Save time in the morning and wake up to warm, fresh, cinnamon goodness with these overnight maple cinnamon rolls.
This recipe is brought to you in partnership with Red Star Yeast.
What sets these homemade cinnamon rolls apart from the rest is that they are maple flavored, which makes them an instant favorite if you have tastebuds. Pure maple syrup is worked both into the cinnamon swirl AND the sweet glaze on top.
Double the maple, double the pant siz… oh. I mean double the goodness.
For my melt-in-your-mouth maple cinnamon rolls, we’re using an overnight dough recipe. Most of my sweet roll/cinnamon roll recipes can be started the night before, but today’s dough recipe is developed to be made ahead of time.
Making The Dough
It’s not too complicated, I promise. First, you’ll need some yeast. Don’t let yeast send you running for the hills! It’s just an ingredient. My go-to brand is Red Star Yeast; I’ve been working with them for a few years and am always, always pleased with the results. Their Platinum line is fantastic and makes working with yeast… easy! I use a little more yeast in this recipe compared to my easy cinnamon rolls (a great beginner recipe, new bakers!) because today’s rolls are about twice the size. The butter and eggs both make the dough fabulously rich and tender. It will melt in your mouth. I actually use this same base dough in my cinnamon roll wreath, too!
Melt. In. Your. Mouth.
Though this recipe is prepared in a stand mixer, you don’t necessarily need one to make it; a handheld mixer is just fine. Once the dough is prepared, allow it to rise until doubled in size. This will be the first rise.
Once risen, roll the dough out and fill with a combination of softened butter, pure maple syrup, granulated sugar, and cinnamon. How can you not love something with THOSE FOUR ingredients? And when those four ingredients are melted together inside a warm, buttery roll, it’s pure bliss. You should try this filling in the no yeast cinnamon rolls, too!
Then the rolls sit in the refrigerator and rise again in the morning.
Bake until golden brown. Then, cover them in maple glaze.
Unwind each doughy roll and dip into the pools of maple glaze/cinnamon goo on your plate. Then, 5 seconds later, melt into a pool of maple love. I believe this is the only acceptable way to eat maple cinnamon rolls, by the way.
Rich, buttery, soft, maple bread. Now THIS is a cinnamon roll done right!!
As always, I encourage you to read the recipe before beginning. This is so important to do when it comes to yeast/dough recipes. There are a few moving parts—and I’m very thorough in my instructions. Have fun and let the good times “roll.” 😉
Print
Maple Cinnamon Rolls
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 4 hours, 30 minutes (includes rise times)
- Yield: 12 rolls
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Save time in the morning and wake up to warm fresh cinnamon goodness with these overnight maple cinnamon rolls.
Ingredients
Dough
- 1 cup (240ml) whole milk*
- 2/3 cup (135g) granulated sugar
- 1 and 1/2 tablespoons (14g) Platinum Yeast from Red Star instant yeast (2 standard size packets)*
- 1/2 cup (115g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature and cut into 4 pieces
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 4 and 1/2 cups (563g) all-purpose flour (spoon & leveled), plus more for dusting/rolling
Filling
- 1/2 cup (115g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1/4 cup (60ml) pure maple syrup
- 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
- 1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
Maple Icing
- 1 and 1/2 cups (180g) confectioners’ sugar
- 2 Tablespoons (30ml) pure maple syrup
- 2 Tablespoons (30ml) whole milk
Instructions
- Make the dough: Heat milk to about 95°F (35°C)– use microwave or stovetop. Pour the warm milk into the bowl of a stand electric mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment (OR you can use a handheld mixer OR no mixer, but a stand mixer is ideal). With a whisk, manually whisk in the sugar and yeast. Cover with a towel and let sit until the yeast is foamy, about 5-10 minutes. If the yeast does not dissolve and foam, start over with fresh active yeast. On low speed, beat in the softened butter until it is slightly broken up. Next add the eggs, one at a time, and then the salt. The butter won’t really be mixing into the mixture, so don’t be alarmed if it stays in pieces. On low speed, gradually add the flour. Once it is all added, beat on medium speed until a soft dough forms. Increase speed to medium-high and beat until the dough is soft and supple, about 6 minutes longer. *If you do not have a stand-mixer with a hook attachment, knead the dough by hand in this step.
- Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead it with your hands for 1 minute. Form the dough into a ball and transfer it to a lightly greased bowl. Cover the dough loosely with plastic wrap, a paper towel, or aluminum foil and let sit in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 to 2 hours.
- Grease the bottom and sides of a 9×13 inch baking dish. Turn the risen dough out onto a lightly floured work surface, punch it down and, using a rolling pin, roll into a 12×18 inch rectangle. Make sure the dough is smooth and evenly thick.
- For the filling: Using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, beat the butter and maple syrup together on medium-high speed until combined and creamy. Add the sugar and cinnamon, beating until combined. Spread the maple mixture all over the dough. Tightly roll up the dough to form an 18-inch-long log. Cut into 12 even rolls. Arrange them in the prepared baking pan, cut sides up. Cover the rolls very tightly with aluminum foil (no rolls exposed– this dries out your dough!) and stick in the refrigerator for 8-12 hours.3
- Remove rolls from the refrigerator and let rise in a warm place just as you did in step 2 until they are puffy, about 1-2 hours. Mine usually take 1 and 1/2 hours.
- After the rolls have risen, preheat the oven to 375°F (191°C). Bake for about 25 minutes, until they are golden brown. About halfway through the bake time, I like to cover the rolls loosely with aluminum foil so the tops don’t brown too much. Remove pan from the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack for about 10 minutes as you make the icing.
- Make the icing: Whisk all of the icing ingredients together. If it’s too thin, add a little more confectioners’ sugar. Drizzle icing over warm rolls. Cover leftover frosted or unfrosted rolls tightly and store at room temperature for up to 3 days– I prefer this over storing in the refrigerator. I find that dries them out, but do what you like best.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: Baked rolls can be frozen up to 2-3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and warm up before enjoying. You can also freeze the unbaked rolls and here’s how: bake the rolls in step 6 for only about 10 minutes at 375°F (191°C). Cool completely, then cover tightly and freeze. To serve, take the rolls out of the freezer and put into the refrigerator a few hours before serving. Then, finish baking them.
- Milk: Whole milk preferred for richest tasting dough. 2% or 1% would be fine, but not ideal. Nonfat is not recommended.
- Yeast: If not using an instant yeast, rise time may be up to 40% longer. Reference my Baking with Yeast Guide for answers to common yeast FAQs.
- Faster Option: If planning to bake the rolls right away, in step 4– instead of sticking the rolls in the refrigerator, loosely cover them and let rise in a warm place just as you did in step 2 until they are puffy, about 2 hours. Then continue with step 6.
- Special Tools: KitchenAid Stand Mixer | KitchenAid Hand Mixer | Dough Hook | Whisk | Glass Mixing Bowls | Red Star Platinum Yeast | Ground Cinnamon | White 9×13 Baking Dish
Keywords: maple cinnamon rolls
Just made these for the first time and they’re amazing! Definitely a new favourite! Highly recommend. I substituted the sugar in the filling for maple sugar, soooo good!
★★★★★
I’d like to bake these to encourage some fellow teachers, but want to make them larger and gift an individually wrapped one to each person. I’m wondering, if I cut them larger and bake them on a baking dish, so that they won’t be touching and will look nicer as individual rolls, will they still shape nicely, or will they spread out too much? Any thoughts?
Hi Laura, it’s best to cook the cinnamon rolls with their sides touching. This helps them to rise up more, rather than out. You can certainly roll them bigger, though. Let us know what you try!
I have made these a few times and absolutely LOVED them. However, I was so excited to try the option of baking them halfway, freezing them and then finish baking them for Christmas morning. They looked great rising, baking initially, but the y were very disappointing: sank way down when cooling, never rose again, and I baked and baked them for much longer than the recommended time but they were still dough in the middle. I’d love to try again but I’m not sure what I did wrong in this new-to-me method.
★★★
Mixing maple syrup with sugar and butter caused the filling to liquify. So hard to work with. A lot ran out. Even though I baked to the least amount of time and covered as you suggested. They were dry.I make a lot of yeast breads. I’ve had such great results with your recipes. So disappointing
★★
Can you use almond milk in place of whole milk for the frosting?
Hi Lisa, that will work in a pinch, although the icing may be a bit thinner with that substitution.
I’ve never been a fan of cinnamon rolls, but I decided to give these a go today – so, so glad I did! These are the best cinnamon rolls I have ever eaten. Fantastic recipe, will definitely be making these again!
★★★★★
These cinnamon rolls made my mom’s day when I brought them to her. She declared them to be the best she’s ever had, which is a huge compliment since she’s quite the connoisseur of cinnamon rolls.
I do however keep having problems getting the rolls in the center to in the same time as those at the edge of the baking dish. I’ve tried covering the outer edges to prevent burning but then it dries the outer rolls out. Any tips on getting them to cook evenly?
★★★★
Hi Dora, we’re so glad your mom enjoyed these cinnamon rolls! It’s normal for the center rolls to come out softer than the outer edges, but if you find the outer rolls are over browning before the middle rolls are finished, you can tent the edges with foil as you mention and try turning your oven down just a bit. Thank you for giving this recipe a try!
I want to say thank you. My grandson asked me to make his wedding cake. I went on your site and got all the information I needed including the icing.
Rave reviews were received and I was so proud.
Thank you for all your help
We’re so happy to read this, Suzanne! Thank you so much for trusting our recipes to make your grandson’s wedding cake – congratulations!
These rolls were so delicious! We made them twice for the Christmas season. I wanted to make them again for a larger group of people. Is there anyway I could roll and cut the rolls to be a little smaller?
★★★★★
Hi Cyd, I’m so glad to read that you enjoy these maple cinnamon rolls. They’re one of my favorites too! You can make the rolls smaller by rolling the dough out to a larger rectangle. Roll up as directed and then cut into smaller, thinner rolls so there’s more.
I made the “Homemade cinnamon rolls” a few weeks ago and they were perfect. Decided to try this recipe today, and they were a bit dry. I then noticed that the recipe for both of the doughs is exactly the same, but the baking temp is different (350 for the other ones, 375 for these). I am curious to know why??
Hi Esther, Thank you for trying both recipes! This filling is a different texture (it’s thinner) due to the maple syrup so the slightly higher temperature works better here. But you can certainly bake them at 350 if you wish to try them again.
I am a loyal fan of Sally yet my cinnamon rolls came out super dry and crumbly.
Hi Pat, thank you so much for making our recipes and giving this one a try. Make sure to spoon and level your flour (or weigh!) when measuring and be very careful not to over-bake the rolls. It could require a shorter time, depending on your oven, so always keep an eye on them in the oven!
Hi, I tend to cook by temperature rather than color and am wondering if you have a recommended internal temperature for these to determine doneness? Thanks!
Hi Regina! A temperature of 190 F is what you’re looking for for most bread recipes.