It seems almost silly to write any more since you, like most normal people, saw “Cinnamon Rolls” and are like, “Yes! In! This is the only gift I need this holiday season!”

You probably started thinking about your favorite part of the cinnamon roll which is OF COURSE, the center. The gooey, soft, pull-apart, cinnamon-slathered, sweet, perfectly glazed bite. The bite you waited for the whole time or, if you’re like some of us, the only bite you took and then discarded the rest because why botherrrrr?!

Well, what if the whole cinnamon roll *was* like the center? What if every single bite was light and soft and buttery and sweet? What if the entire thing was draped in a silky smooth cream cheese glaze that seeped and sneaked into every single available warm cinnamony pocket? Yes. Yes. Goodbye dry, hard glaze-less outer bready bits! We’re here for brioche and we’re never turning back.

Your holiday brunches, your quiet mornings with a hot cup of coffee before everyone wakes up, your treat plate on the counter where you sneak bites in between all the stirs and mashes and temp checks of holiday meal prep…all of this just got so much more delicious.

Ingredients You’ll Need

To make these pillowy dream machines come together, you’ll need some time and some patience and some butter. Those are definitely the big things, but there’s a few other ingredients on the list too.

• eggs
• flour
• yeast
• honey
• white, brown, and powdered sugars
• cinnamon
• vanilla
• cream cheese
• butter (butter lovers, this is your moment to shine!)

About that butter. The absolute key to this perfect cinnamon roll, in our humble opinion (but also not humble…hiiii this is the best cinnamon roll!), is the brioche dough. It’s soft and sweet and airy. It is absolutely made to be soaked in cinnamon and sugar and warm drippy glaze.

The dough recipe itself is enough to make 3 batches of rolls so you can make one batch now and save the rest for another time that you want to make everyone’s day so much better. Or in case you want to make a pan all for yourself to eat while you’re baking another batch to put out on the table for everyone else. They don’t have to know. We’ll never speak of it. Your secret is safe with us.

How To Make Perfect Cinnamon Rolls

There are some steps here. There is a little bit of time and planning and love that goes in, but what are the holidays if not time and planning and love. And we promise, absolutely all your efforts will be rewarded. BIG TIME.

1. Make the brioche. This really is meant to be an overnight process. You’ll mix your dough together, all sweet with honey and rich with butter, and then cover her loosely and let her double in size (about 1-2 hours). After that, just go ahead and pop her in the fridge and go to bed. The brioche dough really is so much easier to work with after a chill because of all the…ahem, butter. So go, dream of the warm cinnamon morning that awaits you. 
2. The morning of. When you’re ready in the morning, pull the dough ball out and cut the dough into thirds. You’ll use one for this batch and you can fridge/freeze the other two. Roll out your dough into a large rectangle. If you’re really on top of things and a very normal person, you know where your rolling pin is. If you’re us, you grab the nearest cylindrical object and get at it. To each their own. 
3. Make the filling. Mix together your cinnamon, your sugars, and your melted butter. If you really want to get fancy you can stick some orange zest in there, maybe some cardamom, some cocoa?! The world really is your oyster, but we’re keeping it traditional in this one. 
4. Form the rolls. Spread the filling over your dough and then roll it up, starting from the short end. Trim the uneven ends (but don’t you dare leave those! toss them in a ramekin and bake them up, make little cinnamon twists…point being, bake a tiny snack with them). Cut the log into 6-8 equal pieces and place them in your pan. Give them another 1 hour 15 minute rest (maybe also sneak one of those in for yourself?) in the pan to help ensure the puffiest cinnamon rolls…which is definitely always what we’re going for.
5. Bake. After they rise, bake for about 20 minutes (we definitely err on the side of under-baking for optimal squish). Let the coziest, merriest, warmest kitchen smells commence!

Let’s Talk Glaze

You’re already going to be peeking in that warm oven and absolutely high-fiving yourself left and right as you watch them pillow up over the top of the pan, but there is still more glory to come! That’s right, it’s a smooth, silky, thin but not too thin, covers and drips over everything cream cheese glaze. Icing? Glaze? Reason for living? Whatever you call it, this one is just about perfect.

So there are some tips and tricks here because sometimes a glaze wants to lump, and we’re not having that. So you’ll want to make sure your cream cheese is VERY soft to start and that you whip it really smooth before you begin slowly incorporating the milk and sugar and vanilla so everything stays silky.

Then it’s up to you where to go next! If you drizzle the glaze on right away, the better chance it has to seep all throughout the cinnamon rolls for a gooier, squishier, all around dreamier holiday morning experience. If you wait for the rolls to cool a bit first, it definitely acts a little more like a frosting sitting up on top, still delicious and completely devourable.

You can also have some fun here if you’re feeling it. A little maple syrup in that glaze perhaps? Or a swizzle of honey to bring out the honey in the brioche? Did you zest some orange in that filling, how about a splash of orange juice in your glaze for a sweet citrusy twist? Play around, make them your own, make them again and again and again.

We really do not know how you could possibly go wrong! Even if you do get some lumps. Can fully attest that the whole team ate a full batch of lumpy-icinged cinnamon rolls with RECKLESS ABANDON and zero regrets.

In a way, making these perfectly soft, pillowy, sweet cinnamon rolls is a lot like gathering friends and family for the holidays. It takes a little time and patience and planning. But once everyone is all tucked in and ready to go, there’s nothing more warm, more cozy, more joy-giving than having them at the table.

Cinnamon Rolls: FAQs

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More Holiday Desserts We Love

• Chocolate Peanut Butter Saltine Toffee (you probably already have all of these ingredients in your kitchen)
• Mint Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies (these are so fun to make!)
• Gooey Caramel Monkey Bread (this caramel is not messing around – it’s so good!)

The post House Favorite Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Glaze appeared first on Pinch of Yum.