A recipe for insanely delicious homemade Mini Cinnamon Rolls that are perfectly portioned and bursting with sweet cinnamon flavor. These bite-sized treats are ideal for breakfast, brunch, or anytime snacking!
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☕️ Their small size makes them perfect finger food for brunches, office gatherings, or holiday celebrations—or a cup of coffee with a sweet treat!
My 2 Best Tips For Making Mini Cinnamon Rolls
#1 – Don’t Rush the Rise: Patience during the rise time is crucial for light, fluffy rolls. Place them in a warm, draft-free location and give them the full 60 minutes to double in size. If it’s a cooler day outside or your house is cooler, then it may take longer to fully rise.
#2 – Frosting Application: Apply the cream cheese frosting while the rolls are still warm, but not hot from the oven. This allows some of the frosting to melt slightly into the rolls, creating an even more decadent treat.
These bite-sized cinnamon rolls deliver all the flavor of traditional rolls in a smaller package, making them perfect for snacking without overindulging.
Their small size makes them perfect finger food for brunches, office gatherings, or holiday celebrations. And they’re absolutely the perfect size for children’s little hands.
These mini rolls can be served warm for breakfast, packed in lunchboxes, or arranged on a dessert platter. They’re perfect with an afternoon cup of coffee or tea!
I highly recommend frosting these sweet rolls. The rich, tangy cream cheese frosting perfectly complements the sweet cinnamon filling, creating a delicious flavor combination in every bite. Pretty much irresistible!
🩷 Melissa
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Mini Cinnamon Rolls
Ingredients
For the Rolls:
- 4-4 ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- ½ cup sugar
- 2 ¼ teaspoons instant yeast 1 package
- 1 ¾ teaspoons salt
- 1 cup milk
- ⅓ cup butter cut up
- 2 large eggs room temperature
For the Filling:
- 6 tablespoons butter softened
- 1 cup brown sugar packed
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon May add up to another tablespoon for a stronger cinnamon flavor.
For the Frosting:
- 1 3-ounce package cream cheese softened
- 4 tablespoons butter softened
- 1 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon milk
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, using the paddle attachment, combine 3 ½ cups flour, sugar, yeast, and salt.
- In saucepan or microwave safe dish, heat milk and butter until warm (120°–130°F). Add heated milk and butter to flour mixture. Mix in eggs. Blend at low speed until moistened. Beat 3 minutes at medium speed.
- Switch to the dough hook and mix in the remaining flour a little at a time, to make a soft dough, adding more or less flour as needed. Knead the dough for 5 minutes. Place in greased bowl, turning to grease top. Cover; let rest 15 minutes.
- While the dough is resting, prepare the filling by mixing the filling ingredients until well combined. Set aside. Grease pan(s) for 48 mini muffin cups.
- Divide dough into four equal pieces and keep remaining pieces covered with plastic wrap. On a floured surface, roll the dough into an 8×12" rectangle. Spread ¼ of the filling evenly over the dough.
- Starting with the long end, roll the dough into a log, and cut it into 12 slices. I like to cut with a bench scraper (dough scraper), but you can also use a serrated knife or unflavored dental floss.
- Place each piece, cut edges up, in a mini muffin cup. Repeat with remaining dough. Loosely cover muffin pans with plastic wrap and let the dough rise in a warm place until doubled, about 60 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 375°F.
- Bake 10 to 15 minutes until rolls are golden brown. Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes and then remove from the pan and move to a wire rack placed over parchment paper. While rolls are cooling, make the icing.
- In a small bowl, beat together the cream cheese, butter, sugar, and vanilla. Spread the icing on the buns while they’re warm so some will ooze down the sides.
- Serve warm or at room temperature.
Notes
Nutrition
Recipe FAQs
While a stand mixer makes the process easier, you can mix the dough by hand. Use a large bowl and wooden spoon to mix the initial ingredients, then knead the dough on a floured surface for 8-10 minutes until smooth and elastic.
Several factors can affect the softness of your rolls: overbaking, too much flour in the dough, or insufficient rising time. Make sure your dough is soft and slightly tacky (not dry), allow proper rising time, and watch them carefully in the oven. Taking them out just as they turn golden brown will help keep them soft.
Yes! You can prepare these rolls the night before. Follow the recipe through placing the rolls in the muffin tins, then cover them tightly and refrigerate overnight. In the morning, let them sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes, then continue with the baking instructions. This makes them perfect for holiday mornings!
More Sweet Roll Recipes to Try
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Emma yoder
Hi!
I tried making these today I am a avid baker and I know even if something dosent work out it is not always the recipe so I’m not going to give you less stars but my rolls did not rise at all and I’m wondering if it my mistake if my “warm place” was not warm enough (I live in Wisconsin and never turn on my heat so its hard to find a warm enough spot in my house for yeast recipes) or if next time I can mix just the yeast and milk first, let the yeast bloom then add to flour, sugar,salt ect. I just have never seen a Yeast recipe where you add the dry yeast to other dry ingredients then mix warm milk(and butter) to it.. would love a reply back because I enjoyed making this recipe and they look so cute.. just not fluffy 🙁
Melissa Griffiths
I feel like the warm spot could definitely do it, you could always let them rise longer until you can see them rising a bit!
Andy
Turn on the light in your oven will usually make it a warm enough place for dough to rise in the oven, or start the stove to the lowest temperature, shut off it and put them in there(i didn’t like doing that) . My house is 60f in winter so I actually bought the brod/Taylor dough proofer myself.
Carolyn Hahne
What do you do if your mixer does not have paddles? Can I use the regular beaters. I also have some twisty beaters that I never use but I would not call them paddles. Hope to make these soon so hope to hear from you.
Thanks.
Carolyn
Barbara Schieving
Hi Carolyn – your twisty beaters are probably dough hooks for kneading dough. So you can use your regular beaters initially and then switch to the twisty beaters in step 3. Enjoy!
Katrina
How small are they?
Barbara Schieving
Hi Katrina – about 2 inches wide.
Kelsi Thomsen
I sprayed my muffin tin but they stuck horribly anyways it was a mess any suggestions on what else to do
Barbara Schieving
Hi Kelsi – did you use a paper towel to spread the spray around in the cups? Did you remove the cinnamon rolls before the sugar had time to cool? Is your muffin tin nonstick? I’ve also made these on a glazed pizza and that worked well, so that could be a good option for you too.
Tea
I hate to say this bit this recipe is horrible. I’ve tried it several times. Brown sugar should never be used in cinnamon rolls. I will stick to my recipe for normal sized ones and just make them smaller. They turned out so much better. The sub of brown sugar, butter and cinnamon just doesn’t work. I am always up for a new recipe and love to bake. This one just didn’t work for me. I’m sure it will work for others.
Barbara Schieving
Hi Tea – sorry you didn’t care for the recipe. King Arthur Flour uses brown sugar in their popular cinnamon roll recipe and we love this recipe. But if you prefer your recipe, definitely make them in a small version.
Suzanne McLean
Thanks for the recipe, Barbara. I’m looking forward to making these for a fancy donor brunch. My question- if I want to bake them in pans or cookie sheets, what size(s) would you recommend? I need to make lots!
Barbara Schieving
Hi Suzanne – sounds like a great idea for a fancy brunch. I haven’t tried it, but I would bake them on a rimmed baking tray /cookie sheet similar to how the bakery owner made hers in this recipe https://www.barbarabakes.com/bake-shop-sweet-rolls/ Space them about a half inch apart so they have room to rise. Snap me some pictures. I’d love to see them and the brunch. 🙂
Rocky Mountain Woman
These are perfect for a brunch I’m doing next weekend!
Barbara Schieving
Sounds like my kind of brunch 🙂 Enjoy!
2 Sisters Recipes
Love these little ones! Now we are craving for them!
Rosa
A great idea. I’m craving these babies now… 😉
Cheers,
Rosa
Amanda
Does this make 24 rolls or 48 (4 sections of dough cut into 12 rolls each)? Thanks!
Barbara Schieving
Hi Amanda – it does makes 48 rolls. I’ve updated the yield. Enjoy!
Amanda
Thanks!
Amanda
Thanks for that info.
Sally
Thank you! These turned out fabulous
Barbara Schieving
Great – thanks for letting me know Sally! 🙂
Melody
Can I make these a day or two ahead of time?
Barbara Schieving
Hi Melody – yes, you can make them a day or two ahead of time. I would store them in a ziplock bag and frost them the day I was serving them.
Sam
Are you able to make the dough the night before and cook them the next morning?
Barbara Schieving
Hi Sam – yes, that will work. Just refrigerate the dough over night.
Jennifer
When you say you can make the dough the night before, do you mean just the dough and you would then have to let it warm up, rise, roll out, etc. Or could you do the whole thing, have the filling inside and them rolled up and ready to go ahead of time and just bake the next day?
Barbara Schieving
Hi Jennifer – if you’re short on time in the morning, you can make them through step 6, cover the muffin trays and put them in the fridge overnight. In the morning put them on the counter to warm up and rise if they haven’t risen enough in the fridge overnight and bake them.
Muriel
Can this be done in a bread machine on dough setting, then follow rest of recipe?
I use my bread machine for dough because arthritis prevents me from kneading dough as I used to do.
These look wonderful; just what I have been looking for!!
Barbara Schieving
Hi Muriel – definitely! I’m a big believer in doing what works best for you. Enjoy!
Muriel
Thanks so much.
Also, I love the idea of using mini muffin pans!