• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • About
  • Browse Recipes
  • subscribe
  • Navigation Menu: Social Icons

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
    • YouTube
Life Currents
Home » Cinnamon Rolls with Vanilla Icing

Cinnamon Rolls with Vanilla Icing

February 23, 2010 by Debi 3 Comments

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Yum
Jump to Recipe

Making Cinnamon Rolls with Vanilla Icing reminds me to slow down. Making them takes a little time. Baking them in the morning takes a little time. Drizzling the icing over the top becomes an art form. But, even though it takes time, I think it’s worth the extra time. The cinnamon rolls become an event.

Cinnamon Rolls with Vanilla Icing

 

And, if you need some help with rolling and cutting them, I wrote up a tutorial with a little video help as well. Find it here.

A special occasion

It reminds me to take time for the little pleasures in life. It reminds me to slow down and enjoy – enjoy breakfast; enjoy the company of those around you. Enjoy sitting outside and eating your breakfast – even if it’s just in the backyard.

Cinnamon Rolls with Vanilla Icing

When my husband drives to work in the mornings, he passes by a cinnamon roll bakery. The smell of cinnamon rolls wafts over the freeway, and you can smell it for miles. Man, those smell good!

Cinnamon Rolls with Vanilla Icing baking mess with coffee

Well, after a few times of smelling this, he came home and told me all about how he had a craving for cinnamon rolls. This is not only understandable if you drive the freeway and smell the yummy-ness in the morning, but it became somewhat of a need for cinnamon rolls.

So, we started by purchasing the treats from the grocery store – you know those ones you bake yourself, but they’re already made and all you do is untwist the package. Tasty. They satisfied the need for cinnamon rolls in the morning.

Cinnamon Rolls with Vanilla Icing dough

Then we found some mini cinnamon rolls in the freezer section. You could take out as many as you wanted at one time and bake them up. Great! We tried them, and we liked them. And, the bake-as-many-servings-as-you-wanted thing was great!

Then, we read the ingredient and nutrition labels. Yikes! Each mini cinnamon roll had one gram of trans fat. Each cinnamon roll! That meant that if we had three rolls at breakfast we had already had three grams of trans fat. So, I knew that I needed to make homemade ones.

Cinnamon Rolls with Vanilla Icing before baking
The cinnamon rolls before baking

I did some research and some testing (Dan is such a trooper to do all this testing for me!).

Here’s my cinnamon roll recipe. I love that I can make up the rolls and keep them in the freezer. I pull out as many as I need and bake them up in the toaster oven. Now, we often have fresh homemade mini cinnamon rolls on Friday mornings before he goes to work, and no trans fat!

Cinnamon Rolls with Vanilla Icing before baking cinnamon filling
The dough with the filling on top- just waiting to be rolled up
Cinnamon Rolls with Vanilla Icing

Cinnamon Rolls with Vanilla Icing Recipe

cinnamon rolls

Cinnamon Rolls

Debi
Delicious little mini Cinnamon Rolls with rich vanilla icing. Breakfast perfection
5 from 1 vote
Print Recipe Pin Recipe Rate this Recipe
Prevent your screen from going to sleep.
Prep Time 1 hour hr
Cook Time 15 minutes mins
rising time 1 hour hr 30 minutes mins
Total Time 2 hours hrs 45 minutes mins
Course Breakfast
Cuisine American
Servings 18 cinnamon rolls
Calories 245 kcal

Ingredients
  

ROLLS:

  • 1 cup warm fat-free (or 2%) milk 100° to 110°
  • 3 tablespoons melted butter
  • 1 large egg lightly beaten
  • 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 cups cake flour
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 1/3 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 package quick-rise yeast or 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast

FILLING:

  • 3 tablespoons melted butter
  • 2/3 cup scant packed brown sugar
  • 1 ½ tablespoons ground cinnamon

ICING:

  • 2 cups powdered sugar
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 1 ½ tablespoons butter softened
  • 3-4 tablespoons cream or milk

Instructions
 

  • To prepare rolls: Measure and add liquid ingredients to the bread pan of the bread machine. Measure and add dry ingredients (except yeast) to the bread pan. Form a well in the dry ingredients; measure the yeast and carefully pour it into the well. Choose dough setting according to manufacturer directions.
  • Combine brown sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl, and set aside.
  • Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface; roll dough into an 18 x 11–inch rectangle. Brush 3 tablespoons melted butter over dough; sprinkle evenly with brown sugar mixture.
  • To make mini cinnamon rolls, cut dough in half along the length of the dough so you have two 18 x 5.5 inch rectangles. Beginning at one long side, roll up each rectangle tightly, jellyroll fashion; pinch seam to seal (do not seal ends of roll). Allow rolls to rise, covered with a cotton towel, for about 30 minutes. (Need more help rolling or cutting the cinnamon rolls? Take a look at my tutorial.)
  • Cut dough into 18 (1-inch) slices. Arrange slices, cut sides up, on baking sheets coated with cooking spray or lined with a silpat. Cover with a cotton towel, and let rise about 30 minutes or until doubled in size. At this point, cinnamon rolls may be frozen. Place baking sheets in freezer. Once frozen, store in ziptop bags and pull out as many cinnamon rolls as you need for breakfast.
  • Preheat oven to 350°F. Uncover rolls (no need to defrost if they were frozen). Bake at 350° for 13-15 minutes or until lightly browned.
  • To prepare icing: Combine all ingredients adding cream or milk to achieve desired consistency. Spread icing over rolls; serve warm. Store leftover icing in the freezer in a small covered container. Microwave a couple spoonfuls on high power for about 10 seconds to bring it back to spreadable consistency.

Nutrition

Calories: 245kcalCarbohydrates: 46gProtein: 4gFat: 5gSaturated Fat: 3gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 22mgSodium: 120mgPotassium: 71mgFiber: 1gSugar: 26gVitamin A: 193IUVitamin C: 1mgCalcium: 40mgIron: 1mg

Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations, and should be considered estimates. Actual nutritional content will vary based on brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes, and more.

Keyword cinnamon rolls, homemade
Tried this recipe?Mention @LifeCurrents or tag #LifeCurrents!
  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Yum

Filed Under: Breakfast Tagged With: Breakfast, cinnamon, Cooking, DIY, Food, recipe

You May Also Like

square crop of a tortilla chip dipped into melted cheese dip.
Queso Fundido
A spoonful of chocolate pudding on top of the glass serving dish of pudding.
Cottage Cheese Chocolate Pudding
square crop of rice stroganoff in a brown serving bowl with a spoon.
Mushroom Stroganoff
desserts
Subscribe

Join my mailing list to receive the latest recipes FREE to your inbox!

about debi

ABOUT DEBI

Hello! I’m Debi, the girl behind Life Currents where I write about mainly healthy vegetarian dishes. My husband eats meat, so occasionally I share some of his dishes as well. And, I’ll share tasty treats and projects that we do. Read more...

Previous Post: « Valentine’s Day Martinis
Next Post: A Flour Primer »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Laura Lehrer

    February 23, 2010 at 9:58 pm

    This recipe looks great. I didn’t realize you and I had such similar interests in the food department. Let’s get together for coffee sometime…you bring the cinnamon rolls!

  2. Adrienne Grace

    May 23, 2011 at 5:12 pm

    I may be hard to convert Alex, who’s suspicious of anything that doesn’t come in a wrapper or fast food bag, but these might do the trick!

  3. Jennifer

    August 10, 2014 at 12:55 pm

    Just made these today and we all loved them!! My husband said they tasted like pillsbury! I made six and froze the rest. Great recipe!! Thank you.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Hello! I’m Debi, the girl behind Life Currents where I write about mainly healthy vegetarian dishes. My husband eats meat, so occasionally I share some of his dishes as well. And, I’ll share tasty treats and projects that we do. Read More >>>

desserts
Subscribe

Join my mailing list to receive the latest recipes FREE to your inbox!

Most Popular Recipes

5 puff pastry tarts sprinkled with powdered sugar on a white plate with some lemon tree leaves and flowers around.
a Chocolate Cream Cheese Cupcakes with a bite missing so you can see the filling.
A chip that's been dipped in cheese and the bowl of cheese is behind it.
a piece of Air Fryer Cedar Plank Salmon on a cedar plank with herbs on top, and a bite taken out.
square crop of a bowl of soup being served with a ladle.
square crop of two glasses of galaxy lemonade with purple color changing stars, a pitcher of lemonade behind with a cut lemon.
square crop of a plate of appetizer Air Fryer Tortellini served with Alfredo and marinara
cooked green beans in a ceramic bowl, cropped square image
Cinnamon Sore Throat Tea by Life Currents https://lifecurrentsblog.com

Footer

SEEN ON

as seen on

Life Currents is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com

This month’s featured recipes: Mom’s Salad Dressing, Potatoes Fondantes, No Knead Bread, and Cream Caramels.

Want to tip me? You can Buy Me a Coffee! And thanks!

© 2023 lifecurrentsblog.com. All rights reserved. Find my Privacy Policy Here.

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Yummly