By popular demand, it had to be done – the magic Soft No Knead Dinner Rolls have now been transformed into these No Knead Cinnamon Rolls!!! Soft and fluffy with a cream cheese glaze, these will change your life. No kneading, no stand mixer, no overnight rise. You’re welcome / I’m sorry….
I’m apologising for sharing these for a number of reasons. I’m sorry to all those trying to be healthy. (Me, me!) I’m sorry to everyone trying to cut down of their carb intake. (Me, me!)
I’m sorry to everyone who makes these once and are harassed to make them again and again…..
I actually wasn’t sure if I would ever share this. I had quite an astonishing number of messages here and on Facebook asking if the No Knead Dinner Rolls could be used to make cinnamon rolls. The concept sounded quite easy – just use the same dough but add a bit more flour so it was rollable into a large rectangle that could be slathered with butter and cinnamon sugar, then rolled up and cut.
The problem I kept running into – the 2 rolls in the middle of the tray just wouldn’t cook through properly. They looked cooked, but as soon as I bit into it, it was undeniably doughy.
Batches later… the answer was so simple. I ran out of bread flour and used normal flour.
Boom. It worked. Duh! Head smack! No-knead dough is more fragile than kneaded dough and bread flour makes buns slightly lighter and more tender. When you add that heavy butter / sugar slather, it weighs down the dough and adds too much moisture for the dough to rise and cook through properly.
Switch to plain / all purpose flour = slightly sturdier dough = sturdier (but still soft!) buns = fully cooked through.
Phew!
This No Knead Cinnamon Rolls recipe is also surprisingly forgiving. I’ve been amazed – you’ll see in the video that the dough looks even looser than the photos above. I’ve added flour and water right at the end to adjust the dough when it looked too thin / thick, I forgot sugar once and added that in after the 1st rise. Same result every time – couldn’t tell the difference.
As for kneaded vs no knead dough – here’s the truth. Kneaded dough makes a better bread. If that weren’t a fact, millions of bakeries around the world would be ditching their mixers. The bread is slightly more tender and keeps slightly better.
But the operative word here is slightly. The sheer convenience of this no knead recipe outweighs the small difference, and opens up a new world of possibilities for people who don’t have a stand mixer nor are inclined to knead dough by hand.
And the clincher is that when these No Knead Cinnamon Rolls are warmed slightly – just 15 seconds in the microwave – it makes them so uber soft and fluffy, you’d swear they were from a posh bakery.
Well – your family and friends will think that. You can just sit back and lap up the compliments! – Nagi x
PS You know full well these are not my Baby Hands.↓↓↓ These are my mother’s hands. She came round to be the hand model for the video. And she made these No Knead Cinnamon Rolls for the first time and specifically said that she was surprised how easy it was, even with “all that log rolling and cutting business”. 😉
Hungry for more? Subscribe to my newsletter and follow along on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram for all of the latest updates.
No Knead Cinnamon Rolls
Ingredients
Buns:
- 1 tbsp dry yeast (Note 1)
- 70 g / 1/3 cup caster sugar (superfine sugar), or sub with normal white sugar
- 1/2 cup / 125 ml warm water (Note 2)
- 600 g / 20 oz plain flour / all purpose flour (4 1/2 US Cups, 4 Cups everywhere else exc Japan) (Note 3)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup / 250 ml milk , lukewarm, whole or low fat, (Note 2)
- 50 g / 3.5 tbsp unsalted butter , melted and slightly cooled
- 2 large eggs , beaten with fork
EXTRA FLOUR:
- 1/4 cup / 35g plain flour (all purpose flour), plus more as required
For Rolls:
- 90 g / 6 tbsp unsalted butter , melted
- 1 cup / 220 g brown sugar , packed
- 2 tbsp cinnamon powder
Cream Cheese Glaze:
- 90 g / 3 oz cream cheese , softened
- 50 / 3 tbsp unsalted butter , softened
- 1 tsp vanilla extract (or essence)
- 1 1/4 cups / 150g soft icing sugar / powdered sugar
- 2 – 3 tbsp milk , any (or water)
Instructions
Buns:
- Place the yeast and 2 teaspoons of the sugar in a medium bowl, then pour in water. Leave for 5 minutes until it froths.
- Place 600g/20oz flour, remaining sugar and salt in a bowl. Mix to combine.
- Make a well in the centre. Add milk, butter, eggs and pour in the yeast liquid, including all froth.
- Mix until combined with wooden spoon – it will be like a sticky muffin batter, not kneadable.
- Rise # 1: Cover with cling wrap and place in a warm place (25C/77F+) to rise for around 1 1/4 – 1 1/2 hrs or until almost tripled in volume. (Note 4) Dough surface should be bubbly (see video or photos in post).
Making Rolls & Rise #2 (video is helpful):
- Line a 31.5 x 23.5 cm / 9 x 13″ tray with baking paper with overhang.
- Mix cinnamon and sugar in a bowl.
- Uncover dough, mix with spoon to deflate.
- Sprinkle half Extra Flour on work surface, pour dough on, sprinkle over remaining Extra Flour. Use hands to incorporate the flour into the dough – it may not absorb it all (or need more), the dough will stop absorbing flour when it’s no longer sticky, should be soft, pliable.
- If work surface is now flour free, sprinkle with more flour.
- Shape dough into log, then roll out into 28 x 48 cm / 11 x 19″ rectangle.
- Pour over butter, then brush all over, then sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.
- Roll up firmly, then shape into an even log.
- Cut into 12 pieces (4cm / 1.6″), then place on tray (3 x 4).
- Cover with tea towel then place in warm place for 40 minutes or until almost doubled.
Baking / Frosting:
- Preheat oven to 180C/350F (standard) or 160C/320F (fan / convection). Place shelf in the middle of the oven.
- Bake for 20 minutes, rotating the tray at 16 minutes.
- Buns are ready when the middle rolls are golden and the outer ones are deep golden on the edges. Tap the middle ones – they should sound hollow.
- Optional: Brush with 1 tbsp / 15g melted butter to remove any residual flour spots.
- Use paper overhang to lift rolls onto cooling rack (key step – Note 5). Cool for 1 hour (will still be warm).
- Use a spoon to frost with glaze. Best served warm!
Glaze:
- Place butter, cream cheese and vanilla in a bowl. Beat until smooth (10 – 15 seconds).
- Add icing sugar, beat to incorporate. Add enough milk to make it a consistency that can be spooned over the buns and it drips slightly (see video).
Recipe Notes:
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
No Knead Cinnamon Rolls recipe video! Starring my mother – I’m the director/producer/cameraman/editor/screenwriter/runner/recipe developer.
Have you tried the Soft No Knead Dinner Rolls yet? 🙂
LIFE OF DOZER
You knew he’d be down there, didn’t you?
I was 1 1/2cup short of plain flour but had bakers bread flour so I used some of it and oh my gosh they turned out perfect! The softness and fluffiness is just .. jduehfuelad… I can’t even talk it’s just that GOOD!!!!!!! …
Why would you bother looking up for another recipe when I’ve just sold you this.. just …. Just scroll back up and get cooking!!
THANK YOU NAGGIIIIIII
Love, love, love these!!!
I used instant yeast and it looked flatter than Nagis but worked out perfectly! Made such a soft dough that was easy to work with. Definitely making these over and over again!
Cinnamon buns turns out perfect every time! Thanks for the dryer suggestion. Works great for all yeast breads!
I use microwave to prove my dough recipes. Heat wheat bag 1 – 2 minutes in microwave then put covered bowl with dough inside with the wheat bag. Close door. Perfect.
I have been making these delicious scrolls over and over for years as they are an absolute family and neighbour favourite and make so many and so much cheaper than bakery versions. I have not veered at all from this perfect recipe. Thank you, thank you, Nagi.
These are incredible!! Such an easy recipe. They still tasted amazing the next day when warmed up for 20 secs in the microwave
Amazing! Added Cooked apple and walnuts to the filling and it was such a hit
So easy and so tasty. My family was drooling whilst waiting for them to cool down. Another winner!
These were 10 out of 5 stars!
I never thought I could make cinnamon rolls before but it turns out I can with Nagis help! Amazingly easy recipe and so delicious.
Another awesome recipe😊 I mixed everything, roll it up then cut it into 12 little rolls and put them into a 9 x 13 pan the night before (Had halved the sugar going in the cinnamon sugar filling). Woke up in the morning and took it out from the fridge and left it on bench for 30 mins before baking it in the oven. I also only use half the sugar going into the cream cheese. The sweetness is just nice. This is the bomb 💣. Thank you Nagi
I am a new user of your website and every recipe has been perfectly delicious! Today, I made your “No Knead Cinnamon Rolls” with bread flour! They came out perfectly when I baked them in smaller batches in a 9” round pan. I’m cooking for 2, so it made sense to cook them in smaller batches. The rest are in the fridge after the first rise.
I believe placing all of them in a small baking pan such as 9×13, causes uneven heating due to overcrowding, so the center rolls are still “doughy”. Perhaps placing them in a larger baking pan will fix the problem. I will test that theory next.
Again, thank you for being a wonderful chef!
Regards,
Helen
These cinnamon rolls are amazing. I am not a confident baker with yeast. I followed the recipe exactly as written and made ahead and put in the fridge overnight. They were perfect.
So soft and lovely tasting. Thanks for this recipe Nagi!
I am 90 yrs.old & have been making bread @cinnamon rolls since the teens.
From using wood burning stove/bread maker/stand mixer.
Stopped making bread then came across your site & made your no knead Artisan bread & got hooked. Today made cinn.rolls could not wait for them to cool & put icing on.
Ate it hot out of oven slathered in butter. Will ice the rest when cool. Hope I live to be a hundred so I can keep on making no knead bread & cinn.rolls. Bless you & Dozer love your recipes
Hello Geraldine, you just made my day! Thank you.
Have a lovely day
So so SO good, I never thought I’d cook with yeast but I did — it was easy and everyone loved them (both times!).
A quick warm up in the microwave (even on the day they are cooked, or after 1, 2 or 3 days) transforms the scroll into something you want to crawl into – warm, soft and delicious.
The second time I baked them the icing was better: that time I used pure icing sugar instead of soft icing sugar, and less milk – just smeared it on while still quite warm. Not as pretty but I found the flavor better, not really sure why.
I need an excuse to make these again SOON!
These are amazing!! Never buying these again. They taste better than Cinnabon.
Easy recipe and came out great.
WINTER. When making it winter. The scrolls cools quickly, and the frosting needed a lot of liquid to drizzle. Mine only needed 30mins to cool and I used 5x the liquid for frosting and still wasn’t a real drizzle. I think I’ll use an icing for winter, less dependent on temperature with the butter and cream cheese. It’s about 11oC in sydney this morning
Just made these. Sooo good. I don’t like cream cheese so used the glaze from the lemon loaf recipe. It was perfect
Another winner. Tick, tick, tick – easy to prepare, yummy to eat and there’s plenty so you can go back for more!!! Thanks Nagi xx
Omg! Best scrolls ever! Definitely our family faver from now on. Thanks Nagi
Delicious and easy to make… thank you for guiding me in my first efforts. A good rise, sweet without being too sweet. Looking forward to trying a savoury scroll next!