Easy Cinnamon Rolls with Frozen Bread Dough
These easy cinnamon rolls start with a loaf of frozen bread dough, which lets you skip mixing and kneading the dough entirely. You roll it out, fill it with butter, brown sugar and cinnamon, let the rolls puff up in the pan and finish them with a cream cheese icing that melts right down the sides.
A Quick Look At The Recipe
- Recipe Name: Easy Homemade Cinnamon Rolls
- Serves: 18
- Main Ingredients: loaf frozen white bread dough, Filling, softened butter or margarine, packed brown sugar, ground cinnamon, Icing, softened cream cheese, softened butter or margarine
- Why You'll Love It: The only thing better than homemade cinnamon rolls with that delicious cream cheese glaze is easy homemade cinnamon rolls made with a shortcut so you can enjoy them sooner!
I’ve been making cinnamon rolls for years, but only in the last few have I started using this shortcut. Making the dough from scratch is fun, but it takes a good while and it’s not easy on your hands, and a loaf of store-bought bread dough gives you soft, homemade-tasting rolls that anybody can pull off. If you’d still like to go fully from scratch, my dough recipe is in the FAQ below.
Why Frozen Bread Dough Works for Cinnamon Rolls
A loaf of frozen white bread dough is a plain yeast dough, so it rises and bakes up soft and fluffy just like a scratch dough would. You get to skip the measuring and kneading, but you still need to plan for the waiting, about an hour for the loaf to thaw and two to four hours for the rolls to rise, depending on how warm your kitchen is.
One loaf rolls out to about 9 by 16 inches. My from-scratch version rolls out to about 16 by 21, so these have a few less spirals, but they taste just the same.
Ingredients for Easy Cinnamon Rolls
- Frozen white bread dough: One loaf of a brand like Rhodes or your grocery store’s version works. It needs to be completely thawed before you roll it.
- Butter: Half goes on the dough under the filling and half goes into the icing, so soften the whole amount at once.
- Brown sugar and cinnamon: Light or dark brown sugar both work, or use a mix of brown and granulated sugar.
- Cream cheese: Let it soften so the icing beats up smooth. If you’re feeling ambitious, here’s how to make cream cheese at home with 2 ingredients.
You’ll find the exact amounts in the recipe card below.
Helpful Tips Before You Start
- Give the loaf about an hour on a plate at room temperature, and poke the center now and then to make sure it’s thawed all the way through before you roll it.
- I always roll the dough out on a sheet of waxed paper because cleanup is so much easier.
- Stop the filling about half an inch from the edges so the log seals when you roll it up.
- A serrated knife cuts clean one-inch slices without squashing the spirals.
- For a warm spot to rise in winter, heat the oven to 150°F, turn it off and set the covered rolls inside with the door cracked for about 30 minutes, then close it until they’ve doubled.
How to Make Easy Cinnamon Rolls
1Thaw the Dough
Set the loaf of frozen bread dough on a plate at room temperature until it’s completely thawed, about an hour.
2Mix the Filling
In a small bowl, stir together the brown sugar and cinnamon.
3Roll Out the Dough
On a floured surface, roll the thawed dough into a rectangle about 9 by 16 inches.
4Butter and Fill
Spread half of the softened butter over the dough, then sprinkle the cinnamon sugar over it and pat it down lightly, leaving a half-inch border.
5Roll Into a Log
Starting at a long side, roll the dough up into a log and press the seam lightly to seal it.
6Slice the Rolls
Use a serrated knife to cut one-inch slices and set them in a greased 9×13-inch baking dish.
7Let Them Rise
Cover the dish with plastic wrap and set it in a warm spot until the rolls double in size, two to four hours. In summer mine have risen on the deck in about an hour and a half, and in winter I set them on top of the washing machine while the dryer runs.
8Bake
Remove the plastic wrap and bake at 400°F for about 15 minutes, until golden brown.
9Make the Icing
Beat the cream cheese, the rest of the butter, the powdered sugar and a little cinnamon until smooth and creamy. That pinch of cinnamon gives the icing a bit of oomph.
10Ice and Serve
Spread the icing over the warm rolls. When I’m serving them straight from the oven, I let everybody ice their own.
Making Cinnamon Rolls Ahead
For a slow morning, let the covered rolls rise overnight in the fridge instead of on the counter. They rise more slowly in the cold, so take them out about an hour before you want to bake and let them finish rising on the counter while the oven heats.
They heat up well, too, so a pan baked for dessert after supper makes a fine breakfast the next morning. For a holiday brunch, they’re right at home next to a bacon breakfast casserole or a pan of Cracker Barrel-style hash brown casserole.
More Sweet Rolls and Cinnamon Treats
Easy Cinnamon Rolls FAQs
How do I make cinnamon roll dough from scratch?
This dough replaces the loaf of frozen bread dough, and everything else stays the same, except you’ll roll it out to about 16 by 21 inches.
- 1 cup lukewarm milk
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1/3 cup unsalted butter, cut up
- 4 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 3/4 teaspoons salt
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 1/2 teaspoons instant or bread machine yeast
Add everything to a bread machine in the order listed and run the dough cycle, checking after about 10 minutes and adding a little flour or water until it’s smooth, not too sticky and not too dry. Without a bread machine, stir everything together in a large bowl, knead on a lightly oiled surface for five to eight minutes until smooth, then let it rise in an oiled, covered bowl in a warm place for about an hour, until it’s nearly doubled.
Why didn’t my cinnamon rolls rise?
A cool kitchen is almost always the reason, since frozen bread dough rises slowly when it’s cold. Give them more time, or use the warm oven trick in the tips above.
Can I use store-bought frosting?
Store-bought frosting works in a pinch. For a change from cream cheese icing, whisk 1 cup of powdered sugar with 2 tablespoons of strong coffee for a quick coffee glaze.
Easy Cinnamon Rolls with Frozen Bread Dough
Ingredients
- 1 loaf frozen white bread dough such as Rhode’s
Filling
- 1/4 cup softened butter or margarine
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 3 tbsp ground cinnamon
Icing
- 3 ounces softened cream cheese
- 1/4 cup softened butter or margarine
- 1.5 cups confectioner’s sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, optional
Instructions
- Place the loaf of dough on a plate and let sit at room temperature until thawed. Once thawed, roll out onto a floured surface to the size of about nine inches by sixteen inches. Spread butter/margarine over the dough.1 loaf frozen white bread dough, 1/4 cup softened butter or margarine
- In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle over the top of the dough, stopping about 1/2 an inch away from the sides so it will seal. Carefully roll up the cinnamon roll dough into a log and press lightly to seal. Slice into one-inch slices with a serrated knife.1 cup packed brown sugar, 3 tbsp ground cinnamon
- Place in a greased 9×13 baking dish and cover with cling wrap. Place in a warm spot and allow to rise until doubled in size. Remove cling wrap and bake at 400 for about 15 minutes or until golden brown.
- Mix all icing ingredients together and beat with an electric mixer until creamy. Spread over cinnamon rolls.3 ounces softened cream cheese, 1/4 cup softened butter or margarine, 1.5 cups confectioner’s sugar, 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, optional
Christy,
You are right! These have power for sure! Powerfula flavor and taste! Just made these this evening and took them over to my parents who are 79! Dad’s almost 80 and loves cinnamon rolls. They will be having them for breakfast for several days! Thank you again so much for all of the wonderful recipes! P.S. I used the shortcut method with Rhodes loaf of bread! LOL
CRAZY WONDERFUL!!! Made these today for a group of moms and they were my dream cinnabon roll come to life!!! THANK YOU!!
I’ve been making homemade cinnamon buns for about a year now, and although I’ve never tried this recipe, I wanted to share a few tips!
1) If you have a problem cutting the log into rolls, and they keep getting all squished and misshapen, use a piece of string to cut them instead of a knife. Just wrap it around the log where you want to cut it and pull it tight–it’ll slice right through and leave them perfectly round. (I do the same thing to make perfect spiral cookies!)
2) I’m not a huge icing fan, but I love my cinnamon buns sweet and gooey. So instead of mixing up icing, I melt together equal parts butter and brown sugar in a saucepan on the stove to make a wonderful “goo.” You can either put the goo in the bottom of the pan when you bake them, and invert them once they’re done, or just pour it over the tops when they’re done. I feel like it gives them a more old-fashioned, traditional feel. Enjoy!
I made two pans of these and took them to work this past Monday morning. They were gone in no time flat! Delicious and so easy. I still have more bread dough so I may make more tomorrow. Might also try adding raisins. Thanks for a great recipe!
I am so glad to hear they were such a big hit for you !!!
Do you think these would be good with raisins in them? My grandma used to make the best homemade cinnamon rolls when I was a child and she always put raisins in them. I like cinnamon rolls with raisins in them but you can’t ever buy them that way anymore.
I think they would be WONDERFUL that way. What I would do is take about a cup of raisins and soak them in hot water for five minutes before putting them over the filling. That way they’ll be nice and plump! 🙂 Let me know how they turn out. I want to try that now! You’re right, you really don’t see that anymore!
I just made the cinnamon rolls and put them in to rise. Before that I fried slices of link sausage and added it to a cabbage and started it to boil. The smell of the sausage and cabbage filled the house about the time I was knee-deep in cinnamon and brown sugar. My husband wanted to know what I was making. You could have heard a pin drop when he could smell cabbage and sausage (a favorite) and I answered cinnamon rolls (another favorite.) I realized his problem about the time I got to the living room to see what the problem was. Talk about a nervous look on his face. He wasn’t sure what to say about the cinnamon rolls that smelled like cabbage. It was better than asking him if “that dress” made my behind look big. I was so proud when he didn’t say, don’t blame it on the dress.
LOL< I would have loved to see the look on his face!!!
Mel, just read your post. You have made my day, I just sat here and laughed, and laughed., have not been well for about a year and not much to laugh about, but you did it. I hope your husband enjoyed the cinnamon rolls that smelled like cabbage. Wonderful Story. “THANKS”
wut r u talking about im in jersey
I am not a fan of cream cheese frosting( I know, crazy), is there another frosting that would be good on these?
I’m trying the cream cheese recipe for the first time. In the past I’ve used just a tsp. vanilla, a pound of confectioner’s sugar (2 1/2 cups if you get it in the big bag) and add the least amount of sweet milk you use to still get it to where you can ice with it but not runny. I mix it up in a saucepan and heat it on low while I’m adding the milk and mixing it but don’t boil it or anything, just helps the sugar melt with less milk. I usually add cinnamon or cocoa or whatever will go with what I’m frosting.
Just thought about it. Sweet milk is regular milk – it can be whole, 2%, 1%, skim, whatever you usually use.