The Best Bakery Style Jumbo Cinnamon Rolls

This is it. This is the recipe that started it all, our Jumbo Cinnamon Roll recipe. Our bakery, The Flour Barn, was started by simply selling Cinnamon Rolls. Several years ago we created this recipe by using our favorite brioche dough recipe, combining it with our favorite cinnamon twist recipe and topping it off with Ellen’s favorite cream cheese butter cream. We have made these every Saturday for the past four years and we feel like we have finally perfected each step in making these homemade cinnamon rolls. 

Labor of Love

Anytime you are making bread there is a certain amount of patience that has to go into it. Waiting patiently on each rise, putting your back into rolling out the dough and cleaning up when it’s all said and done. This recipe is one that does take time and a little elbow grease, but it is one that has both won over our family and community. I hope you all love it as much as we do:)

The Dough

Here is a full post on our brioche dough. Brioche is an enriched dough full of butter, eggs,milk, and sugar. It is the perfect dough for cinnamon rolls because it has so much flavor on its own and also provides the perfect structure to create big, fluffy rolls. 

This recipe is a very simple brioche recipe and just requires throwing the ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer and kneading with the dough hook attachment for 15-20 minutes. Your dough will then proof for about an hour or until your dough doubles in size. Using warm milk or placing in a warm place will make this process even faster. While your dough rises it is the perfect time to prepare you cinnamon sugar and cream cheese icing. 

Cinnamon Sugar for the Best Cinnamon Rolls

The filling for these easy cinnamon rolls is something that is often overlooked. It is more than just mixing any amount of cinnamon with sugar. Cinnamon is a very potent taste and can be overwhelming. Using too much sugar can result in too much liquid pouring out of your rolls, causing burning in your oven and loss of flavor in your rolls. We have found that by using the correct proportions of cinnamon, brown sugar and cornstarch you get a great taste, texture and very little spillage. We add each of the dry ingredients to a bowl and thoroughly mix with a whisk. Make sure you mix well, as you don’t want any clumps of cinnamon or cornstarch mixed in your rolls. 

Cream Cheese Frosting

This is probably my favorite thing about this recipe. Our original recipe includes maple extract, which I personally love. But as the years have gone by, we have found that most people prefer the vanilla version. 

Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat together the butter and cream cheese until it starts to lighten in color and look fluffy. This will take about 5 minutes. Then add in your powdered sugar and vanilla extract. Slowly pulse the mixer until the powdered sugar is mixed in and then continue to beat until fluffy, about another 5 minutes. Set aside. 

Side note: if you are not using until the next day, be sure to get out about 30 minutes before you plan to use it or it will be very difficult to spread over your rolls. 

Shaping your rolls

When I make rolls at the bakery, I actually have a machine called a sheeter that rolls my dough out for me. It rolls my dough until it is about 7.5 mm thick and 5 feet long. For your homemade cinnamon rolls, you will most likely be rolling the by hand. Once your dough has doubled in size from the first rise, deflate the dough and place it on a lightly flour work surface. Then roll your dough out with a rolling pin into a rectangle about 18 inches by 10 inches. Spread one stick of soften butter over the entire surface of the dough. Next, spread your cinnamon sugar filling onto the butter. Use your hands to press the filling into the butter. Then, starting from the top, roll the dough toward you. Once completely rolled, seal the roll by pinching the seem of the roll. Using a knife or a bench scraper, cut the rolls into 1.5 inch rolls.

Place the cinnamon rolls one inch apart on a baking dish. Make sure they are all evenly spaced from each other on all sides, as this will ensure that when they rise, they will be the same size. 

Proofing your Cinnamon Roll dough

If you are making your cinnamon rolls the same day, they will start the second rise right after they are placed on the pan. This will take about 30 minutes or until they look puffy and have grown in size, not quite doubling. Once proofed, they are ready for the oven!

Bake Rolls

When we bake our rolls in the bakery we go slow and steady. You want your rolls to be able to fully bake on the inside without burning on the outside. In your home oven we suggest baking at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes. The easiest way to know you have baked your rolls perfectly is to check their internal temperature. It should be at 186 degree F. We use the Thermapen in the bakery to make sure we get the perfect bake every time. 

Ice

Once the cinnamon rolls are baked perfectly you remove them from the oven and let them cool on a wire rack. Wait until they have cooled down a bit to ice them or the icing will completely melt. But I’m sure you’ll want to eat them while they are still warm, so go ahead and slather them in the cream cheese icing and dig in!