These two-bite mini cinnamon rolls are soft, fluffy, and made in a muffin tin! With only 30-minutes of rise time and no mixer needed, these little cinnamon rolls get a swipe of sweet and tangy cream cheese frosting and will be on your table in just over an hour.
Adapted from our go-to regular sized brioche cinnamon rolls, these mini rolls may be small in size, but they're big in flavor and taste just like the soft and gooey cinnamon rolls you crave for a sweet breakfast treat.
The best part? They're made completely by hand with very little effort and give you maximum reward. And we even give you an overnight rise option to suit your schedule.
Can you imagine serving these little guys at a brunch gathering? I would run right to them and hold one up to show everyone how cute it was!
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Why You'll Love This Recipe
Mini - who doesn't love a minuature pastry? These cinnamon rolls pack all of the flavor of a regular sized roll but are significantly scaled down making them just the right amount of sweet to go along side a savory broccoli bacon quiche (or keep with the tiny theme and go for these mini quiche).
No special equipment - all you need for this recipe is a large mixing bowl, your hands, and a muffin tin. Don't have a rolling pin? You can use a wine bottle!
Warm and gooey - these mini rolls are still soft and fluffy with those sought-after gooey centers. Isn't that the best bite of all? The coils are chock full of cinnamon sugar filling - just like in this cinnamon bundt cake.
Ingredients
- Instant yeast. We're using instant yeast so you don't have to activate it and can just stir it right into the ingredients.
- Flour. All-purpose flour is used, but you can also use bread flour for an even softer version of the cinnamon roll dough.
- Milk. Warm whole milk is used in the enriched dough to help the yeast rise. You can use any type of milk you'd prefer.
- Brown sugar. Light brown sugar is used to fill the rolls and gets mixed with butter and cinnamon to create ultra gooey centers.
- Cinnamon. A full tablespoon is used in the filling for maximum cozy flavors (similar to these coffee cake cookies and cinnamon streusel muffins).
- Butter. Unsalted butter is used in melted form in the dough, and softered for both the filling and cream cheese glaze.
- Cream cheese. Softened cream cheese gets mixed with sugar and a touch of butter and slathered onto the warm, golden brown tops of the sweet rolls.
- Powdered sugar. This is mixed with the cream cheese to balance out the tangy frosting.
See recipe card for full ingredients list and quantities.
Substitutions and Variations
- Pour honey syrup over the rolls after they're done baking (¼ cup water + ¼ cup honey heated and cooled).
- Add finely chopped pecans or walnuts to the filling for extra texture.
- Add 1 tablespoon of maple syrup to the cream cheese frosting for a flavor enhancement.
- Use a simple vanilla glaze (1 cup powdered sugar, ½ teaspoon vanilla, 1-2 tablespoons milk) instead of cream cheese frosting.
- Swap active dry yeast for instant yeast. In this method, you'll have to activate the yeast first. See below for more details.
Difference Between Instant Yeast and Active Dry Yeast
Active dry yeast can be used interchangeably with instant yeast in most recipes, however, there is one major step needed in order to make the swap.
Instant yeast (as the recipe calls for) can be added directly to all ingredients and will begin the rising process.
Active dry yeast (as the name suggests), needs to be activated first. To do this, whisk together the active dry yeast and milk (be sure the milk is at 110℉), and wait about 5 minutes for the yeast to foam up on the top of the milk.
From there, you can add the milk and yeast in with the other ingredients and continue on with the recipe.
Making the Cinnamon Rolls Bites
So how did these easy mini cinny's come to life? I scaled down the recipe of our regular cinnamon rolls (a similar base to these banana cinnamon rolls), reduced the flour and increased the yeast. This, in turn, reduced the rise time. Smaller size = smaller rise.
The order of events goes as follows:
- Make the dough.
- Rest for 10 minutes while you make the cinnamon sugar filling.
- Roll it out, fill, cut, and roll.
- Rise for 30 minutes in the muffin tin.
- Bake!
The cream cheese icing can be made during the rise time or the bake time.
Making the Recipe
One: Mix together the wet ingredients.
Two: Add the dry ingredients and mix to combine.
Three: Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface until soft and pliable, about 5 minutes.
Four: Cover the dough and let it rest while you make the cinnamon sugar filling.
Hot tip! The dough will feel sticky when you first start kneading. Only add a small amount of flour. The dough will begin to get less sticky as you knead and the gluten develops.
Five: Combine the ingredients for the cinnamon sugar filling until a smooth paste forms.
Six: Roll out the dough into a 8x12" rectangle. Keep the sides and corners as straight as possible using a bench scraper or the sides of your hands.
Seven: Spread the filling evenly onto the dough, going the whole way to every edge.
Eight: Use a pizza cutter to cut 12, 1" strips of dough.
Nine: Roll each strip into a coil. Try not to make it too tight!
Ten: Place the coils in a greased muffin tin. Cover and rise in a warm place for 30 minutes.
Eleven: Rise until the rolls get slightly puffy and almost fill the muffin tin openings.
Twelve: While the mini rolls bake, make the cream cheese frosting.
Thirteen: Allow the baked cinnamon rolls to cool.
Fourteen: Frost the cinnamon rolls with a generous amount of icing and serve them warm.
Overnight Option
Make the dough and make the cinnamon sugar filling. Roll the dough into a rectangle, then add the filling, slice into strips, roll them into coils and place into the greased muffin tin. Cover with plastic wrap.
Place the cinnamon buns in the fridge overnight. Remove them from the fridge and place them on top of the oven while it preheats to help warm them up.
Bake according to recipe instructions (without the plastic wrap), but you may need to add up to 5 minutes of extra bake time due to the colder temperature from the fridge.
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Expert Tips
- Don't add too much flour or else this can make the rolls too dense and large and bake out of the muffin openings.
- Knead the dough until it's stretchy and pliable, 5 minutes minimum.
- Don't roll the strips up too tight or this can cause the centers to pop out during baking.
- Grease the openings of the muffin tin generously with butter.
- Let the mini rolls rise in the oven with the oven light on for the 30-minute rise. Don't turn the actual heat on! Just the light.
- Use a pizza cutter to easily slice the cinnamon rolls into strips.
- Remove the rolls from the tin before adding the frosting or else they can be very messy to get out.
Recipe FAQs
First, check to be sure your yeast isn't expired and also make sure the milk wasn't too hot (or else it can kill the yeast). Otherwise, the area for the rise may not have been warm enough (which would result in a longer rise time) or they just needed more time to rise. These little cinnamon rolls shouldn't need more than an hour of rise time though. If they do, something went awry.
No, you can nest the rolls into a buttered 9x9" pan and bake them that way!
This is likely for two reasons: too much additional flour was added to the recipe, or they were rolled a bit too tight. A few of them may pop up a little bit, but the entire center of the roll should not be busting out of the muffin tin.
Storage
Store the baked mini cinnamon rolls covered at room temperature for one day, or in the fridge for up to three days.
Refresh the rolls in the microwave for :15-:30 seconds before enjoying.
More Sweet Breakfast Recipes You'll Love
What to Know When Cooking with The Cozy Plum
- All recipes are created with Diamond Crystal kosher salt, the least salty variety of kosher salt. If using Morton's, you'll need to cut the amount of salt in half as it's 2x as salty. This will be the same for sea salt. Please do not use table salt.
- Switch between Cups vs Metric using the toggle on the recipe card. Baking by weight using a digital scale will always produce the most accurate results.
- Scale the recipe using the '1X' '2X' '3X' buttons on the recipe card. Note that this does not make an adjustment for baking times, only quantities.
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📖Recipe
Mini Cinnamon Rolls
Equipment
- 12 hole muffin tin
- 2 Small mixing bowls
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon instant yeast
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ⅓ cup whole milk warmed to 110℉
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter melted
- ½ cup brown sugar packed
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter room temperature
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- 2 oz cream cheese softened
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter room temperature
- ¾ cup powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, yeast, and salt.1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon instant yeast, ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- In another bowl, whisk together the milk, sugar, egg, and melted butter. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix together with a wooden spoon or dough whisk until combined.⅓ cup whole milk, 2 tablespoons granulated sugar, 1 large egg, 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- Lightly flour a clean work surface and knead the dough for about 5 minutes until smooth and elastic. If it’s super sticky, add 1 tablespoon of flour to the work surface, but it will become less sticky as you continue kneading.
- Cover the ball of dough on the counter with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel for 10 minutes while you prep the other ingredients.
- Mix together the brown sugar, cinnamon, butter, salt, and vanilla until a paste forms. Set aside.½ cup brown sugar, 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon, 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, ¼ teaspoon kosher salt, ½ teaspoon vanilla
- Lift up the dough and lightly flour the surface again, then use a rolling pin to roll the dough out into an 8x12” rectangle. Use a bench scraper to keep the sides straight.
- Spread the cinnamon sugar mixture to cover the entirety of the dough, the whole way to the edges. Use a pizza cutter or sharp knife to cut the dough into twelve, 1” strips (along the long side).
- Roll each strip up into a coil, then transfer into a greased muffin well. Cover the muffin tin with plastic wrap and allow the rolls to rise in a warm place for 30 minutes until puffy.
- Preheat the oven to 350℉, then bake the rolls for 12-15 minutes until very lightly golden.
- While the rolls bake, mix the cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar and vanilla with a wooden spoon or spatula until it becomes a smooth, thick icing. Add 1 teaspoon of water or milk at a time to thin it out, if desired.2 oz cream cheese, 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, ¾ cup powdered sugar, ½ teaspoon vanilla
- Allow the baked cinnamon rolls to rest for 5 minutes before transferring to a serving platter and spreading a dollop of icing to each roll. Serve warm or at room temperature.
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