The Best Ooey-Gooey Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Frosting

These cinnamon rolls are so very simple, before you know it (with a little patience), you’ll have a sweet, soft bread with  buttery, cinnamon, gooey centers topped with an amazing, fluffy cream cheese frosting; better than Cinnabon Cinnamon rolls!

The Best Ooey-Gooey Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Frosting

Do you like funny stories? Well I’ve got a whopper for you, this one almost cost me my husband!

Brad and I had been dating about a year and a half and I was hoping and praying that he would soon ask me to marry him. One weekend, Easter weekend as a matter of fact, we had planned on going skiing for closing day at Vail. I was all good with that, was all ready to ski when he arrived, except he threw me a curve ball when he asked if I would pack an overnight bag, just in case we got snowed in. Yeah right, in April? Late April? “Wait”, I say with a rather panicked tone to my voice, “tomorrow is Easter, I have to be back tonight to start my cinnamon rolls, I always bake cinnamon rolls for my family!”

He could see the look of terror on my face that he would even ask me this, I stammered and stumbled through the fact that we had to be back home that night, I couldn’t let my family down and not bring my cinnamon rolls, Easter depended on it! I actually argued with him for awhile, seriously, what was wrong with me, I must not like last minute changes or something!

He naturally suggested we could just buy cinnamon rolls the next morning if we did get stuck in the mountains. WHAT!? ARE YOU KIDDING ME, I don’t BUY cinnamon rolls…I could tell he must love me, A LOT! He took my freaking out in stride and urged me to get my bag and we’d figure it out as we go.

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What I didn’t realize was that my dear, sweet, gentle, kind-hearted, loving and wonderful soon-to-be-husband had called my Dad (in Florida) to ask his permission to marry his 35 year old daughter AND he had driven all the way to Boulder (an hour) to ask my Mom the same thing; my whole family knew I was getting engaged and I was worried about not bringing cinnamon rolls!! Sheesh!

He had planned to propose to me atop Vail mountain. What we both didn’t know was there was indeed a freak spring snow storm and they had closed the mountain due to winds, thunder and lightning which thwarted his grand plans. He spent the day trying to secretly rearrange all his plans to accommodate the great sense of humor of our God.

That evening, after a lovely dinner, as we traipsed through Lions Head towards the Gondola, under heavy wet snow (over a foot) I started hearing the strains of a song being played, specifically Van Morrison’s “Have I Told You Lately That I Love You.”  I thought that was so sweet, but things still didn’t click, as we walked closer to the music, I realized it was playing on a CD player (a boombox to be precise, it was early 2000 after all!), left on an empty picnic table, but nobody was around, hmmm? That’s odd.

Brad said, how much he loved that song, as do I, it was kind of our song. He then walked me out to the bridge and with half dollar sized snowflakes gently falling, he got down on one knee in that heavy, wet snow and said “I want to be your life-long companion — to love and serve the Lord alongside you — and to walk through this world with you…will you marry me?” By this time I had completely forgotten about my must-make cinnamon rolls (finally!) and I said “YES!”

We were indeed snowed in as they had closed Vail pass and was I grateful for that change of clothes he insisted I bring. We stayed the night at his friends house and headed home the next morning, store bought cinnamon rolls in hand!!

For several years I continued to make my grandmother’s overnight cinnamon rolls (it has become the family joke), but now I’ve learned that you can make them the morning of, no overnight necessary!

Whatever you do, don’t let something as trivial as a favorite recipe or tradition alter your relationship with people, in the end it’s about the people, not the food!

Thanks for hanging with me through that story, I love engagement stories, each one is unique, I’d love to hear yours! But let’s get going on these wonderful ooey-gooey cinnamon rolls.

HOW TO MAKE OOEY-GOOEY CINNAMON ROLLS

Place your milk, room temp butter, sugar and salt in a small saucepan and heat on very low, stirring occasionally. Heat until the temperature reaches about 120°, careful it gets hot really fast, your butter might not be fully melted, that’s okay. If you get it too hot (greater than 130°), just give it a couple minutes to cool down, you don’t want to scald your yeast or curdle your eggs.

TIP | Take out 2 additional sticks of butter and your cream cheese to soften while you are making your dough.

While your milk, sugar, butter mixture is heating, measure out 2 cups of the flour into the bowl of your mixer, add the yeast and mix gently. Slowly pour your milk mixture into the flour and yeast mixture, mixing on low. Note my full cup of coffee in the corner and a jar of marshmallow fluff, not sure what that was for! Must have been making Whoopie Pies later!

Add room temperature eggs*  to the flour and milk mixture and the rest of your flour.

*HACK | Forgot to take your eggs out of the fridge the night before, like I always do? No worries, run warm, not hot water into a bowl and place eggs in bowl to bring to room temp, takes about 5-7 minutes.

Once your dough is mixed thoroughly, replace your paddle attachment with the “J” hook and let it knead the dough for you, about 5-10 minutes until smooth and elastic. Don’t have a kneading hook, place the dough on a floured surface and get your upper body workout in for the morning, kneading the dough for the same amount of time, tossing in a little more flour if it gets too sticky.

While dough is kneading, grease a bowl with a teaspoon of oil (vegetable), using a paper towel spread oil around bowl, plop dough in and turn over covering dough ball with oil. Cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm spot for about 15 minutes to rest.

BAKERS TIP | Need to make a warm spot? Preheat your oven on it’s lowest setting, then turn off oven. Place your dough in the now warm, but turned off oven. If your oven has a “proofing” setting, place on that setting and let rise for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile in a small bowl, combine the brown sugar and cinnamon with a fork and set aside.

Once the dough has rested for about 15 minutes, place on a floured surface and roll out into roughly an 18 x 21 inch rectangle. I’m dorky enough that sometimes I will actually measure it, it’s okay to eye-ball it, you want it nice and large though.

Next spread the ½ cup softened butter (please use real butter) evenly onto the dough, I like using an offset spatula…

Spread cinnamon sugar mixture evenly over the top of the butter within about ½ inch of the edges.

Starting with the long edge, roll tightly into a log.

Using a little water, rub along the edge of the dough and pinch the edge together to get a good seal.

Next slice into 10-12 even rolls, if you want to get all perfectionistic you can measure your log and divide evenly using a ruler, not that I’ve ever done that…wink, wink!

I usually eyeball it making little slices and if too big or small, go back and remark it, however you slice it just try and make them even.

Place in greased (buttered or non-stick spray) 9×13 pan or line with parchment paper, with space between each roll.

Cover with a clean, damp tea towel on top or cover with plastic wrap and return to that warm place to rise until nearly doubled, about 45 minutes. Preheat your oven to 400° (375 if using a dark or glass pan) making sure your rolls aren’t in that oven while preheating.

They have now doubled in size! (Sorry, using pictures from two different bakings, one I buttered the pan, this one I lined it with parchment)

Now, remove tea towel or plastic wrap and bake about 12-15 minutes, don’t over-bake, if anything under-bake slightly until risen and slightly golden.

THE BEST CREAM CHEESE CINNAMON ROLL FROSTING

In a large mixing bowl whip together butter, cream cheese until smooth, add powdered sugar, vanilla and pinch of sea salt; beating until smooth and fluffy, if needed add a teaspoon or so of milk or cream. Smother over the tops of the warm rolls, serve immediately. Or spread on rolls individually.

CAN I START CINNAMON ROLLS THE NIGHT BEFORE

YOU BET! Make the recipe up to the sliced roll stage, cover tightly with plastic wrap and put in refrigerator overnight. They will rise slowly, take out in the morning bringing to room temp and making sure they are doubled, preheat your oven and bake.

Also great for Easter are these super easy, light and fluffy yeast rolls! Give them a whirl!

CANDIED BACON RECIPE

Want to make a truly decadent treat? Add this simple and amazing Brown Sugar Bacon to your menu.

Preheat oven to 400°. Line a rimmed sheet pan with foil. Set an oven safe cooling rack inside the prepared pan and set aside.

In a shallow dish, place about ¼ cup brown sugar. Dredge thick bacon slices in the brown sugar and arrange the bacon on the rack. Bake in the preheated oven until crisp, about 20 minutes. Transfer to a serving plate and serve immediately. You may also throw in a teaspoon of chili powder or a sprinkle of cayenne into the brown sugar, if you like a little heat.

Looking for more great breakfast treats?

• Cinnamon Swirl Bundt Cake
• Cinnamon Crunch Scones
• Blueberry Crumble Cake
• Overnight Cinnamon French Toast

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