One Hour Cinnamon Rolls

Cinnamon rolls have always been a special occasion food. Once or twice a year, I’d wake up early and spend hours making cinnamon rolls. So much rising and kneading and rolling and time! But they are as time consuming as they are delicious, and it was worth it a couple of times a year.

Of course they have canned cinnamon rolls, but something about them always leaves me wanting. I think it’s the frosting-to-cinnamon-roll ratio. I need about 6 of those little cups of frosting they include in the can. One to just eat with a spoon. What do they even put in that frosting?? Lard and crack cocaine, I think.

Speaking of frosting- most cinnamon roll recipes call for an icing of mostly just powdered sugar and milk. This is okay… but a maple cream cheese frosting takes 2 more minutes and makes it 200 times more delicious. If you don’t have maple extract, make the cream cheese frosting with vanilla extract instead and it will still be delicious.

Anyway. The days of having to choose between hours of labor or improper frosting ratios to satisfy your cinnamon roll needs are over!

Introducing these one hour cinnamon rolls. One hour, start to finish, and minimal dishes.

Start by mixing up your dough. Pretty straight forward stuff here. You are looking for a smooth and soft dough that cleans the sides of the bowl. If you stick your finger into it, it should not stick to your finger much. The recipe calls for 2 3/4 cups of flour, but I had to add another 1/4 cup to make my dough not sticky.

After your dough is mixed up, form it into a ball and let it hang out for 5 minutes. Prep your butter and sugar while it rests.

Plop your dough onto a clean counter and pat into an approximately 15×9 rectangle.

Spread your softened butter onto the rectangle. If you want to be like me, microwave your butter too long and melt most of it. No worries, it’ll still work just fine.

Combine the brown sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle all over.

Starting at the end farthest from you, roll up your dough tightly. Pinch the seam together and place seam side down on the counter.

You can use a sharp knife to slice the log into cinnamon rolls, but I prefer floss. I’ve always read to use unflavored floss, but I’ve always just used regular ol’ dental floss and I’ve never tasted even a hint of mint. Slide the floss under the log-o-dough, overlap the ends in the center, and pull together to slice the dough. I always squash my roll with a knife, and I just prefer to do it with floss.

This post brought to you by Glide Dental Floss. Just kidding.

Make 10-12 rolls and place into a greased 9×13. Cover lightly with foil.

TURN OFF THE OVEN and place the pan in the oven for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes, remove the foil and, leaving the pan in the oven, turn the oven to 375.

Bake for 15-20 minutes. While they’re baking, make up the maple cream cheese frosting.

They look pretty… but they’ll look prettier slathered in cream cheese frosting.

Yep. That’s the business.

I can’t taste any difference between the cinnamon rolls that take hours and these quick and easy beauties. But the super quick and easy part can stay between you and me- as far as my family knows, I’ve been slaving for hours. They’d better do the dishes and let me rest for awhile to thank me.