Now that Easter is in the books, it’s time to start thinking about Mother’s day. I think every mom deserves to have this easy cinnamon roll recipe in her back pocket to make the morning extra special! Now, if you have a husband and children who know their way around the kitchen and love to shower you with a delicious morning brunch in the comfort of your bed…text me sometime, I want to know your secret.
However, if you’re like me, and you love the thought that goes into the rubbery eggs and dry toast, but not the actual taste, join me! You can make this easy cinnamon roll recipe weeks in advance, then detail it with heating instructions and pop it in the freezer. Then you just have to drop a few heavy hints to the hubster, and let the heavenly smell of sugary carbs ease you awake on your special day.
Try and make the dough the day before rolling the rolls. It only takes about 20 minutes.
Your dough should look like this. I had to use my hands to kneed in the last couple cups of flour. But just until incorporated! Cover the pot (I would suggest Saran wrap instead of the pot lid) and let it rest in the fridge overnight.
Cut the dough into thirds and roll out one of the sections into a rectangle. Seriously though, does anyone really achieve the rectangle shape? It’s usually an awkward oval at best for me. Moving on. Slather that puppy in butter, like a Paula Dean amount of butter, and sprinkle heavily distribute your cinnamon sugar mixture. Rub it into the layer of butter so they can be an ooey-gooey duo upon baking. Roll up tightly.
Use dental floss to cut rounds and place onto a large greased pan.
Let the cinnamon rolls rise for 2-3 hours until double in size. Bake at 375 for about 15 minutes, and prep your cream cheese frosting. The key to this frosting is to whip the butter and cream cheese together for 2-3 minutes prior to adding your remaining ingredients. And another minute on high after you’ve added the ingredients and scraped the bowl.
BEHOLD.
If you are not aware, there are two ways to eat a cinnamon roll 1.With melted frosting 2.With firm frosting. And let me tell you, the decision is a heart-wrenching one to make. For picture purposes, I let the cinnamon rolls cool before applying the frosting. But usually I slap on a couple coats before I even turn the oven timer off. The frosting melts into the cinnamon sugar and the rest is history.
My favorite part about this easy cinnamon roll recipe is that it makes ALOT! So you can have a pan for today and a pan to freeze for Mother’s Day!
So while you are licking your plate and reaching for second helping, you can prep your Mother’s Day breakfast!
Easy Cinnamon Roll Recipe – Freezer Directions:
1. Follow all the steps up until baking (yes, you let them rise).
2. Select the pan that you are going to freeze and par-bake them. Meaning, bake at 375 degrees for about 10 minutes.
3. Remove from the oven and let cool.
4. Place rolls into a large ziplock freezer bag (or in quart bags for smaller batches, I like batches of four) and place in the freezer.
5. Reserve a portion of the frosting into a small ziplock bag and freeze with each batch.
6. The night before serving, take rolls out and place on a baking sheet. Cover with saran wrap and place in the fridge to thaw along with the frosting.
7. The next morning preheat oven to 350 degrees and bake for about 10 minutes. Watch closely!
8. Cut the tip of the frosting bag and pipe it on to the cinnamon rolls.
I know you will love these cinnamon rolls as much as we do around here. Try them out and let me know what you think! I’ve included an easy to follow printable recipe below!
And if you want to make your day extra easy, try prepping one of these slow cooker freezer meals to grab out of the freezer and pop in the crock pot, then you can spend the rest of your day making your kids give you foot massages.
Easy Cinnamon Roll Recipe {Freezer Friendly}
Ingredients
Cinnamon Rolls
- 1 cup Water
- 1 cup butter
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 cup cold water
- 4 eggs slightly beaten
- 2 packages yeast (or 4 1/2 teaspoons)
- 7 1/2 cups flour
- 1/2 cup butter softened
- 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
- 1/3 cup cinnamon
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 1/2 cup butter softened
- 4 oz cream cheese softened
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 2-3 tbsp milk
Instructions
Cinnamon Rolls
- Bring water to a boil in a large pot. Add butter, sugar, and salt. Heat through until sugar is dissolved.
- Add the cold water to the mixture. Mix to cool it down slightly.
- Take 1/2 cup of this water-sugar-butter mixture and add to a separate small bowl. When it's luke warm - or around 110 °F (not too hot or you'll kill your yeast) sprinkle yeast in and mix gently to combine. Let sit for 5 minutes until yeast is foamy. While waiting, beat eggs in a separate small bowl and add them to the main dough mixture.
- Stir in yeast and then the flour and mix until gently combined
- Cover the pan tightly and let rest in the fridge overnight.
- When ready to roll out, divide dough into thirds. Flour surface and roll dough into a rectangle, about 1/2 inch thick. Spread each rectangle with softened butter.
- In a separate bowl, combine brown sugar and cinnamon, and add it on top of the butter, being sure to leave enough to repeat with each section of dough.
- Roll up like a jelly-roll and use floss to wrap around a 1 1/2 inch section, pull cross-wise to cut through the dough.
- Place in a greased baking sheet and cover loosely with greased saran wrap. Let raise for 2-3 hours until doubled in size. Bake one sheet at a time at 375 degrees for 15 minutes, or until lightly browned.
Cream Cheese Frosting
- Cream together softened butter and cream cheese on high for 2-3 minutes until light and fluffy.
- Add remaining ingredients and beat on high again until soft and light. Spread over warm cinnamon rolls.
Notes
1. Follow all the steps and let the dough rise 2-3 hours. Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool.
2. Lable a freezer bag with cooking directions. Place the cinnamon rolls one by one in a single layer. Add the frosting to a smaller ziplock and add to the bag. Freeze for up to 6 weeks.
3.The night before baking, individually place rolls onto a greased pan. Cover and place in the fridge to thaw along with the frosting.
4. In the morning bake pan at 350 degrees for 10 minutes or until lightly golden. Snip one edge of the frosting bag and pipe onto warm cinnamon rolls.
Nutrition
Loved this recipe?
Make sure to follow on Instagram @happymoneysaver and on Pinterest @happymoneysaver for more money savin' recipes!
If you love to cook, try these out!
Comments & Reviews
Melanie says
MMMM!
Rachel says
oooo cinnamon rolls! my husband loves these for breakfast–I never even thought of them as a freezer meal!
Kristel Sexton says
I’m definitely adding this recipe to my Evernote file! Looks really delicious.
Jane G says
This looks easy!
Debbie Vasel says
These look yummy and I like that they will
Freeze well.
Hannah says
These look delicious!!!
LindaW says
I usually don’t want to take a long time in the morning to get breakfast ready. Having these in the freezer would be great!
Rust says
Love the freezing option, and they look SO good!
Michelle Tichenor says
These look yummy!!!
Cathy says
This is exactly what I’ve been looking for…make and freeze some for another time.
Danielle F says
This looks yummy and SO EASY!
Mary Doetsch says
Mmmmm…these cinnamon rolls look delicious!
Molly says
This looks amazing!
Cindy M says
These look awesome!
carol clark says
since this has cinnamon im sure this would be a hit at our house thanks for the recipe love it
Kelly says
These look so yummy. I love that you could make and put in the freezer for a quick snack when needed.
Rebecca Scott says
These look delicious!
Rachel says
I love having cinnamon rolls in the freezer. I’ve never par baked them, what a good idea!
Kim says
Ii just made these last night into this morning and, they are great! The dough is so easy to work with. I wanted to let you know that you can also substitute 1/2 of the white flour with white wheat (Arnold makes is). I don’t usually have plain ol’ white flour in the house, so I had to make the substitution. They were delicious and light and fluffy even with the white wheat.
Stephanie says
How does the cream cheese frosting freeze? I have not had good luck with cream cheese alone.
Happy.MoneySaver says
It freezes great and works perfectly on the cinnamon rolls! Cream cheese usually doesn’t work well but this recipe does. 🙂
Michelle Purdy says
This is a great recipe. A keeper.