Homemade Gooey Cinnamon Rolls
These Homemade Gooey Cinnamon Rolls are fluffy, gooey, glazed cinnamon rolls made with tons of pecans and the BEST homemade cream cheese icing. Perfect for Christmas morning traditions or Sunday brunches, these easy to make cinnamon rolls are tender, flaky and better than Cinnabon!
Ingredients
Cinnamon Bun Dough
- 1 cup warm milk
- 2 1/2 tablespoons instant yeast
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 8 tablespoons butter softened
- 2 eggs room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 4 cups all purpose flour
Cinnamon Bun Filling
- 1/2 cup butter room temperature
- 1 cup brown sugar packed
- 2 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon
- 1 cup pecans chopped
Cinnamon Bun Icing
- 4 ounces cream cheese softened
- 1/2 cup butter softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1-2 tablespoons milk
Instructions
- Start by warming up your milk. Pour milk into a microwave safe bowl and microwaving on High for 30-40 seconds. Your milk should feel like warm bath water, not too hot to the touch. Transfer your milk to a large mixing bowl, mix together with 1 teaspoon of sugar and then sprinkle the yeast on top.
- Add in the remaining sugar, butter, vanilla, eggs and salt and once you have that all combined slowly start stirring in your flour.
- If you have a stand mixer, grab your dough hook and mix dough on medium for about 7-8 minutes. Your dough should be a nice ball, not too sticky. If you do not have a stand mixer, turn your dough out onto a floured surface and kneed by hand for those 8 minutes.
- Move your dough to a mixing bowl sprayed with nonstick spray, cover it with a tea towel and stash it away in the corner of your kitchen for the next 1 hour and 45 minutes to let that dough rise up again.
- Once it does, transfer your dough to a flat floured work surface large enough to accommodate the dough rolling that is needed. Once you have the dough rolled out into approximately 15 x 10 rectangle, cover the dough with the butter and then sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon and lastly the pecans, leaving a 1/4 inch border clean at the far side of your dough.
- Gently press the brown sugar and pecans into the butter and then gently roll that all up into a tight tube. Cut into 1-inch slices with a sharp knife and move to a buttered 9 x 13 baking pan. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise again for 30-40 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake the pecan cinnamon buns for approximately 25 to 30 minutes until the roles are just lightly browned and then remove from the oven. Let cool for 5-10 minutes.
- While your cinnamon rolls are cooling, mix together the cream cheese, butter, vanilla, salt and powdered sugar and I usually add in 1 to 2 tablespoons of milk until I reach the consistency that I like then glaze your cinnamon rolls.
Notes
- Don’t overheat your milk. Your milk should be between 105-115 degrees F. If your milk is too hot, it will likely kill your yeast and your cinnamon rolls won't rise. Your milk should be warm to the touch but not HOT. If you feel your milk is too hot, simply let it sit for a few minutes to cool down before adding it to your work bowl.
- Make sure the butter used in your cinnamon bun filling is room temperature. It makes spreading the butter so much easier.
- Don't forget to flour your rolling pin and work surface so that your dough doesn't stick. I also find using a glass cutting board helps too.
- You want to make sure you are measuring your flour correctly. If you scoop out a measuring cup of flour directly from the bag, you will pack in way too much flour which will result in too much flour. To avoid this, spoon the flour into the measuring cup until its overfilled and then use the back of a butter knife to level the measuring cup at the top. Now you have the perfect flour measurement!