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overnight cinnamon rolls recipe

Easy Overnight Cinnamon Rolls Recipe

This easy overnight cinnamon rolls recipe will help you make the best ,soft and moist cinnamon rolls in a fast and easy method.You can proof the cinnamon rolls and then place it in the refrigerator and next day morning just place it in the oven and enjoy oven fresh Cinnamon rolls for breakfast!
5 from 1 vote
Prep Time 25 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Proofing Time 1 hour
Total Time 2 hours 5 minutes
Course Breakfast, Dessert
Cuisine American, British
Servings 12 Cinnamon rolls

Ingredients
  

For the Cinnamon Roll Dough

  • 390 g All purpose flour/Bread flour 3 cups(loosely packed)
  • 225 ml Milk 1 Cup -1 tbsp. If you don’t want to add milk, you can use plain water instead.
  • 57 g Unsalted Butter (softened) 1/4 Cup
  • 32 g Sugar 2 and 1/2 tbsp
  • 1 tsp Salt
  • 1 tsp Yeast (instant ) or 1 and 1/4 tsp (Active dried yeast)

For the Filling

  • 90 g Soft Brown sugar (packed cup)1/2 cup
  • 57 g Unsalted Butter(softened) 1/4 cup
  • 2 tsp Cinnamon powder

For Cream Cheese Frosting

  • 80 g Cream cheese 3 ounce / 2/3 cup
  • 43 g Unsalted butter 3 tbsp
  • 125 g Powdered Sugar 1 cup
  • 1/2 tsp Vanilla sugar or vanilla extract 1 tsp
  • If you want more thinner frosting, you can add 1-2 tbsp milk into it

Instructions
 

Prepare the dough

  • Into a bowl add the milk,softened butter, sugar,salt,yeast and egg and combine everything together.
    Make sure all the ingredients are at room temperature and the milk should be preferably warm(not hot ideally around 95 F).
    Then add in the flour into this mixture and combine them together to form a shaggy mass of dough.
    If you are kneading the dough in a stand mixer, use the dough hook attachment to knead the dough.
    If you are kneading the dough by hands, transfer the dough on to a clean work surface and knead the dough for a few minutes(5-6 minutes)until it form a smooth dough.
    This cinnamon roll dough is an easy to knead dough.It is not a very sticky dough.In the beginning we may feel slightly sticky, thats ok; at this point you may be tempted to add more flour but don’t do that.The dough will come together in about 4 minutes of kneading.
    Shape it into a ball ; then flatten it a little and then cover it with a bowl or kitchen towel and let the dough rest on the counter for five minutes.This is not for proofing the dough, but this is to let the dough sit for a few minutes so that the gluten stands will relax.
    This resting will prevent our dough from enormous rebounding back of the dough while rolling it into a thin rectangular sheet.

Shape the cinnamon rolls

  • So for the next step of shaping the rolls, first we need to roll the dough into thin sheet (1/ 4th inch thickness).
    Pat, stretch and roll out the dough to form 18X15-inch rectangle with long edge nearest you.
    Then spread very soft butter all over the surface.
    Then sprinkle on the filling mixture as evenly as possible.
    Starting with long edge nearest you, roll the dough into a cylinder. 
    While rolling, keep in your mind not to roll them tightly as they need some room for them to expand while proofing and while baking.
    If they are rolled tightly, the rolls will have pointed center as the center will rise up as it doesn’t have enough space to expand side ways.The pointed center may also happen when the cinnamon rolls are taller and not wider.
    Mark gently with a knife/scraper to create 12 equal portions. For the cleanest cut, slice by holding a thread or strand of dental floss underneath the cylinder, and cross ends of the floss over each other and pull. Slice cylinder into 12 portions (about 4-5 cm each).
    Transfer to a baking pan(I have used 11.5X7.5-inch baking pan), that’s been greased with butter or cooking spray.Slight variation in size of baking pan is not an issue.

Proof the Cinnamon Rolls

  • Cover the pan loosely with plastic wrap and allow the rolls to rise until puffy and the rolls are touching one another; 50 to 60 minutes. 
    If your place is warm, 50 minutes and if your place is cold, then proof for 60 minutes.
    Once the rolls have puffed up well, take the baking tray into the refrigerator.
    You can keep it in fridge for upto 24 hours.
    Next Day morning, just take the baking tray out from the fridge.
    Take out the plastic wrap from the baking tray and then cover it with an aluminum foil.

Bake the Overnight Cinnamon Rolls

  • Place the baking tray in the cold oven in the middle rack.
    Start preheating the oven to 375F or 190C.
    Covering the baking tray with aluminum foil will lock the moistness inside the tray and thus prevent any chance of drying.This will help to make our overnight cinnamon rolls soft and moist.
    After 20 minutes,take out the foil and then bake them @ 375 F or 190 C for another 22-24 minutes.
    When properly baked, the cinnamon rolls will turn golden brown on top.
    Take them out of the oven.
    Let the cinnamon rolls cool down for 2-3 minutes.Slather on that cream cheese frosting while the rolls are still warm.
    The cream cheese and butter will melt and get filled in those swirly layers of soft and moist bread and caramelized sugar.
    These make ahead cinnamon rolls are soft, moist and they taste absolutely delicious.
  • Enjoy!

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