I’m going to let you in on my secret for my favorite, easiest cinnamon buns ever. They’re soft, chewy, ooey, gooey, supremely buttery, and divinely sugary. And they’re a cinch to make. I take a shortcut by using storebought dough, so they can go from oven to in-my-belly as soon as humanly possible. And as a bonus, they can be made the night before and popped in the oven the next morning. These are my go-to cinnamon buns for special occasions (like Christmas), and today, I’m making them for my sweet friend Caroline’s virtual baby shower!
Caroline blogs at Chocolate & Carrots, and I got to meet her (and her sweet baby bump!) a few months ago at a blogging conference, Blissdom. We split a giant cinnamon bun (along with about 16 other pastries and treats!) one afternoon on a massive dessert taste-testing spree. Caroline’s friend Erin put together this sweet surprise baby shower for her, and I was thrilled to participate. Plus it gave me the excuse to share my favorite cinnamon buns with you guys! Let’s make these bad boys.
Here’s my secret! I use Pillsbury crescents for the dough. It’s a super quick shortcut, and I happen to think it makes the best cinnamon roll dough ever. These decadently light and fluffy rolls turn out so unbelievably soft and chewy. They’re everything I love in a hot, gooey cinnamon bun. I’ve tried so many homemade recipes for cinnamon roll dough, and for some reason I just can’t get mine to turn out soft the way I like them. And of course, using storebought crescent dough makes these cinnamon buns super quick and easy! No waiting around for the yeast to rise. :)
First you’ll need a stick of softened butter. I hardly ever remember to set butter out on the counter to soften in advance, so I almost always end up softening my butter in the microwave. Here’s how I do it: Leave the butter in the wrapper and place it on a plate. Microwave this, rotating the butter to a new side every five seconds until soft. It usually takes about 20-25 seconds, or one full rotation.
Now place half of that butter into the bottom of a pie plate.
And stick the plate back in the microwave to melt the butter. Then add 1/4 cup brown sugar.
And stir to combine.
This will give the cinnamon buns that incredibly gooey, buttery crust that I absolutely cannot resist!! :)
Now unroll the crescent roll dough…
And pinch together the little seams. Does anyone remember Pillsbury Recipe Creations? It was just like their crescent dough, except it was one big sheet so you didn’t have to pinch the seams together. I use to buy that darn stuff all the time, until my grocery store stopped carrying it. Does yours still have it? It seems like someone was telling me recently that their grocery store stopped carrying it as well, but they were able to find it somewhere else. Only now I can’t remember where that somewhere else was.
Anyway! Now you’re going to slather that puppy with the rest of the softened butter.
And sprinkle of a beautiful mixture of cinnamon sugar.
Tightly roll the dough back up, and cut into 8 perfect slices.
And place into that magnificent buttery and sugary pie plate.
If you had any leftover cinnamon sugar, just sprinkle it right onto the cinnamon buns. At this point you can cover tightly and place in the refrigerator until ready to bake.
When ready, bake at 350 for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, let’s make my absolute favorite powdered sugar glaze ever. You’ll need powdered sugar, cream, and vanilla. If you don’t have cream, don’t worry — you can just use butter and milk instead. It turns out fantastic, and it’s perfect if you don’t want to buy a whole thing of cream just to use a little in this recipe. Of course I am a bad, bad girl and I pretty much always have cream on hand. *blush* Anyway! I’ll tell you the exact amounts for the butter and milk in the recipe below.
Bad.
But oh, so good.
Now here they are, fresh out of the oven!
See that beautiful, gooey crust? I die.
Scoop one on a plate and you know what to do next. Top with that sweet vanilla glaze.
It seeps all down in there and gets even sweeter and gooeier.
Oh my gosh. These are the best cinnamon buns ever.
Warning. Do not leave yourself alone with these bad boys. Just take my word for it, okay? That’s all you need to know.
Baby Cinnamon Buns
1 can Pillsbury Crescent Rolls
1/2 cup (1 stick) softened butter, divided
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Melt 4 tablespoons of butter in the bottom of a pie plate. Add the brown sugar to the butter and stir to combine. Unroll crescent dough and pinch seams together to create one big sheet. Spread with remaining softened butter. Combine white sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over the buttered dough. Roll the dough back up into a log, and cut into 8 cinnamon rolls. Place rolls in prepared pie plate. Sprinkle with any remaining cinnamon sugar. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Top with vanilla glaze (recipe follows) and serve warm. Store leftover cinnamon buns (who am I kidding??) at room temperature.
Vanilla Glaze
1 cup powdered sugar
4 tablespoons heavy cream (or 2 tablespoons milk + 1 tablespoon butter)
1 teaspoon vanilla
With a fork, stir together sugar, cream, and vanilla until smooth and pourable. Add one tablespoon of milk if needed to thin. If using milk and butter instead of cream, heat the milk and butter in the microwave to melt the butter, then add to the sugar and stir in vanilla.
You’re invited!
Here’s a round-up of all the other friends participating in the virtual baby shower for Caroline. Take a peek at these delicious treats they’re bringing!
Drinks:
Healthy Food For Living - Carrot Cake Colada
Bran Appetit - Strawberry Mint Sparkling Lemonade
Savory:
Baked Bree - Pancetta and Chive Quiche
Simply Whole Kitchen - Mini Quinoa Bites with Goat Cheese Pesto
Pastries:
Food Doodles - Chocolate Peanut Butter Cream Filled Whole Wheat Cream Puffs
Kevin & Amanda - Baby Cinnamon Buns
Desserts:
Baked by Rachel - Mini Lemon Lime Cheesecakes
Bake Your Day- No Bake Lemon Cheesecakes with Lemon Blueberry Sauce
Eat Good 4 Life - No Bake Mini Raspberry Cheesecakes
Fearless Homemaker - Angel Food Cupcakes with Whipped Vanilla Cream
Itzy’s Kitchen - 10 Grain Chocolate Chip Cookies
Keep It Sweet - Peanut Butter Cake with Salted Caramel Cream Cheese Icing and Chocolate Ganache
Texanerin Baking - 100% Whole Grain Chocolate Carrot Cake Cupcakes
Thanks so much to our wonderful hostess Erin at Texanerin Baking for putting this together. Congratulations Caroline!
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95 Comments
These look delicious. I love cinnamon rolls! Just made a cinnamon bun pie a week or so ago and used…a can of Pillsbury cinn rolls that I doctored up. Gotta love the refrigerated case. Need to try the crescent rolls trick now too!
I love cinnamon rolls. I love this pillsbury dough. I love that you added the butter/milk subsitute info for the cream (I never have cream around!) I cannot wait to try this recipe. You rock. thanks. :)
These look amaaaazing and so decadently delicious! I am going to the store the minute it opens to try this out.
I just died of happiness! OMG.
These look delicious, such a great idea for an easier cinnamon bun. So glad to be a part of the shower with you:-)
Oh. My. Gosh. I just died. These look absolutely incredible and the perfect little treats for the baby shower!
Amanda, I can’t thank you enough for such a sweet (pun intended) post! I’m seriously bawling at every post I read. You are so thoughtful and kind. I’m so blessed to have gotten to know you and eat ALL of those amazing pastries at Blissdom.
I can’t even begin to tell you how surprised I was this morning. What an amazing group of friends I have! Now I just need an entire pan of these and I’ll be good to go. Quick trip to Huntsville this morning? I think yes. ;-)
Thank you so much again!!!!
Caroline
I have some foodie friends that look down their nose at using any kind of packaged dough, but you know what? Sometimes you just don’t want to take the hours it requires to make a cinnamon roll dough from scratch, letting it rise, rolling it out, etc etc. This is a GREAT shortcut!
I REALLY shouldn’t know these exist. But I must say there’s a bakery an hour or so from here that closed that made something similar but the size of your head so it’s good to know I can recreate that…and gain back a few pounds temporarily. HA!
Oh boy–wish I hadn’t seen these! YUM!!!!
Oh my goodness! I’m drooling! I wish I had crescent rolls because these would be in my oven right now! YUM!
Hi I’m from Australia and I love the look of these but I don’t know what pillsbury dough is! it looks kind of like puff pastry?? could i just use good quality store bought pastry or any other suggestions for what I could use instead?
Im also from australia so would like an answer about that too. Would love to make them. They look delicious.
It’s a refrigerated Crescent Roll dough. Pillsbury is a brand name.
Oh my! The fact that you used crescent rolls for these makes me love you more! Is it wrong that I could eat the whole pan?
These look so yummy! My kids love cinnamon rolls and I will try this recipe, I too will not be left alone with those babies.
Oh my goodness these look AMAZING and SO simple! My hubby would love these! What a great recipe!
Do you think they could be made the night before and then popped in the oven in the morning? Making these for breakfast for my son who turns 15 tomorrow! He will love them. Thanks!
amanda. OMG.
i need these!
How awesome are these?! Wish I had a plate for myself right now… can’t eat just one, right? :)
This looks easy and delish, Amanda! I have a recipe that uses frozen bread dough rolls that you prepare overnight….it’s wonderful, but the rolls are soooo big when they’re done. These look so perfect – sweet and small…just right. Thanks!
YUMM those look really good gonna have to try it my family will love me!!!
Oh yum!!!! Pinning this right now. : D
So cute, and so easy!! Love them!
OMG these look sinful and delicious! Gonna make these this week YUMMO!!
This is a fabulous idea, I love using refrigerator crescent rolls. The filling looks just perfect!
I think the idea of a “virtual” shower is fantastic! I plan to use it for my granddaughter when the time comes…we can “invite” all her friends from Facebook. I am sitting here salivating! All the contributions sound wonderful, but I have a particular craving for the Ooey, Gooey Baby Cinnamon Buns and will be at the grocery store later today stocking up on the ingredients! Mmmmmm! Thank you for sharing the recipe.
These look fantastic! My husbands been crazy for cinnamon buns lately and these look perfect. I love the shot you got looking into the oven :D
NO! Not Pillsbury crescent roll dough! Not because I’m a pre-made dough snob (I love it!) but because we don’t have it here in Germany. These look so amazingly perfectly gooey. Yum! And I love the oodles of pictures. What a great post. :)
To Julia above, I also live abroad and I can’t think of anything that would really be a good substitute. I guess all we can do is make them from scratch. Oh well. These are still magical!
Hey! I’m German,too. We do have this dough here! It’s the same, just called “knack und back” by Pillsbury. Gonna try this tomorrow and will tell u if the “hörnchen” dough works. :)
These look so yummy… thanks for sharing! Pillsbury is now making the crescent roll dough without the seams. I just bought it a few weeks ago from Kroger to make another recipe and it was so much easier than using the scored dough!
Love me some cinnamon! These look awesome girl!
Cheater, cheater pumpkin eater. I love it!
I love the butter bath! This is downright awesome and heavenly.
that looks soooo good!!!
omg, I LOVE making & eating these! they`re so simple, BUT INCREDIBLY DELICIOUS!
I’ll take a dozen, just for me. OK??!! Love cinnamon buns!
I would have a very difficult time only eating one of these. Now I’m going to spend the rest of the day trying NOT to think about them. :)
I do the same thing, but I save a step and use the Crescent Rounds
http://quick-dish.tablespoon.com/files/2012/01/2012-01-31-brown-bag-breads-crescents-500.jpg
Same thing but already cut into the strips! Just roll out the whole sheet, but you don’t have to cut them, just tear apart! YUM
What a perfect baby shower treat!
Love this simple cinnamon roll recipe. Some recipes are so darn time consuming, its almost as intimidating!! Thanks for sharing xoxo
I seriously love your blog. Your recipes and photos are amazing!!
Congratulations to Caroline!
Amanda those are the cutest most irresistible little buns ever. I’m half-tempted to run to the store so we can have them for DINNER.
These look heavenly! On the weekend list!
Mmmmm … I think I could eat a whole pan right now!!!
OMG! I’m drooling!!! I’ve bookmarked the recipe and can’t wait to whip these babies up! Diet schmi-et! Sometimes a girl has to live a little!
Easy and delicious! Can’t go wrong :)
I am drooling too! I must make these for my kids! Hope you’re well!!
OMG I think you are trying to kill me. These are going on the “make as soon as possible” list.
Ok so I made these last night and I think I could have eaten the pie dish they were sooooo good!
These look great! Just one thing though, be careful if you’re microwaving butter with the wrapper on… I did that once, but the wrapper was the foil-lined kind. I almost started a fire…
I bet these disappear very quickly! So simple and easy, yet such a great recipe to have on hand. Thanks!
These look so sweet and fantastic!! I am going to make these soon. Mmm!
oh yes, I would like 20 or 30 of these, they are baby sized so I can have more, right :)
these are so adorable! and so easy – i love that :)
I made these last night and they were INSANE. I may have also added mini marshmallows to the middle before I rolled the dough up–delicious. Also, I found the Recipe Creations dough at my grocery store. So San Diego is good to go! :)
Thanks for sharing chica!
So cute! And I love how straightforward this recipe is. Yummm. You’ve got me craving cinnamon buns now.
Hi there – I recently tried my hand at homemade cinnamon rolls and didn’t want to use yeast and found this recipe: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/glazed-cinnamon-biscuits/
Read through the comments…like adding a bit of sugar to the dough. It is SO easy! [I'm living in Africa with no access to packaged products like crescent roles...so I "had" to make it from scratch!!]
OMG> made these tonite. totally could have eaten the whole pan if not for my family standing around me. Love that its so super easy… I have a great homemade dough recipe but in a pinch, these are great! THANK YOU!!! (that came from my mouth – my butt and hips, not so much)
I too made them right away, and YES, they were scrumptious! And so easy. Thanks for the delicious dessert recipes with pictures Amanda. I’ve made several of them since discovering your site and they have all been a hit with the family.
I`ve tried this recipe and i`m really impressed, it has a very good taste. My both child tried it and they like it a lot. Thanks a lot for sharing.
I am making these in the morning! I actually found the Pillsbury Dough Sheet at my Super Target the other day. I bought two and tonight made braided breadsticks with it. Yum! Can’t wait to get these cinnamon rolls made tomorrow.
omg, please don’t ever share anything so delicious ever again, I’m not going to be able to fit through my doorway now that I know how to make these.
I have a soft spot for cinnamon buns… and these look absolutely perfect.
Made these baby cinnamon buns this morning and they are out of this world! Thank you so much for sharing all of your wonderful recipes! Aloha, Teri
Made these for Sunday School this morning and they were delicious and a big hit! Thanks bunches!
This recipe looks SO amazing! I would have never of thought to make cinnamon buns with crescent dough! I will be serving this at my next get together and i’m sure my guests will love it. Thanks for the great idea! -Kate
Found this recipe on Pinterest and just made, OMG, these are PURE HEAVEN, buttery sweet cinnamon sugar goodness!!!! Thank u for sharing!
I just made these! Both my kids, myself and husband ate every single one of them. ;-) Thanks so much for the great step by step pictures and great instructions. I hope you are enjoying Italy. ;-)
Hi Amanda! I just made these (there are four left waiting for husband and teen). The little ones LOVED them, me too! I can’t resist anything where a crescent roll plays an integral part. ;D
My ONLY complaint is that I am not a vanilla glaze person. I didn’t like the glaze – all I could taste was the powdered sugar. I think next time I will make a Pillsbury Cinnamon Roll frosting copycat to go along with it (found one that has cream cheese). The kids LOVED the glaze, though, and were eating the left over with a spoon. ;)
Thanks for another amazing recipe!
These were absolutely delicious! I will admit here that I ate two. Tried to avoid eating the glaze with a spoon. Will have to skip something tomorrow…
Oh my betsy and suzys!!! These were awesome!!! I will never buy “ready made ” cinnamon rolls in a can when I can make these! We loved them, we also love your Bicsuit beignets too! Oh and we had your Spicy sausage pasta last night FABULOUS! And tomorrow night it’s your shepherds pie, I will be the first in line to buy YOUR cookbook ;) any thoughts on that?!
Curious if everyone felt that they needed to use a glass pan? I only have a metal pie pan.
Just made these. The flavor was sooo delicious, my only issue was that when I took them out of the oven, all the butter had made it soupy and soggy. I followed the recipe to a t. I guess maybe I’ll cut the butter amount for the bottom of the pan? Otherwise, so delish!
Great Recipe. WAR EAGLE!!!!
My whole family loved them. I used to make cinnamon rolls from scratch (which would take forever) and weren’t nearly as good. These were fantastic and so simple to make. I also added a couple of tablespoons of cream cheese to the frosting. I will definitely be making these babies again- thank you!
just made these yesterday! OH MY GOODNESS! So so so delicious. Thank you. I’m going to try with the larger Pillsbury crescent rolls and see how it goes. Yum!!!
I CAN’T BELIEVE IT! I have finally found a simple recipe for make cinnamon rolls that look amazing… My boyfriend’s birthday is tomorrow and I know from pervious times that he loves cinnamon rolls! And so I wanted to make him some or one big one! But after seeing this recipe, I know exactly what I’m going to make these, they looked so wonderful when I found your recipe that I went straight to the store to buy all the products! And even though it’s so tempting to bake them tonight and pig out! :-) I’m not, I’ll try to wait until the morning so when he comes over, the house will smell like cinnamon and sugar baked all up! I know he will fall in love with these cinnamon rolls! :-) Thank you so much for the recipe, I can’t wait to make, bake, and especially eat them! :-D
I just made these for my daughter’s slumber party. They are so easy to make and so yummy! I found a new weekend favorite! :D
Loved them, my bf and me ate all of ‘em besides one! He finished that one the next AM! Definitely, a keeper recipe! Btw, I used my Coffee-mate white choc caramel latte creamer w/ powdered sugar for the glaze –HEAVENLY! I can’t wait to make my second batch! :)
OMG! I just made these and they were SOOOO awesome! I can’t imagine them being any more scrumptious if they were made from scratch. I adore cinnamon rolls but never wanted to take the time to make them from scratch. Now I don’t have to! Thanks so much for sharing this recipe.
I just made these and they are amazingly good! I love a good semi-homemade recipe. :) Thanks so much for sharing.
These had way too much sugar. We could barely eat them. I was a little disappointed. My niece and I made them together and she only ate one. Next time I’ll try cutting the sugar in half.
These look Ah-Mazing!!! But did I miss something? Where does the butter and brown sugar mixture com into play? I see it mixed but then set aside and when the crescent dough is rolled out, it’s the remaining butter that is slathered, not the butter brown sugar mixture? Help ! I would love to try these withy kids!
I was just rereading this and noticed your comment about being unable to achieve soft, from-scratch cinnamon rolls. I’d been working on overcoming that same issue, and recently hit on what seems to be the solution : a LOWER OVEN TEMP. Instead of baking my ‘rolls at 375F {which is what my favorite yeast dough recipe calls for}, I started doing them at 325F and, sure enough…the change was enough to keep the tops from getting tough while the insides cooked to perfection. I’ve started baking my dinner rolls at the lower temp as well, and it makes such a difference!
Maybe it’ll work for you too?! :o)
Huge fan of baby cinnamon buns. Best ever cinnamon recipe. I made 16 buns on two separate occasions and we still don’t know how they taste cold!!! I also documented one of my attempts: http://katinkitchen.com/baby-cinnamon-buns/
Feel free to take a peak. I’d appreciate it. Thanks
PS
Just love your website!
I have these in the oven now. Not sure if I did anything wrong but I only got 6 Cinnamon Rolls out of this recipe. If I cut them any thinner they would fall apart. Maybe my 6 will be a little bit more filling than making 8 :) We will see!
Just made a double batch for four of us…..three are left. Amazing recipe!
Made these for Christmas morning. I made a double batch, since I saw these were fairly small. THEY WERE FANTASTIC. I followed the recipe exactly. My family said over and over “there’s no way we can go back to store bought or pre-made cinnamon rolls!”.
I will make a few changes the next time I make it– with the double batch, I ended up with a whole stick of butter at the bottom of the pan for the crust. Before serving, I drained a TON of butter out of the bottom, because the rolls were SWIMMING in butter. I’ll cut it to 3/4 of a stick– maybe even 1/2 of a stick– next time.
Also, I made a double batch of the icing- this is a VERY rich icing, so I used very, very little of it. I will probably make 1/2 of the original batch next time.
I’m making these tomorrow for breakfast. They look delicious!
Dear, sweet, lovely Amanda!
Absolutely DIVINE recipe!
I am having some with a cup of coffee as I type!
I have been very ill the past 3 months, so Pinterest has become my friend! I have soooo many boards, my favorite being easy recipes.
This morning is the first time I have had the energy to bake something in 3 months!
I am so glad I chose your recipe. God Bless and Happy New Year!
Rhoni
thanks for this wonderful recipe & pictorial!
Just made these- delicious!! very yummy and I didn’t evven bother with the glaze as they were perfect as it. Yet another reason to keep a can of crescent rolls on hand! Thank you :)
Can’t wait to try these cinnamon rolls. My family loves them but never want to wait for them to rise. I also like that you use Publix products to make your cinnamon rolls. (Publix employee for 34 years)
I love your blog!!! I sometimes do not have time to bake from scratch but I have always been apprehensive about using the box mix. You have given me some great recipes to try. Thank you! :)
I made this and it was like Heaven In My Mouth!!!! A Must Try!!!