The quickest cinnamon rolls! No yeast required.
It all starts with refrigerated crescent dough. Pop it open, roll out the dough and press the seams together to make it smooth. Use a rolling pin to make it easier. Next, brush some melted butter over the dough and throw on a ton of cinnamon and brown sugar. Then just bake them up in a mini cupcake pan and impatiently wait 12-14 minutes.
Simple maple icing: maple syrup, milk, & powdered sugar. You could even use it on mini french toast, too.
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Mini Cinnamon Buns
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 16 mini cinnamon buns
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
30 minutes, no yeast required, adorable and delicious mini cinnamon buns. You can’t stop at one (or 4!).
Ingredients
Rolls
- 1–8oz tube crescent roll dough
- 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- ground cinnamon
- light or dark brown sugar
Maple Icing
- 1 teaspoon pure maple syrup
- 1 Tablespoon milk (I used almond milk)
- 3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C) (or whatever your tube of crescent roll instructs). Spray 16 tins of a mini muffin pan with nonstick spray. Set aside.
- Make the mini cinnamon buns: Flour your counter surface to prevent sticking, roll out half of the dough (4 triangles) and close the seams together by pinching. Flip over and pinch those seams together as well.
- Smooth out the seams with a rolling pin OR cover the dough with parchment paper and roll over with a glass cup. You want the dough to be totally smooth and 1/4″ thick.
- Brush with 1 tbsp melted butter and sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon. Use as much or as little as you prefer. Roll into a log and cut into 8 equal buns.
- Repeat steps 2-4 with the other half of the crescent roll dough. Place 16 buns into the prepared muffin tins. Bake for 12-14 minutes or until the buns are lightly browned. Allow to cool for about 5 minutes and spoon icing over top each bun.
- Make the icing: Whisk together maple syrup and milk in a small bowl. Stir in confectioners’ sugar until no sugar lumps appear in the glaze. Spoon over warm cinnamon buns.
Notes
- Recipe from Iowa Girl Eats.
Keywords: mini cinnamon buns
As someone who has never made cinnamon rolls, some guidance for the amounts to use for the fillings would be welcome. I made this once and definitely had too much brown sugar and it melted and overflowed. My son wanted to make these for his classmates.
Hi Sally! This recipe is awesome. I’m commenting here to ask about another one of your cinnamon bun recipes not on your blog. I recently took Sally’s Baking Addiction out of the library and tried out the cinnamon bun blondies. I followed the recipe exactly, and it turned out like dough! So I decided to try them as cookie sandwiches, with a cream cheese buttercream center. Best idea ever, if I do say so myself! Thanks so much!
★★★★★
Hi, do you think I could make these with a yeasted cinnamon roll dough and adjust the baking time.
Sally, dear, again you are my hero! Getting ready to do a fund raiser at my VFW Post on the 1st of Feb and of course, I’m in charge of the breakfast pastries…..and frying around 20 lbs, yes lbs(!) of bacon. Oh yeah, and the eggs – lots of eggs . I usually do the normal stuff, blueberry muffins, have used your apple cider doughnut (holes), even brought some homemade bread (2 kinds) once. Well, I wanted to change things up a bit. I was getting ready to send you a message on how to make your cinnamon rolls “mini” and ran across this recipe. Not exactly homemade, but close. We will probably have 50 to 100 people, counting go-plates, so its hard to make full size baked goods. Found another recipe for mini Danishes, again not homemade, but I won’t tell.
I do have a question though, want to add a coffee cake to the list. More than likely, about 9×13 or 9×9. Either would work. Which would you suggest?
As always, thanks for getting me out of my comfort zone (at age 70) and giving us all, great recipes.
Hi Sheila, That is a LOT of breakfast! I really love coffee cakes and crumb cakes and have many different recipes for them! I have an apple, pumpkin, zucchini, raspberry, sour cream and more. For a larger 9×13 inch pan you can make my New York Style Crumb Cake. If you want to look for different options simply type in what you are looking for on the search bar on the top of the page. Good luck!
Thanks for replying. Think I figured out which one I’ll do, as you say I can double it.
Sally,
Thank you again for an awesome looking recipe. My mini muffin pan has 48 cavities and I also need a lot for a work party, could I 3x or 4x this recipe and still use the same cook time?
Thank you!
Yes, that should work!
Thanks so much for the prompt response! These will be a hit at my work Valentine’s coffee.
Hey Sally! This recipe, along with all of your other recipes, looks (and I’m sure tastes) amazing! Is there another pan I could bake these cinnamon buns in, preferably a square/rectangular pan? If so, would it be a 7×11 or 9×13?
Thank you for all you do,
Danny
Hey Sally! These are adorable. I’ll be making them tonight for my boyfriends family. I’m actually MORE intimidated by using premade dough since I’ve only ever made cinnamon rolls entirely from scratch. Just curious, I’m sure this is a stupid q: but what do you mean by “pinch the seams”? Do you mean squeeze the edges of the triangles to form a half circle? If so should we wet them? Would love any demonstration pictures you have haha
Update: they turned out fabulous. Just needed a bit of patience. Thanks again!
Question- do you have any recipe for the crescent dough?
Amy, this recipe uses the pre-made Pillsury crescent roll dough in a tube- that’s what makes it so fast, easy, and yummy. I suppose you could make your own dough but then you can easily look up another recipe for that online (yeast-free cinnamon rolls).
Loved the rolls, but the glaze just tasted like powdered sugar to me. I used maple syrup from family and it has a bit of a different taste to it, so maybe that was why. I will definitely make regular cinnamon rolls again unlike some of the commenters, but these are fun and SO quick to make a bunch.
Hi there – just found your recipe on Pinterest and was excited to make it. I had the crescent roll dough in my fridge so Sunday morning I set to work and made this easy recipe! I didn’t roll the dough; more so I pinched it together and then cut 6 rolls from each half (12 total). I put them in cupcake liners in my regular muffin pan, and they were great! Easy clean up, family loved them.
Once a month, I bake with a six-year-old girl. She chooses someone she wants to bake for (whether they had a loss in the family, new job, etc.) and what she wants to make for that person. Anyways, last month she wanted to make Cinnamon Rolls for a brand-new mama and I just KNEW that you, Sally, would have something that would be 1) easy for a 6-year-old’s stamina and 2) fit our time crunch of just a few hours together. Your recipe for the win, again! 🙂
Amazing story. So sweet! Thank you Amy. 🙂
Question: I want to make about 150-200 of these for my baby shower but no way can I do it all the day of or even the days before. Have you tried to make these in advance, freeze them and then just pop them into the oven to bake? If so, how have they turned out? How far in advance did you make them?
Btw, I did an experiment to see how long they’ll last and came up with the conclusion that they must be covered with cling wrap or in a container and will stay soft and yummy for 2-3 days at room temperature. I left two out in the open just to see and it hardens but still edible 20 hours after baking (not too yummy anymore though).
JC- happy baby shower! You can prep and freeze them and bake before serving, yes. I’ve done this actually- but only stored for around a month if I remember correctly. I would say 2 months max is OK.
These were insanely good! They remind me of the Burger King cinni mini rolls! YUMMM
Perfect! I made these this morning and they turned out perfect. So delicious and easy and a big hit, especially with my kids 🙂
Oh, by the way, I cooked the rolls in a 375 degree oven for 11 minutes exactly. They were perfect.
Yes Sally, i nearly fell out of my chair when I tasted these cinnnamon rolls. I have always made cinnamon rolls from scratch. These rolls are to die for.. With all the time that is spent making homemade cinnamon rolls compared to popping these in the oven within 10 minutes, they cannot be beat. To cut down on the cleaning process, I put them in cup cake holders. Thanks for posting this recipe. I don’t think I will ever make homemade rolls ever again………..
Would these still be mini if made in a regular muffin pan? I’ve been brainstorming sleepover breakfast recipes and new you’d have something. This is perfect
Yes, they would still be mini if you cut them small. Those they may not stay coiled in a larger muffin pan.
I was thinking that since we only had one regular-sized pan that I would have to figure out how to make them larger and how long to cook them. This question about them being mini helped me realize they could be similar to chick fil a’s if I placed multiple mini rolls in one cup.
Thanks!
I also did not have a mini pan, so I cooked them in the regular size muffin pan and used cup cake holders. I unrolled the crescent rolls, did no pinching or rolling out of dough. I was in a hurry to get these morsels into my mouth. They were delicious. Needless to say, I will never make homemade cinnamon rolls againl
I did the same thing as Trish – I used a regular muffin pan, 12 cupcake liners, and cut the dough into 12 portions. Couldn’t have been easier!
I’m addicted to your addiction!
My young daughter and I made these this morning. Oh YUM! And, a great way for her to learn how to cook. 🙂
Can I just say, I love your recipes! Your blog, everything. I have so many cookbooks, but I have to get yours. Everything, everything always looks so good and easy and as a busy working mummy who doesn’t love easy??? Thank you, your addiction is now mine!
I have left over banana’s I want to use, would the banana filling from your banana chocolate cinnamon rolls work in this recipe?
Yep! Though you’d have to reduce the filling for these small rolls.
Sally I made the mini cinnamon rolls for breakfast this morning and my husband looked at me and said “I’d marry you again” These were amazing!!! thanks for the awesome recipe.
So glad you both loved these! They are so easy to make. I make them often!
Sally, my mother in law made these over Christmas break when we were visiting there and they were so amazing! The maple syrup in the icing is to die for. Anyway, I will definitely be making these sometime soon, now that you posted it on your fb I am craving them!
How perfect, Aimee! I’m happy you all liked them! The maple syrup icing is my favorite.
Wow, these are seriously amazing!! I honestly could make these every day they are that good and kid approved…even better! Thanks for an awesome recipe. 🙂
Yay! That’s great Kerry. I love these too – so easy to make. Thanks for reporting back about them!
We didn’t have crescent roll dough on hand, but we did have flaky biscuit dough! I just rolled out each biscuit, pressed seams together, then I trimmed the edges and used the extra pieces to “strengthen” the seams. They were a huge hit and everyone loved them! They’re super cute and super tasty! Will defineltey be making these again! Next time, with the crescent dough. 🙂
sooo glad to know these work with biscuit dough, Cassie! Thanks so much for reporting back about that. I love how easy these are. Let me know how they go with the crescent dough next time. Thanks Cassie!
I started baking ever since I was 10, now I’m 12.My first mistake making baked goods were cinnamon buns. I made them too big and they were all squashed together.When I took them out of the oven, it was looked like a big cinnamon baking sheet instead of cinnamon buns. 🙂
Once I made these small cinnamon buns, they were much better than it looked compared to the one I made from another recipe and tasted better too.
★★★★★
WOWZA Sally…..YUM YUM YUM!!!
I made these thinking “the kids will love them” but not expecting to be wowed myself (I am kind of (ok, totally) a baking snob and didn’t think I would actually go “wow” over anything that started off in a tube….I was W*R*O*N*G!) These are FABULOUS!!!!
For anyone considering making these, I would recommend you run out and get a few more mini muffin tins and make a double batch b/c my little family of four devoured these in about 3.5 seconds!
I made these for our Christmas morning breakfast and they were great. I cut each roll into 6 pieces and made 12 vs 16 and it still worked great. And they were so cute 🙂
I’m so glad to hear that Jesica! Merry Christmas!!
Sally!!!!
Today is Sunday, October 14th. I made these this afternoon for brunch. I am from Alabama (ROLL TIDE ROLL), so I added roasted pecans that I chopped into small pieces to half of the batch for my husband. The other half I left the pecans out for our son. They were absolutely amazing. I have used recipes from Pinterest on so many occasions, but, these are by far the best cinnamon rolls that we have ever had. Not having to make them from scratch was the best!! I put all of the pecan cinnamon rolls and some bacon (if you are from Alabama you have to have bacon for breakfast/brunch) on a plate and on the coffee table for my husband (he’s from Miami) and his friends while they watch the football game (Miami Dolphins). They are really enjoying them….I know that my husband will request them again and again. I made your chewy Butterfinger cookies last night. I am going over to that recipe to send you a comment….
I am SO glad to hear this! I love how easy these cinnamon buns are too – literally take no time at all and are quite tasty for such little effort, you know? I must add pecans to them next time – fabulous idea! You are so sweet to write in, it really means a lot to me! My bf requests these mini rolls ALOT! I want to make them with pumpkin soon. Maybe half with pumpkin and half with pecans! Or mix the two together. 😀
I just made these using a normal muffin pan. I also added raisins to the sugar and cinnamon, i really liked them! I didn’t have anything to make icing, so i made them as neat as i could, and they looked a bit like roses! Everybody loved them, thanks for this recipe!
That sounds incredible! I’d love the addition of raisins – gives the buns some nice texture. Thanks for letting me know Marye 🙂