Classic Amish Cinnamon Roll Recipe

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I've become quite the Amish cinnamon roll connoisseur over the years. I've tasted caramel pecan cinnamon rolls, pumpkin cinnamon rolls, and coffee-iced cinnamon rolls. But I keep coming back to basics as my favorite, your classic, tried-and-true white-iced cinnamon rolls.

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• 🍽️ Cinnamon Roll Ingredients
• 📋 Instructions
•  🍽️ Endless Amish Cinnamon Roll Recipes
• 🖨️ Full Recipe

The icing is key but so is the filling. Nothing worse than a dry cinnamon roll inside.  And nothing beats homemade cinnamon rolls. SIGH, I have tried store-bought cinnamon rolls and they just can't compare.  Yeah, those Pillsbury rolls in a can will do in a pinch, but only in a pinch.  They just aren't the same as the fluffy cinnamon rolls that are true to Amish tradition.

Now, Cinnabon, well, yeah, those are amazing but only because they just slather on the sweet stuff. I mean, eventually if you pour enough frosting onto something it will be good, and Cinnabon accomplishes that feat.

Some bakeries try to compensate by drenching the outside in icing, but my favorite Amish-made cinnamon rolls are moist, sweet and cinnamony inside and basted with a medium-amount of icing. Nothing fancy. I just like the basics and I found some really good basic cinnamon rolls at an Amish bakery in southern Ohio the other week. Basic cinnamon rolls are the best cinnamon rolls. 

The frosting is key, though, whether it is caramel, butterscotch, brown sugar, cream cheese frosting, or powdered sugar-based, you need a good smooth frosting.  You don't want -in my opinion- a runny glaze.

 I like the Amish bakeries that cook with wood-stoves the best. Bakeries that do everything with kerosene can sometimes absorb a kerosene flavor in the baked goods. Not good. Another cinnamon roll "no-no", don't put nuts or, Heaven forbid, raisins in them. Why ruin a perfectly good cinnamon roll by sticking in squishy, wrinkly raisins? Ugh.

Even though the instructions below seem very involved, these are actually pretty easy cinnamon rolls to make.  These cinnamon rolls do take some time to make in the sense that you need to allow time to let the dough rise, to kneading, and the like.  You can cut corners (at least from the Amish point of view) by using your stand mixer on a medium speed to get the dough ready as opposed to the Amish method of a wooden spoon.   I'd not use a bread machine. Ah, nothing smells better than cinnamon roll dough.

Most cinnamon rolls rely on very basic ingredients and rolling pin:  butter, flour, sugar, cinnamon, some vanilla extract for the glaze, and, yeah, it takes more patience than ingredients to make the perfect Amish cinnamon roll.

By the way, for this recipe we use all-purpose flour, but I do know of plenty of Amish recipes that call for bread flour, so you could probably use bread flour if you had it on hand.   These cinnamon rolls will freeze well when you are done. So if you have leftover you can stick them in the freezer and thaw them out when you are ready for them.

The filling on this calls for two teaspoons of cinnamon, but when I make them I usually bump up the amount.  I am happy with two tablespoons, but that is up to you and how much cinnamon you like!

When it is time to slice your cinnamon rolls, most Amish bakers would just use a sharp knife, but some people swear by dental floss as being the best thing to use (don't use the mint flavor!)

By the way, for this recipe we use all-purpose flour, but I do know of plenty of Amish recipes that call for bread flour, so you could probably use bread flour if you had it on hand.   These cinnamon rolls will freeze well when you are done. So if you have leftover you can stick them in the freezer and thaw them out when you are ready for them.

The filling on this calls for two teaspoons of cinnamon, but when I make them I usually bump up the amount.  I am happy with two tablespoons, but that is up to you and how much cinnamon you like!

When it is time to slice your cinnamon rolls, most Amish bakers would just use a sharp knife, but some people swear by dental floss as being the best thing to use (don't use the mint flavor!)

🍽️ Cinnamon Roll Ingredients

Cinnamon Rolls

• 3 ½ - 4 cups all-purpose flour
• ⅓ cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 ½ teaspoon or 2 packages regular or fast-acting dry yeast
• 1 cup milk
• ¼ cup butter or margarine (½ stick) room temperature
• 1 large egg
• Cooking spray to grease bowl and pan

Cinnamon Filling

• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ cup butter or margarine (½ stick) room temperature

Glaze

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoon butter or margarine
• ½ teaspoon vanilla
• 1-2 tablespoon milk

📋 Instructions

Cinnamon Rolls & Filling

1. In a large bowl, stir 2 cups of the flour, ⅓ cup granulated sugar, the salt and yeast with a wooden spoon until well mixed.
2. In a 1-quart saucepan, heat the milk over medium heat until very warm .
3. Add the warm milk, ¼ cup butter and egg to the flour mixture.
4. Stir well with your wooden spoon.
5. Then stir in enough of the remaining flour, about ½ cup at a time, until dough is soft, leaves side of bowl and is easy to handle.
6. Sprinkle flour lightly on a countertop.
7. Place dough on floured surface.
8. Knead about 5 minutes, sprinkling surface with more flour if dough starts to stick, until dough is smooth and springy.
9. Spray a large bowl with the cooking spray.
10. Place dough in bowl, turning dough to grease all sides.
11. Cover bowl loosely with plastic wrap; let rise in a warm place about 1 hour 30 minutes or until dough has doubled in size.
12. In a small bowl, mix ½ sugar and the cinnamon; for the filling & set aside.
13. Spray the bottom and sides of a 13x9 inch pan with the cooking spray.
14. Sprinkle flour lightly on a countertop .
15. Place dough on the floured surface.
16. Using your hands flatten dough into a 15x10-inch rectangle.
17. Spread ¼ cup butter over dough to within ½ inch of edges.
18. Sprinkle with sugar-cinnamon mixture.
19. Beginning at a 15-inch side, roll dough up tightly.
20. Pinch edge of dough into the roll to seal edge.
21. Stretch and shape roll until even and is 15 inches long.
22. Using a sharp serrated knife cut roll into 15 (1-inch) slices.
23. Place slices slightly apart in the pan.
24. Cover pan loosely with plastic wrap; let rise in a warm place about 30 minutes or until dough has doubled in size.
25. Remove plastic wrap.
26. Move the oven rack to the middle position of the oven.
27. Heat the oven to 350°F.
28. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until golden brown.
29. Immediately remove rolls from pan; place right side up on a cooling rack.
30. Cool 5 minutes.

Glaze

1. In a small bowl, stir glaze ingredients until smooth, adding enough milk so glaze is thin enough to drizzle.
2. Over the warm rolls, drizzle glaze.
3. Serve warm.

 🍽️ Endless Amish Cinnamon Roll Recipes

It's king of amazing how many Cinnamon Roll Sticky Bun recipes on Amish365. I almost can't pick a favorite, but I'd eat everyone of these last sticky babies no buts about it!

Amish Sour Creme Frosting for Cinnamon Buns

🖨️ Full Recipe