I’ve been on a quest for the most perfectly soft cinnamon rolls for what seems like ages. I can’t tell you how many batches I’ve made along the way, but there have been a LOT. Finally, it dawned on me. I needed to start with my very favorite roll dough that makes the absolute best, most insanely soft rolls ever…Potato roll dough! Potatoes absorb more moisture than flour does, so it makes a beautifully delicate dough. Perfect for cinnamon rolls! These Super Soft Cinnamon Rolls are incredible warm from the oven, but they are still nice and soft at room temperature. Perfect for a grab-and-go morning treat for a few days without the cinnamon rolls getting hard. There's nothing that wrecks a cinnamon roll more than being dry or crunchy.
The silly food-nerd/emotional-eater inside of me has been feeling the pressure to come up with the perfect cinnamon roll recipe for my daughter. She’s only 7 months old, but I love starting new traditions with her. I just imagine her future birthdays when she wakes up to a giant batch of these cinnamon rolls with pink icing (and maybe some sprinkles) and a birthday candle for breakfast on her special day. I want her to request Mama’s Super Soft Cinnamon Rolls someday, and now I’m prepared to accommodate that request.
These cinnamon rolls can be prepped the night before and left in the refrigerator overnight for the second rise. Then all that's left is to just bake and frost in the morning! You can also freeze them once they’re arranged in the pans (just before second rise). Let thaw in refrigerator overnight and then let rise further at room temperature if needed.
(Scroll down for printable version of this recipe.)
Mama’s Super Soft Cinnamon Rolls
By Kitchen Joy
Makes about 14 cinnamon rolls
Ingredients
Dough:
1 ½ cups milk
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
¾ cup + 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
½ cup instant potato flakes (I use IDAHOAN Original Mashed Potatoes)
1 ¼ teaspoons salt
1 envelope Red Star Platinum Instant Yeast
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
3 ½ cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling
Filling:
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, very very soft
1 cup light brown sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon (Penzey’s Vietnamese Extra Fancy Cinnamon is my favorite)
Frosting:
1 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar
¼ cup milk (+/- as desired)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, very very soft
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste (pure vanilla extract is fine too)
Directions:
- Spray two 8- or 9-inch round baking pans with cooking spray.
- Add 3 ½ cups flour to a large mixing bowl. Set aside.
- In a medium saucepan, scald the milk by heating it over medium heat until foam forms around the edges but milk does not reach a boil.
- Turn off heat and add butter, sugar, potatoes, and salt. Stir to combine and let cool until lukewarm.
- Add yeast, then eggs and stir until thoroughly combined.
- Add milk mixture to the flour mixture and stir until all flour has incorporated. Dough will be very sticky.
- Cover with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature for 1 hour.
- Punch down dough. (Don’t be afraid to get your hands messy!)
- On a very well-floured surface, roll out dough into a large 12x24-inch rectangle, sprinkling with additional flour as needed.
- Spread softened butter evenly over the entire surface of the dough.
- Sprinkle brown sugar over the butter and gently spread into an even layer.
- Sprinkle cinnamon over the brown sugar.
- Beginning from the long side furthest away from you, roll dough toward you, forming a tight log.
- Using a very sharp knife, slice into 1 ½-inch sections (I use 3 fingers as a width guide).
- Arrange rolls in prepared cake pans and cover with plastic wrap or tea towels.
- Let rise until doubled, about 2-3 hours.
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- While oven is preheating, prepare the frosting: Whisk together confectioners’ sugar, milk, butter, and vanilla. Add more milk or confectioners’ sugar to adjust thickness if needed. Frosting should be thick but very smooth.
- Bake 14-16 minutes, until just slightly golden on top.
- Remove cinnamon rolls from oven and spread with frosting immediately.
- Let cool slightly, at least 10 minutes, before serving. This allows the rolls to hold their shape a bit better when serving, and also allows the frosting to soak into the rolls more.
- Serve and enjoy!
Store covered at room temperature for up to 3 days. (Not that they’ll last that long!)
PrintMama’s Super Soft Cinnamon Rolls
- Cook Time: 14 minutes
- Total Time: 4 hours 30 minutes
Ingredients
Dough:
- 1 ½ cups milk
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
- ¾ cup + 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- ½ cup instant potato flakes (I use IDAHOAN Original Mashed Potatoes )
- 1 ¼ teaspoons salt
- 1 envelope Red Star Platinum Instant Yeast
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 3 ½ cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling
Filling:
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, very very soft
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon (Penzey’s Vietnamese Extra Fancy Cinnamon is my favorite)
Frosting:
- 1 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar
- ¼ cup milk (+/- as desired)
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, very very soft
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste (pure vanilla extract is fine too)
Instructions
- Spray two 8- or 9-inch round baking pans with cooking spray.
- Add 3 ½ cups flour to a large mixing bowl. Set aside.
- In a medium saucepan, scald the milk by heating it over medium heat until foam forms around the edges but milk does not reach a boil.
- Turn off heat and add butter, sugar, potatoes, and salt. Stir to combine and let cool until lukewarm.
- Add yeast, then eggs and stir until thoroughly combined.
- Add milk mixture to the flour mixture and stir until all flour has incorporated. Dough will be very sticky.
- Cover with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature for 1 hour.
- Punch down dough. (Don’t be afraid to get your hands messy!)
- On a very well-floured surface, roll out dough into a large 12x24-inch rectangle, sprinkling with additional flour as needed.
- Spread softened butter evenly over the entire surface of the dough.
- Sprinkle brown sugar over the butter and gently spread into an even layer.
- Sprinkle cinnamon over the brown sugar.
- Beginning from the long side furthest away from you, roll dough toward you, forming a tight log.
- Using a very sharp knife, slice into 1 ½-inch sections (I use 3 fingers as a width guide).
- Arrange rolls in prepared cake pans and cover with plastic wrap or tea towels.
- Let rise until doubled, about 2-3 hours.
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- While oven is preheating, prepare the frosting: Whisk together confectioners’ sugar, milk, butter, and vanilla. Add more milk or confectioners’ sugar to adjust thickness if needed. Frosting should be thick but very smooth.
- Bake 14-16 minutes, until just slightly golden on top.
- Remove cinnamon rolls from oven and spread with frosting immediately.
- Let cool slightly, at least 10 minutes, before serving. This allows the rolls to hold their shape a bit better when serving, and also allows the frosting to soak into the rolls more.
- Serve and enjoy!
Notes
Store covered at room temperature for up to 3 days. (Not that they’ll last that long!) This recipe first appeared on Kitchen Joy®.
Thank you for taking the time to visit my site. I hope you have a chance to try out these cinnamon rolls soon. They’re the best I’ve ever eaten!
Jane Karr
Your recipe for your favorite roll dough has been hijacked - when you click on it it takes you to an ad for erectile dysfunction - yikes
I would love to get your recipe for the roll dough!!
Mandy
Hi Jane, I'm not sure why it took you to that. The link seems to be working fine for me. Here it is for you so you can copy and paste it into your browser. https://kitchenjoyblog.com/potato-rolls/
Have you had issues with any other links you click on from other sites? It doesn't appear to be an issue coming from my end. I hope you're able to get to the roll recipe! It's the BEST EVER. If you can't get it, just let me know and I'll email it to you if you need.
Tina Sarber
This looks to be cinnamon roll perfection! We are a bit of cinnamon roll snobs in our house, and after seeing this I think I can finally rest easy knowing I have this recipe in my arsenal!! And just a quick note, I, too had an add pop up in the middle of my screen. I simply exited out back to FB and clicked again on the recipe with no problems. I can't wait to try this!
Mandy
Cinnamon Rolls call for a bit of snobbery, I totally agree. As for the ad, I'm going to try figuring that out... I don't allow pop-ups on my site because they are literally the WORST. Thanks for letting me know! I'm going to start by upgrading my spam blocker.
Sharon
Hi there! THese look delicious ~ thank you for sharing the recipe! Can you make part or all of it the day before, so that you can just pop them in oven in the am? ;)
Mandy
Yes! I wrote about it in the post, but you can do all the steps until just before the second rise, and then put them in the fridge to rise really slowly overnight.
Sharon
Also, one more...can you substitute potatoes flour for the flakes, and if so, what would be the amount of flour needed? Thx again!
Mandy
I can't say for sure because I have not tried this recipe with potato flour. I would suspect you would want to use less of it than the potato flakes, maybe only 1/4 cup? I highly recommend making the recipe as written though because the potato flakes are what makes the dough so great.
Sharon
Okay, thank you so much for all your help! ;)
Mandy
Of course! Let me know how it turns out if you try it with potato flour.
Nada
Can I make this dough in advance and let it sit in the refrigerator overnight?
Mandy
Yes! I recommend allowing a bit of time in the morning for it to come to room temperature before continuing with the recipe steps.