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These are soft, fluffy, cinnamony, buttery and crowned with a lavish amount of salted maple glaze. I fell in love when I tried these. I sent some home with my sister and her words exactly: “Cinnabon has nothing on these!” I packaged up a batch of Cinnamon Rolls with Salted Maple Glaze, took them to work and was flooded with compliments and requests for the recipe.
A few days later I took another test batch to my other sister’s house and it was so sweet how much all the kiddos loved these cinnamon rolls. My niece ate one and asked her mom for a second inserting an “I love you Mama” immediately after her request to ensure a good outcome. 5-year olds are so smart! It was hilarious and darling.
You want to know a little secret? It is the same dough that I use for my baked piroshki that are uber popular on my blog. They are not complicated but there is a fair amount of waiting time while the dough rises. When you bite into these, you’ll realize it was so worth it in the end. It’s kind of like having a baby, ok not really. But they are such a treat!
P.S. if you want to make these cinnamon rolls in advance, follow these instructions.
Ingredients for Cinnamon Rolls with Salted Maple Glaze:
1 cups warm milk (not hot)m
1/2 Tbsp active dry yeast
4 Tbsp sugar, (divided)
3 cups + 2-4 Tbsp all-purpose flour, (divided into 1/2 cup and 2 1/2 cups) *measured correctly
1 large egg
2 Tbsp melted unsalted butter, divided (1 Tbsp for batter, 1 Tbsp to brush tops)
1/2 tsp salt
Cinnamon Rolls Filling:
6 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened + 1 Tbsp for pan
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
Cinnamon Rolls Glaze:
2 cups powdered sugar
4 Tbsp unsalted butter melted
2 Tbsp real maple syrup
1/8 tsp salt
2-4 Tbsp milk (or to desired consistency)
How to Make the Cinnamon Rolls:
Note: Preheat your oven to 360°F at step 6.
1. In the bowl of an electric mixer, add 1 cup warm milk and sprinkle the top with 1/2 Tbsp yeast. Let sit for 5-7 five minutes at room temp. Add 1/2 cup flour and 2 Tbsp sugar. Whisk together until blended, cover with plastic wrap and let it rise at room temperature for 35-45 minutes.
It will proof faster in a warm place (25 minutes in a 100˚ oven, but don’t let it get hotter than that or it will start to cook and ruin the yeast).
2. Whisk in the 1 egg, remaining 2 Tbsp sugar, 1 Tbsp melted butter and 1/2 tsp salt.
3. Now using the dough hook, add the remaining 2 1/2 cups of flour (1/2 cup at a time) letting it blend into the dough before each addition. You may need to add an extra 2-4 Tbsp of flour depending on your flour.
You know you’ve added enough flour when the dough is no longer sticking to your hands and barely sticking to the walls of the bowl. ** See tip on measuring flour at the bottom. Once all of the flour is in, knead on low speed with the dough hook for 10 minutes
4. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm 100˚ oven for 1 hour (2 hours in a warm room). The dough will nearly double in volume. Be patient. It’s all worth it in the end. 😉
5. Generously flour a large non-stick work surface and the top of your dough and roll dough into a 17″x10″ rectangle. Use a spatula to spread your 6 Tbsp softened butter over the top. Sprinkle the top evenly with cinnamon/sugar mixture. Roll the dough up starting with one of the longer sides, keeping a tight roll.
6. Cut the cinnamon roll into 16 equal pieces. Butter the sides and bottom of your 9×13 baking pan and add cinnamon rolls slightly spaced, cut-side down.
Cover with plastic wrap and let the cinnamon rolls rise in a warm 100˚F oven for 30 minutes or until they look puffy (or 50 minutes in a warm room). Be patient. You’ll be eating them before you know it!
7. Once cinnamon rolls have risen, brush tops with 1 Tbsp melted butter and bake at 360˚F for 20 mins or until tops are light golden brown.
Making the Cinnamon Rolls Glaze:
1. Ten minutes before the cinnamon rolls come out of the oven, melt 4 Tbsp butter in a small saucepan and whisk in 2 cups powdered sugar, 2 Tbsp maple syrup and 1/8 tsp salt. Finally whisk in about 2 -4 Tbsp milk to desired consistency and stir until smooth.
2. Pour over cinnamon rolls while they are still hot out of the oven.
**Cooking tip: To measure the flour accurately, fluff it up then scoop it into a dry measuring cup. Scrape off the top with the back of a knife.
*Watch our easy video tutorial on how to measure correctly
Softest Cinnamon Rolls with Salted Maple Glaze
Ingredients
Ingredients for Cinnamon Rolls:
- 1 cups warm milk, not hot
- 1/2 Tbsp active dry yeast
- 4 Tbsp sugar, (divided)
- 3 cups + 2-4 Tbsp all-purpose flour, (divided into 1/2 cup and 2 1/2 cups)
- 1 large egg
- 2 Tbsp melted unsalted butter, divided (1 Tbsp for batter, 1 Tbsp to brush tops)
- 1/2 tsp salt
Filling Ingredients:
- 6 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened + 1 Tbsp for pan
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
Glaze Ingredients:
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 4 Tbsp unsalted butter melted
- 2 Tbsp real maple syrup
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 2-4 Tbsp milk, or to desired consistency
Instructions
How to Make the Cinnamon Rolls: (Note: Preheat your oven to 360°F at step 6)
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, add 1 cup warm milk and sprinkle the top with 1/2 Tbsp yeast. Let sit for 5-7 five minutes at room temp. Add 1/2 cup flour and 2 Tbsp sugar. Whisk together until blended, cover with plastic wrap and let it rise at room temperature for 35-45 minutes. It will proof faster in a warm place (25 minutes in a 100˚ oven, but don’t let it get hotter than that or it will start to cook and ruin the yeast).
- Whisk in the 1 egg, remaining 2 Tbsp sugar, 1 Tbsp melted butter and 1/2 tsp salt.
- Now using the dough hook, add the remaining 2 1/2 cups of flour (1/2 cup at a time) letting it blend into the dough before each addition. You may need to add an extra 2-4 Tbsp of flour depending on your flour. You know you’ve added enough flour when the dough is no longer sticking to your hands and barely sticking to the walls of the bowl. ** See tip on measuring flour at the bottom. Once all of the flour is in, knead on low speed with the dough hook for 10 minutes.
- Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm 100˚ oven for 1 hour (2 hours in a warm room). The dough will nearly double in volume. Be patient. It’s all worth it in the end. 😉
- Generously flour a large non-stick work surface and the top of your dough and roll dough into a 17"x10" rectangle. Use a spatula to spread your 6 Tbsp softened butter over the top. Sprinkle the top evenly with cinnamon/sugar mixture. Roll the dough up starting with one of the longer sides, keeping a tight roll.
- Cut the cinnamon roll into 16 equal pieces. Butter the sides and bottom of your 9x13 baking pan and add cinnamon rolls slightly spaced, cut-side down. Cover with plastic wrap and let the cinnamon rolls rise in a warm 100˚ oven for 30 minutes or until they look puffy (or 50 minutes in a warm room). Be patient. You'll be eating them before you know it!
- Once cinnamon rolls have risen, brush tops with 1 Tbsp melted butter and bake at 360˚F for 20 mins or until tops are light golden brown.
Making the Glaze:
- Ten minutes before the cinnamon rolls come out of the oven, melt 4 Tbsp butter in a small saucepan and whisk in 2 cups powdered sugar, 2 Tbsp maple syrup and 1/8 tsp salt. Finally whisk in about 2 -4 Tbsp milk to desired consistency and stir until smooth.
- Pour over cinnamon rolls while they are still hot out of the oven.
Notes
To measure the flour accurately, fluff it up then scoop it into a dry measuring cup. Scrape off the top with the back of a knife.
Eat these warm. They re-heat wonderfully; just 10 seconds in the microwave! Now go make a batch and impress your family and friends :). Have a happy week!
I made these rolls and added chopped walnuts to the filling. I used flaky salt sprinkled on top of the icing. Turned out fantastic
Sounds good, thank you for sharing that with us, Leilani!
So you bake at 360 not 350? That is repeated so I’m guessing it’s not a typo! Just more unusual to cook at 360, just checking and thank you!
Hi Peggy, that temperature is accurate.
Hello love your recipes please share some nice sandwich recipes
Hi Ayesha, I’m so glad you’re enjoying our recipes! Thank you so much for that suggestion. If you haven’t already, I recommend checking out our Sandwich Archives HERE.
Can I make these ahead and freeze them?
Hi Maryellen, to be honest, I haven’t tried freezing these cinnamon rolls, so I’m not sure if they are freezer friendly. I hesitate to recommend something without trying it myself.
You can review freezing options on the internet which include freezing the product after forming (then thawing and let rise), freezing the product after second rise and par-baking (partially baking to set), then thawing and finishing the baking, or preparing fully and freezing.
King Arthur’s baking has a particularly good article. As with most techniques, there are pros and cons, but it is a start.
Hi natasha, I really love your recipes, they always turn out great. I really want to try this one so I was just wondering where I can get it in metric measurements. Thanks.
Hi Maryam, We are currently working on adding metric measurements to all of our recipes but it is taking some time as we have to add them one at a time. Thank you so much for being patient! In the meantime, check out our post on measuring which should help.
Metric measurements are great, and I always use a scale. But the internet has many resources where one can find the weight of flour 4.25 oz per cup or sugar or anything… Many years ago, it was not common to see such measures in non-commercial recipes. I kept a conversion scale taped into my cupboard which had the common weights.
It’s no big thing to spend a couple of minutes converting a recipe if such are not offered.
Perhaps rather than re-tooling every recipe you offer a conversion page you can steer your readers to.
Hi Leisa, that is a great suggestion. Thank you!
I am needing to make this recipe for 4 dozen. (one batch will become 1 dozen). I have the machine to make a larger amount BUT do I need to change the quantities of any of the ingredients or can I just do each ingredient x4? Thank you.
Hi Tracy, I haven’t tested this with 4 times the amount. If you have a machine big enough for that it may work. We have a serving size slider on the printable recipe card, I recommend using that as a guide. If you experiment I would love to know how you like that.
hi! hour dough for cinnamon is fantastic! one question though, how do i make it soft all through out? the sides were toasty and harder than the middle part. how do you balance the aoftness all around? thanks!
Hi Anne, For softer taller rolls it is best to have them touching and allowing them to bake softer. If there is space between the rolls while baking they will form a tougher shell. I hope this helps
Can these be made with self rising flour. Yeast shortage here.
Hi Monica, I haven’t tried that with this recipe so I can’t advise.
Hi Natasha! I am wanting to make these amazing cinnamon roll but i have a question. Can i use evaporated milk instead of regular milk??
Regards all the way from Peru
Hi Javier, I have not tested this recipe with evaporated milk to advise. It is possible it may work, If you experiment, let me know how you liked the recipe.
This took wayyy too long! 4.5 hours from start to finish.
Hi Sarah, I would highly recommend trying our easy cinnamon rolls with instant yeast which are faster to make.
Hello!! I was wondering if I can bake these in the square/rectangle tin pans? Would I need to change the temp or cooking time? I want to send these to my husbands work and (more than likely) he won’t remember to bring my glass pans back (LOL) Thank you. I LOVE watching your videos.
Hi Tracy, the bake time should change by much but I would monitor it closely in the last few minutes there to make sure they don’t burn on the bottom or sides since the tin is thinner.
You were right! So worth all that rising time. Every time I make these the man eats at least three of them at once!
That’s just awesome!! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review, Lina!
Natasha, I made these today and they are amazing!!!
My husband loves them!! So easy to make and do worth the wait!
Thank you! I love your recepies !!!
That’s so great! It sounds like you have a new family favorite!
A question I have is, should these be super soft when done baking, or a lil hard on outside and soft on the inside? Cause I ended up with 19 pieces and I placed 16 tightly into the big baking dish and 3 in the small one, which were spaced out. And the crust on those 3 was slightly hard but oh so good! Tasted like a European dough compared to the 16 that were just soft. I plan to make again but maybe use 2 pans? Hope it will still taste good, cause either way they were delicious!
Hi Olga! For softer taller rolls it is best to have them touching and allowing them to bake softer. If there is space between the rolls while baking they will form a tougher shell. I hope this helps
Made these rolls, but used the cream cheese topping instead. These were delicious! We shared a few with friend and ate the rest of them! Mmmm
I’m so happy you enjoyed these Olga!!
Everybody in my house love this rolls, including my husband who doesn’t snack so I know they are good
THat’s just awesome! Sounds like you found a new favorite!
Just made these 🖒😁 they are delicious 😋
I’m glad you love the recipe just as much as I do! Thanks for sharing Alina!
Can I put all the ingredients into bread maker on the dough setting?
Thanks,
Busy mama 😉
Hi Tanya, one of my readers, Valentina, shared a great review stating: ” I did the dough in a bread maker. it was so easy for me. 🙂” So I am assuming it will work just fine 🙂
It looks delicious. What is the calorie content? I wish you posted recipes more on the healthy side.
Due to time constraints, I don’t typically include nutritional info, but check out this nutrition analyzer – you can plug in the ingredients from any recipe, select the serving size and it will give you nutritional info, calories, etc. I hope that is helpful to you Becca!
Will it work if I double the recipe?
Hi Allison, here is the dough where it is doubled (the cinnamon rolls recipe is based on my baked piroshki recipe where I doubled it). Hope that helps!
Hi Natasha! I don’t have a mixer with a dough hook. Can I hand knead this recipe. It looks so good!!
Hi Sharon, yes that would work. The dough hook just makes it easier :). I hope you love the recipe!