Easy Semi-Homemade Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Glaze

Our fresh baked, Semi-Homemade Cinnamon Rolls are made using frozen bread dough and topped with the most delicious cream cheese glaze! These are easy to make, foolproof, indulgent cinnamon rolls!

I’ve been making cinnamon rolls from scratch for a very long time, until I finally realized they take too darn long and personally I don’t have the time for long recipes with a lot of steps and ingredients.

So we made the process simple and much easier by using frozen bread dough! Have you tried it? Here’s the thing, if there was a tremendous flavor difference between the homemade dough and frozen dough (dough that was already made by professionals), I would make the dough from scratch. But to my excitement, there is zero taste difference and frozen bread dough is JUST AS GOOD and much easier.

How to Make Quick Cinnamon Rolls

Just look at them?! Okay, I went a little overboard with the glaze… I really like a lot of glaze, but please note you don’t have to put this much on!

If you squint, you can see through the thick layer of cream cheese, that they look exactly the same as any of our “homemade” dough cinnamon rolls. These are really good and fuss-free AND they’re hom baked cinnamon rolls, so they’re warm and gooey when you take them out of the oven, just how they should be!

How to Make Semi-Homemade Cinnamon Rolls using Frozen Bread Dough.

Cinnamon Roll Recipe Ingredients

This recipe for the rolls has only 5 ingredients total, takes about 15 minutes to prepare and 30 minutes to bake and makes 12 large cinnamon rolls. The icing is separate but also very easy!

• Frozen Bread Dough – Use Rhodes Italian Frozen Bread or Primo Taglio Pizza Dough. You can also get dough from a local pizza shop!
• Brown Sugar
• Granulated Sugar
• Butter
• Cinnamon

How do you thaw frozen bread dough for cinnamon rolls?

To thaw frozen bread dough, leave it in the package and let it stand room temperature for about 30 minutes until dough reaches 55-60 degrees F.

Rolling the Cinnamon Roll Dough

Roll the dough out in the shape of a rectangle that is 15″ in length and about 5-6″ width.

Brush the dough with melted butter. Yum.

Combine brown sugar, granulated sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and stir to mix.

Sprinkle the mixture over the buttered dough. This step is fun for kids to partake in!

Cover the entire surface with the cinnamon and sugar mixture.

Starting from the top, roll the dough tightly to make a log. Keep it as tight as possible and then cut 12 slices. I made little lines all the way down so I know where to cut to make them even.

Place them in a buttered cast iron pan, leaving some space between the rolls. They will expand and touch each other after they bake.

Bake them for 25-20 minutes in a 350 degree oven.

Now that the easy cinnamon rolls are cooking, it’s time to make the cinnamon roll icing!

Easy Cream Cheese Glaze for Cinnamon Rolls

We love a good cream cheese glaze to top our cinnamon rolls off with! This recipe uses only 5 ingredients and takes about 5 minutes to make. 

• Butter
• Cream Cheese
• Powdered Sugar
• Vanilla
• Whole Milk

Make sure the butter and cream cheese are very soft before mixing together. Also, add more milk if needed. You want it to be a thicker glaze, but remember it will also melt when poured over the hot cinnamon rolls.

WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE CINNAMON ROLLS

• Stand Mixer
• Large cast iron skillet or rectangular casserole pan
• Pastry brush 
• Knife to cut the dough
• Frozen bread dough
• Small bowl for sugar mixture

Recipe Variations

You can add ingredients to the dough before it’s rolled, like mini chocolate chips, nuts, or even coconut shreds.

Use any extract in the glaze to give it a hint of another flavor. Like almond, lemon, orange, lavender…

Leave the cream cheese out of the glaze if desired.

Add toppings to over the glaze.

Serve these semi-homade cinnamon rolls with egg, coffee, fruit and bacon for the best breakfast/brunch ever!

More delicious breakfast recipes you will like!

The Best Chorizo Quiche

Homemade Pumpkin Filled Donut Holes 

The Best Frittata Recipe 

If you make these delicious cinnamon rolls please let us know what you think in the comments and reviews below! Also, tag us @sugarandcharm on our social channels. We love seeing what you make!

Print Recipe

5 from 4 votes

Semi-Homemade Cinnamon Rolls

The most delicious semi-homemade cinnamon rolls using frozen bread dough with a homemade cream cheese glaze!

Course: Breakfast

Cuisine: French

Keyword: Bread, Breakfast, cinnamon

Servings: 12 Rolls

Author: Eden

Ingredients

Cinnamon Rolls

• 2 pounds frozen bread dough
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon

Cinnamon Roll Icing

• 4 tablespoon butter room temperature and soft to the touch
• 4 ounces cream cheese room temperature and soft to the touch
• 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 3 tablespoons whole milk more needed
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Instructions

• Let the bread dough thaw out completely.
• Roll the dough out on a floured surface to a 15″ semi-rectangle. Does not have to be perfectly shaped.
• In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, granulated sugar, tablespoon cinnamon and give it a stir to mix.
• Melt the 1/2 cup butter and brush it over the dough. Save a little melted butter to brush over the top of the rolls later.
• Sprinkle the brown sugar and cinnamon mixture over the dough, covering the entire surface.
• Starting from the top, tightly roll the dough to create a log shape. Roll it as tight as possible.
• Cut 12 slices in the cinnamon roll log and place them in a buttered cast iron skillet.
• Make sure they’re separated because they will expand quite a bit while baking.
• Brush the top of the rolls with the rest of the melted butter and bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 25-30 minutes.

Cinnamon Roll Icing

• In an electric mixer, cream together the soft butter and cream cheese. Make sure to get it as smooth as possible.
• Add in the powdered sugar, milk and vanilla and continue to beat on high until smooth with a glaze like texture. Add more milk if needed.
• Pour the glaze over the cinnamon rolls when they come out of the oven.
• Enjoy every bite!

Notes

There are several brands of frozen bread dough that will work. Try Rhodes Bread Dough or we used Primo Taglio Pizza Dough. The white traditional pizza dough they sell at Trader Joe’s would work too.

You can bake these in a cast iron pan or a rectangular casserole dish. It makes 12 and they expand so make sure the dish is big enough for the rolls to have a little space.

When making the glaze, it’s important the butter and cream cheese is very soft. This will result in a creamy texture. If it’s cold it will be clumpy and hard to make it smooth.