Quick and Easy Cinnamon Rolls in Muffin Pan: Homemade Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Why are my homemade cinnamon rolls hard? ›

Don't Overmix the Dough

When making cinnamon rolls, mix the dough just until the ingredients are incorporated and the dough is smooth and soft. Overmixed dough leads to tough cinnamon rolls. The dough is ready when it pulls away from the sides of the mixing bowl and feels tacky but doesn't stick to your fingers.

Julie Clark, the blogger behind the website, notes that after years of research, she discovered that the key to getting perfectly gooey rolls is to “pour heavy cream over the cinnamon buns before baking. THIS is the secret ingredient and what makes the rolls rich and gooey.”

Once proofed, bake the cinnamon rolls for 20-30 minutes. When the cinnamon rolls are lightly golden brown, spot-check their internal temperature with a Thermapen to test their doneness. Their internal temperature should be 190–200°F (88–93°C).

Cinnabon's Secret Ingredient

This special Indonesian cinnamon, called Makara, is trademarked by Cinnabon. And because of that trademark, you won't find this product in your local grocery store spice aisle.

Place the cinnamon rolls into your prepared pan, with little room between each roll and ½ inch from the edge of the pan. Lightly press down on each roll so that the edges of each roll barely touch each other, and improve their round form if needed.

The rolls are still prone to over-proofing if left in the fridge too long; and the cinnamon-sugar filling can melt and make the bottoms of the rolls syrupy and damp if left unbaked for too long.

Give Your Rolls Space

Place the formed cinnamon rolls on a baking sheet 1-2 inches apart to ensure an even, full rise.

ONLY add as much flour as needed to handle the dough. It's better for the dough to be sticky at the start than to add too much flour and wind up with dense rolls, instead of light and fluffy ones.

Is melted butter or softened butter better for cinnamon rolls? ›

It can definitely be tempting to just stick that butter in the microwave if you've been storing it in the fridge, which can easily lead to accidentally melting it, but ensuring that your butter is softened will make all the difference: It will make it easier to evenly spread the filling on top of the dough.

For the fluffiest cinnamon rolls, make sure you allow your dough to rise for at least 90 minutes for the first rise. For the second rise, a good 30 minutes works. I see a lot of recipes - including a few of mine - say 60 minutes minimum for the first rise.

It's an excellent thickener/enricher for soups and sauces, especially since cream (as opposed to half and half) will not curdle when boiled. Heavy cream is also used for ice cream, frostings and as a topper for desserts because when whipped, it can be piped and hold its shape.

Heavy cream whips very nicely and holds its shape consistently for a long period of time. So this is the one you should use when making ice creams and cakes and even ganache. It is also used in gravies like Tikka masalas to give them thick and creamy feel.

It whips better and holds its shape longer than its whipping cream counterpart, which is why it's used for everything from pastry fillings to pipings. It has a long shelf life in the fridge and can even be frozen and used in a heavy cream recipe later on.

Yes! Since they are the same product, you can use heavy whipping cream and heavy cream interchangeably. Both are a versatile, all-purpose product for adding thick, creamy elements to sauces to soups to desserts, so it's worth keeping one on hand in your fridge.