Whip up your favorite cinnamon roll recipe and bake them off in muffin tins to make these super cute, easily shared cinnamon roll muffins. They’re pillowy soft with a buttery cinnamon sugar filling and a dreamy cream cheese glaze! DROOL.
Cinnamon Roll Muffins with Cream Cheese Glaze
You’re looking at the perfect holiday brunch sweet to whip up this year. These pillowy soft cinnamon rolls muffins look worthy of a bakery, but come together with simple ingredients in no time to make your next brunch-y gathering a little sweeter. Plus, they’ll make your house smell amazing.
What are cinnamon roll muffins?
You might have heard other people call cinnamon swirl muffins cinnamon roll muffins and I’m here to tell you that’s deceitful and a load of b.s. When I hear someone call a muffin a cinnamon roll I’m picturing a pillowy soft, buttery, cinnamon sugar swirled ROLL in a muffin tin. Not a boring old vanilla muffin swirled with cinnamon sugar. Like don’t get me wrong–that’s tasty too, but I find that very misleading. I’m sure you’ll feel the same way after sinking your teeth into one of these ooey-gooey cinnamon rolls muffins that are ACTUAL cinnamon rolls baked off in a muffin tin.
Ingredients for cinnamon roll muffins
Cinnamon rolls are one of those magical confections that taste like they have a million ingredients in them but actually call for basic pantry staples you probably already have on hand. Here’s your grocery list for these homemade cinnamon rolls:
All Purpose Flour: All purpose flour is perfect for creating a pillowy soft, tender, slightly bready dough. I’ve also had success making these with bread flour, but I find bread flour makes them a bit chewier!
Granulated Sugar: You’ll need a little granulated sugar to active the yeast and also to sweeten your dough slightly!
Instant Yeast: We usually use Fleischmann’s Rapid Rise for these homemade cinnamon rolls, but any rapid instant yeast will work here! You can also use regular active yeast and double the rise times!
Butter: You’ll need butter for both the cinnamon roll dough and the cream cheese frosting. We prefer using unsalted butter so you can control how much salty is going into your baked goods! That being said, if all you have on hand is salted butter that will work totally fine too!
Milk: Any kind of milk will work in this recipe, but for a super soft, buttery dough we recommend using whole milk!
Eggs: These homemade cinnamon rolls are an enriched dough, meaning the recipe calls for eggs. The eggs will give your dough a soft structure!
Cinnamon: UH DUH. You’ll need cinnamon for the cinnamon sugar filling! Sometimes when I’m feeling spicy, I put 1 teaspoon in the dough too!
Brown Sugar: Brown sugar is the perfect, caramel-y, soft sugar to use for your cinnamon sugar filling. You can feel free to use light brown sugar or dark brown sugar, but you we do not recommend subbing it out for granulated sugar–it won’t melt in the same way!
Cream Cheese: In my opinion it’s not a cinnamon roll if its not absolutely smothered in cream cheese frosting. It’s imperative that you use room temperature cream cheese to get that nice creamy, smooth consistency.
Powdered Sugar: You’ll need powdered sugar to sweeten and thicken your cream cheese frosting.
How to make cinnamon roll muffins ahead of time?
This is our number one question when it comes to homemade yeasted baked goods, and particularly with cinnamon rolls which you might not want to have to wake up at the crack of dawn to whip up on Christmas morning. Luckily you can make these bad boys the night before so you can roll out of bed, pop your rolls in the oven and start your day off on the perfect buttery note. Make the recipe as directed, but after cutting the rolls and placing them in your muffin tin, cover the muffin tin and place in the fridge to proof overnight. The cold fridge will slow the proof and the rolls will slowly rise all night long. In the morning, take the rolls out of the fridge and leave on the counter for a half hour to warm up before baking as directed!
Can you freeze these cinnamon roll muffins?
YOU SURE CAN. Make the cinnamon rolls as directed and allow them to cool completely before freezing! If you know you’re going to freeze them, I recommend holding off on frosting because the icing can get a little funky when frozen and reheated. Place in a freezer safe, air-tight plastic bag or air-tight container and freeze for up to 3 months! When you’re ready to serve them, pop them in a 350°F until they’re heated all the way through! It will make your cinnamon rolls taste freshly baked if you frost them after heating them up!
Whip up your favorite cinnamon roll recipe and bake them off in muffin tins to make these super cute, easily shared cinnamon roll muffins. They’re pillowy soft with a buttery cinnamon sugar filling and a dreamy cream cheese glaze! DROOL.
In a large bowl combine 2 cups of the flour, yeast, salt and sugar in a bowl. Mix to combine.
In a microwave safe bowl, microwave the milk and butter for 30 seconds until warm and the butter is mostly melted. The mixture should be warm, but not hot. If it is too hot, make sure to let it cool before adding to the yeast to prevent killing the yeast. Add the egg, warm milk and butter to the flour mixture.
Beat on low speed, gradually increasing to high until completely combined, about 2 minutes.
Scrape down the bowl and add 1 more cup of flour, beating until combined. Add the remaining cup of flour in a little at a time until the dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl and form a ball. Turn the dough out onto a well floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes until smooth and you can stretch a piece of dough out between your fingers without it breaking. This means the gluten has developed and your dough will be pillowy soft.
Transfer the dough to an oiled bowl and cover. Let rise in a warm place for 1 hour or until the dough has doubled in size.
While the dough rises, make the filling. Combine the sugar, cinnamon, and salt together in a small bowl and mix well. Set aside.
Once the dough has risen, roll it out into a long rectangle about 18 x 12 inches on a well floured surface. Spread the butter for the filling all the way to the edge of the dough. Sprinkle the sugar mixture over the butter, pressing it down to stick to the butter.
From the long end, roll the dough away from you into a tight roll, sealing the bottom edge down by pinching the dough together.
Use floss or a very sharp knife to cut the dough into 12 even rolls. Generously butter a muffin tin all over (I like to brush melted butter all over with a pastry brush), and place each roll in each muffin cup, making sure the dough is all tucked into each cup.
Cover loosely with a dish cloth and allow to rise for another hour until doubled in size and puffed up.
Bake the cinnamon rolls at 350°F for 20 minutes or until they are golden brown and no longer doughy. Allow to cool.
While the rolls cool, make the glaze. Place the cream cheese in a microwave safe bowl, and microwave for 15 to 30 seconds or until soft. Add the powder sugar, milk, salt, and vanilla. Whisk together until smooth.
Spoon the icing evenly over the 12 rolls. Enjoy warm!
