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
Ok – so these cinnamon rolls are amazing! And SO easy. They are actually sitting on my stove cooling right now. I stole one because I couldn’t wait, and then I ran up here to comment about how wonderful they were. I barely had a chance to clean the frosting off my finger tips. ( my apologizes to my keyboard!) The only thing I did different was I left the cream cheese out of the frosting. Too much of anything dairy upsets my stomach, so it was more of like a glaze the way I made it. Which was still great. My mom used to use the came ingredients to make a glaze for sugar cookies when we were little, so I figured it would work out just fine. Oh – and I added a little bit of vanilla. I don’t know how much, maybe teaspoon or so? Sounds good .. we will go with that!
Thanks for the recipe, can’t wait to try another Southern Plate meal. It seems like there just aren’t enough meals in a day sometimes! Ha-ha
You are a very entertaining writer, and I can’t wait to entice my children home from college on the weekends with the promise of these Cinnamon rolls.
Let’s see: white bread, dairy, fat, salt…seems like the ideal way to cause obesity, diabetes, heart disease. Eat more of these, we need to support the obscene medical establishment in this country. And America desperately needs MORE Fat pig humans. Maybe they’ll start making ambulances wider to acccomodate you fat pigs that eat this crap…
God love ya, this sounds like someone whose never had anyone love them enough to bake for them. Goodness knows I can’t see why with that sunshiney attitude.
Bless your sour little heart. I swear I wish I could just hug you and invite you into my kitchen. I reckon I could wrestle up some decaf, non-coffee coffee and serve it with organic soy milk. ‘Course we wouldn’t be able to add sugar and I’m sure you’d object to artificial sweeteners of any kind but if we could just get you to take a gander outside and maybe offer you a hug or two, you might could wrestle up a little smile and then I bet, just maybe, you could stir that coffee with your pinky and it just might add a little natural sweetness.
I know you got it in you, hon bun.
Hang in there sweetie, life is good and if you let it, it gets even better 🙂
Gratefully,
Christy 🙂
Christy, I admire your grace in the face of extreme rudeness! What a rude person.
Wow Dr. Interfool, sounds like you have a case of verbal diarrhea. Maybe make yourself some of these wonderful cinnamon buns and it will keep your hands busy long enought to resist the urge to post ridiculous garbage on a recipe website.
Christy these cinnamon buns were fantastic, my boyfriend is absolutely hooked! Thankyou for making an ‘easy’ version!
Hi Christy,
I loved the recipe…and I think it’s possibly the best/simplest one I’ve ever seen for CinnaBuns. I love the way you make things seem so doable. 🙂
One thing I thought I’d suggest, for people like me who like the CinnaBuns best when super-duper warm, and seem to have too many in a batch. I thought it might be a good idea to put them into two 8×8 square pans…rise/bake one for dessert, and put one pan in the refrigerator for the next morning (like Sunday before church). That way, there’s approximately one bun per person (since there’s the 4 of us in my little family), and each one would be eaten hot. 🙂
I’m on your husband’s side re: the cream-cheese frosting. Bring it on!! 🙂
I am prepping these tonight to have for breakfast tomorrow! I’m so excited that I found Rhodes frozen white bread at the grocery store my husband works at!
Okay Christy… I need tips and tricks on rolling out this dough. Boy it was stubborn! I let it thaw completely, and then even let it sit a little longer because I thought the cold dough was causing it to keep pulling back.
What do you to to roll it out so nicely?
I want to know, too. I made them yesterday, but the dough was like elastic. I kept rolling it out and it kept shrinking back up. I did finally get it all rolled out and the cinnamon rolls were very yummy.
Now I have another question. Can I make these a day ahead of time and then pop them in the oven the next morning? I want to make them for Christmas breakfast, but I don’t want to have to start on them at 5 in the morning. It takes a while for them to rise. Well, for me it did.
Thanks for any tips and help.
Hey!
I’m responding on me phone so please forgive if it’s short :).
This dough is gonna be very elastic so you just gotta put your weight into it. I press pretty hard on my rolling pin and even then it springs back and I have to take several goes at it. Make sure your rolling pin is floured so it doesn’t stick and you’re doing great!
As to the other question, I’m making these Christmas Eve and covering them in Saran wrap. Then I’ll put them in the fridge overnight and take out about thirty minutes before I bake them. Works great!
Back when I made the dough from scratch there were a few mornings where I got up at four thirty to make these, took FOREVER! sooo glad to have the frozen dough shortcut now!
Merry Christmas!
Thanks, Christy!
Hey Christy, is it possible to make this up, roll them and then freeze the log to pull out for a special occasion?
Example, Thanksgiving is still a few weeks away but if I make these now, I could take them out and thaw the nite before and then bake for bfast on Thanksgiving morn? Just thought it would be a great time/mess saver…
Hi Christy,
Just read the recipe and it looks delicious. Sad thing is that I don’t need those tempting me since I’m at a point in life where losing or even maintaining weight is getting more and more difficult. However, they sound like a great thing to make when I can share them.
I made your pecan pie muffins (in mini form) yesterday for a get-together with our wine group. They were a hit and I came home with a empty plate! The batch made 24 mini muffins, baked about 17-18 min. (linked to your recipe in my blog post)
I was wondering about adding a tsp. of vanilla, which I use in most of my baked sweets, even my absolutely best ever pecan pie. I use my Mom’s recipe and I’ve never had one better. She found the recipe in a newspaper over 50 years ago.
Would you share your pecan pie recipe?
Thanks
These sound great; I’m going to start making them right now!
Just a tip that I learned from my mother – to slice the cinnamon rolls, use a heavy duty thread. Slide it under the log, bring the ends up to the top. Continue pulling in opposite directions and you will get a perfect cut.
Denise B.
Dallas