Quick Cinnamon Rolls

We all love a good cinnamon roll drizzled with cream cheese frosting, don't we?

Well I've been making these for years and when I have the time I make the bread machine dough but when I don't I use a shortcut by using frozen bread dough instead.

I had 3 loaves sitting in my freezer and they needed to be used up, so I sat in the kitchen this afternoon making pan after pan of delicious cinnamon rolls. 

You can too by using this quick recipe.  Now I knew what I wanted to make with the bread, but I didn't know what I wanted for the filling or the icing, so I went in search and found that Southern Plate had posted a recipe for exactly this, using frozen bread dough to make cinnamon rolls.  Yay!  I love her blog, so I'm using her recipe.

Quick Cinnamon Rolls

Credit:  Southern Plate

1 loaf frozen bread dough (thawed, just let it sit out for about an hour or so)
1/4 cup butter or margarine, softened (for the filling)
1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 T ground cinnamon
3 ounce cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter or margarine, softened (for the icing)
1 1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla or maple extract


Once the dough is thawed, roll it out on a floured surface until you get a pretty big rectangle. I don't measure, I just eyeball it but I would say about 9x13 inc which is about the size of the baking pans.

For the filling, combine the softened butter, brown sugar and cinnamon. Mix well and then spread over the dough but not to the edges, leave about a half an inch edge, it will make it easier to seal once we roll it up.

Start rolling the dough up carefully, press the seams a little to seal.

I usually use a bit of thread or fishing line to slice it up, it makes it easier and gives a much better clean cut, but if you want to use a knife, use a serrated one.

Slice into 1 inch slices and place into round baking pans. You can also put them in a 9x13 inch. pan, but I prefer the round foil ones. They're pretty cheap and make clean up easier too.

Let rest for about 30 minutes.

Pop into a 400 degree oven for about 20 minutes until done and nice and brown.

In the meantime, mix 3 ounces of softened cream cheese, the confectioner's sugar and the vanilla or maple extract, with an electric beater. Spread over the cinnamon rolls.

Note: I like making huge batches of these and freezing them. I either bake them all and then freeze, or a bake only what I need and wrap the rest in press n seal wrap and pop in the freezer until ready to bake.