 375F. Once rolls have reached desired size, remove the towel and bake for 13-17 minutes. While the rolls are baking, make the vanilla icing!
- The easiest way to make this icing is using a mixer, in my opinion. So add the powdered sugar, milk, melted butter and vanilla. Mix together using the whisk attachment until smooth.
- After the rolls are done baking, allow them to cool for ~10 minutes then generously pour the icing over the top, being sure to get it all around the edges. Grab a fork and plate and enjoy!
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