Hello, fellow bakers and young chefs-in-training! Today, we’re taking you on a delicious adventure that’s not only a sweet treat but also loads of fun. Get ready to dive into the world of quick 1-hour cinnamon rolls, where the dough is prepped, and the kids get to work their magic with the cinnamon filling and cream cheese frosting. Let’s roll!
Ingredients for Baking Bliss:
1. Enthusiastic Kids: Assemble a team of eager young bakers, ready to embark on a flavorful journey.
2. Prepped Dough: Ahead of time, prepare the dough using this quick 1-hour cinnamon roll recipe from Design Eat Repeat or a store-bought one. Divide it into portions for each child.
3. Cinnamon Sensation: Create a tempting cinnamon filling that’ll make these rolls unforgettable.
4. Cream Cheese Creations: Whip up a creamy cream cheese frosting that’s simply divine. All the kids loved this frosting!
5. The Magic Recipe: We followed the fantastic quick 1-hour cinnamon roll recipe from the blog Design Eat Repeat. You can find the recipe here: Quick 1-Hour Cinnamon Rolls.
Let the Baking Begin:
- Preheat and Prepare: Start by preheating your oven to 350°F. Gather your young bakers around and put on your aprons because it’s about to get deliciously messy!
Make dough ahead of time
- Butter and Milk Magic: Melt the butter in the microwave for 45 seconds, then pour it into a medium-sized bowl. In that same bowl, pour the milk and microwave it for another 45 seconds. Mix in the yeast and 1/4 cup granulated sugar until it dissolves. Cover this mixture and let it sit for 10 minutes.
- Egg-citing Moments: After 10 minutes, uncover the mixture and add in the egg, salt, and vanilla. Once combined, start adding the flour, one cup at a time. Mix it with a spatula until you can’t anymore, and then use your hands. Shape it into a ball and cover it, letting it rest for 10 minutes.
- Letting it rise for a bit before our class members arrived was perfect! Then I cut the dough into 5 equal parts.
Cinnamon Filling and Frosting Fun
- While the dough takes a break, it’s time to make the cinnamon filling. Mix softened butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla extract together. You can do this by hand or with a mixer, but using your hands is more fun! Set this delicious mixture aside.
2. To make frosting- Add butter, cream cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and a pinch of salt to a medium-sized bowl and use a hand or stand mixer to mix until combined and smooth (about 30-60 seconds)
NOTE- Teach kids to use the mixer by slowly turning it on and mixing a little powdered sugar at a time so it does not go all over the kitchen. Ask me how I know haha :0
Rolling and Cutting the Dough
- Roll and Spread: After 10 minutes, it’s dough time! Roll it out on a floured surface into a rectangle that’s 1/4” thick. Now comes the fun part – spread that amazing cinnamon mixture all over, right to the edges. The kids used their hands to spread the cinnamon mixture all over the dough.
- Rolling Techniques: I had the kids roll from the long side because we were making mini rolls. Roll it up relatively tight but not too tight. Then we used our hands to kind of compress the dough from each side to make their long fairly skinny rolled dough more uniform on the ends.
- Cutting Mastery: Slightly score the tops with a serrated edge knife to guide your cuts. Start in the center, then add slits in the center of those, and divide each of those sections into two parts. You’ll end up with 8 fantastic mini rolls.
There were some creative kids in this class. One decided to try and mold her cinnamon rolls into a heart shape! They didn’t stay that way but I will have to figure out a way to make that work next time!
Baking your 1 hour Cinnamon Rolls
- Into the Oven: Place your cut cinnamon rolls in a greased 9×13 baking pan and bake at 350°F for 18-20 minutes. Watch them turn a glorious golden brown.
- Frosting Fiesta: Let the rolls cool for about 10 minutes to prevent the frosting from melting entirely. Of course they could not wait the entire 10 minutes. While they were still warm, they slatherd on the cream cheese frosting. So so good!
A Taste of Success:
Gather around and savor the fruits of your labor. Those warm, gooey cinnamon rolls with cream cheese frosting are a delight beyond words. Share the joy and watch the smiles light up your kitchen.
Making memories with kids
Baking with kids is an adventure filled with laughter, learning, messes and, of course, irresistible treats. These quick 1-hour cinnamon rolls are not only delicious but also a fantastic way to spend quality time together. So, roll up your sleeves, get creative with the cinnamon filling, and savor the sweet moments. Happy baking, young chefs! 🍽️👨🍳👩🍳
Recipe from Design Eat Repeat
Melissa Rose has lots of fabulous recipes on her blog make sure to pop over to see her recipes.
Quick 1 hour Mini Cinnamon Rolls- By Melissa Rose
Ingredients
- Ingredients
- Dough
- ¼ cup unsalted butter ½ stick
- 1 cup milk 1% 2%, Whole
- 2 ¼ tsp active dry yeast 0.25 ounce packet
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- Filling
- ½ cup unsalted butter 1 stick slightly softened
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Cream Cheese Frosting see notes below for non-cream cheese option
- ¼ cup unsalted butter ½ stick softened
- 4 ounces cream cheese softened
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoons vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- In a small microwave-safe bowl, melt butter for 45 seconds. Pour into a larger, medium-sized bowl. Using that same small bowl you just microwaved the butter in, pour in milk and microwave for 45 seconds. Once done, pour milk in with the butter. Add in yeast and 1/4 cup granulated sugar and stir with a whisk until dissolved. Cover with a clean dish towel or plastic wrap and let sit for 10 minutes.
- Once your dough starter has been sitting for 10 minutes, remove cover and mix in egg, salt, and vanilla. Once combined, start adding in flour, 1 cup at a time. You should be able to mix this with a spatula until you get to the end of adding the flour. At that point, you will need to use your hands. Keeping the dough in the bowl, gently form it into a ball. If dough is sticky, sprinkle 1 tablespoon of flour to the outside. Cover and let sit for 10 minutes (while waiting, proceed to next step to make filling).
- While the dough is proofing, go ahead and mix up the cinnamon filling so it’s ready! To do so, mix together softened butter (if straight from fridge, microwave for 20-30 seconds to soften), brown sugar, 1/2 cup granulated sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla extract. As long as your butter is soft enough, this can easily be mixed by hand with a spatula. If your butter is too cold and isn't mixing well, you can use a mixer to whip it all together. Set aside.
- Tip: You don’t want your butter to be super melted (just a little is okay!) or the filling will be more likely to seep through the bottom of the pan and crystallize.
- After 10 minutes, remove cover and place dough on a flour-covered surface. The kids used small cutting boards. Sprinkle a little flour on top of the dough and on the rolling pin, then roll the dough until it is approximately to cover the rectangular cutting board.
- Once rolled, spread on cinnamon sugar mixture with your hands, making sure to spread to the outside edges.
- Now it’s time to roll! Roll from the long side so that you can get 8 mini rolls out each section of dough. If you roll it the other way, they’ll be larger but fewer.
- Once rolled, use a serrated edge knife to slightly “score” the tops so you know where to cut. Start in the center, then add slits in the center of those and then divide each of those sections into two parts.
- Tip: Using a serrated edge knife and cu in one and half inches.
- Place cut cinnamon rolls in a greased 9×13 baking pan and bake at 350°F for 24-26 minutes until the tops are slightly golden brown. Allow to cool for a bit (10-15 minutes) before adding frosting to prevent the frosting from totally melting. If you plan to eat them later, wait to frost until they’re cooled for a prettier frosting presentation.
- To Make Cream Cheese Frosting:
- Add butter, cream cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and a pinch of salt to a medium-sized bowl and use a hand or stand mixer to mix until combined and smooth (about 30-60 seconds). Slather on warm cinnamon rolls and enjoy!
They look absolutely delicious! My sister (a former baker) told me a tip for working with powdered sugar in the stand mixer– throw a damp towel over the bowl and mixer and it will keep the powdered sugar from flying around.
Great tip! Thank you for sharing it!