Name: Ooey Gooey Cinnamon Rolls
Prep time: 40 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 180 min
Ingredients: ¾ cup warm water (110°-115°F); ⅓ cup granulated sugar; 2.25 tsp dry active yeast; ¼ cup milk; 1 tbsp white vinegar; ¼ cup olive oil; 1 egg; ¾ tsp kosher salt; 3.5 cups all purpose flour (you may need a little more depending on the dough); ½ cup unsalted butter (room temp); ¾ cup brown sugar; 2.5 tsp ground cinnamon; 8 oz cream cheese (room temp); ½ cup unsalted butter (room temp); 2 tsp vanilla extract; 1 cup powdered sugar (sifted)

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These Ooey Gooey Cinnamon Rolls are the perfect weekend breakfast or brunch item for you and your family! The ooey gooey part of a cinnamon roll is a must for me. No dried out rolls around here!

These cinnamon rolls have a warm, gooey center and the outer layers of dough are soft and pillowy. If that's how you love your cinnamon rolls too, then this is the recipe for you!

Served best with a heap of cream cheese frosting right on top! Try brown butter cream cheese frosting too!

a white baking dish filled with ooey gooey cinnamon rolls with cream cheese icing. a knife to the side with icing on it and a book page underneath the pan sitting on a dark surface of weathered wood

This Ooey Gooey Cinnamon Roll recipe will make you throw your other cinnamon roll recipes out the window! It's perfectly light and fluffy and has just the right amount of cinnamon and sweetness.

If cinnamon rolls are your jam, you'd love these soft and pillowy cinnamon rolls with apple pie filling! Great for weekend and holiday breakfast and brunch.

Substitutions & Variations

Try plopping a spoonful of this strawberry compote recipe on top!
Add ⅛ teaspoon of cardamom to these cinnamon buns for a hint of extra flavor.

Making Ooey Gooey Cinnamon Rolls

Making the dough is very simple and really quick! You'll just want to make sure your water is at the proper temperature for the yeast to grow (110-115 degrees Fahrenheit), whisk in the sugar and add the yeast. Let that hang out for about 15 min.

After that you will add your homemade buttermilk, oil, egg and salt. You could certainly just use ¼ cup of buttermilk but I usually just make my own because I always have milk and white vinegar on hand. That way it's one less ingredient I have to worry about picking up at the store!

Next just mix in the flour using your hand! About ¾ of it until you get it almost fully mixed then go ahead and add the rest. It should come together and start pulling away from the sides. The dough should be soft but it should not be too sticky. If it's sticking to your hands and kind of messy then add more flour in. A couple tablespoons at a time until the stickiness goes away. Be gentle with the dough, you don't want to over mix it.

After that you can just add some olive oil to your bowl and wipe it around on the bottom and sides or give your bowl a quick spray with a non stick cooking spray. Set the dough back in, cover it with a large dish towel or plastic wrap and let it rest in a warm spot for an hour.

I'm a big fan of having my oven on a low temp, about 275 degrees Fahrenheit and just setting my covered dough at the front of my stove so that way I'm sure its getting a little bit of warmth.

You definitely don't want to set the bowl near the back of the oven because that would be too much heat. Just like when making a star bread recipe.

a white bowl filled with sugar, water and yeast after sitting 10-15 minutes to get frothy. copper measuring spoons to the side

a ball of dough after proofing for 1 hour, it has nearly doubled in size and has finger prints in the dough from lifting it out of the bowl to be placed on a lightly floured surface

Rolling out and filling your cinnamon roll dough

After the dough proofs for an hour you can take it out of the bowl and place it on a lightly floured surface. Knead it a couple times and then roll it out into a rectangle. You'll want the dough to be about ¼ inch thick or slightly thinner.

Spread on all that butter! The easiest way is to just use your hand. Smear the butter all over the dough. Mix up your brown sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle it all over the dough.

Roll your dough tightly to ensure it stays together while baking. If it's too loose it will just unroll while baking and you'll have a bit of a mess. Start with one of the long ends of the cinnamon roll dough and roll to the other side. You can slightly pinch the dough together at the seems if you like as a little extra help for the dough to stay tight while baking.

The easiest way to get even rolls is to cut the dough in half. Then take both of those pieces and cut each of them in half. You should then have 4 pieces. You will cut each of those into thirds.

I don't always roll it perfectly so sometimes I'm left with a little bit shorter dough. And that's okay because you can just cut it into a few less rolls. 9-10 rolls instead of 12 works just fine too.

Typically I aim for each roll to be about 2 inches in height. So if that's easier for you to go off of then stick with that! I do the same with my Gingerbread Cinnamon Rolls.

rolled out cinnamon roll dough filled with butter, brown sugar and cinnamon to an unperfect rectangular shape

raw cinnamon roll dough rolled up and cut into 1.25 inch rolls before the second proofing

Second proofing and baking

Now it's time to place them in a baking dish and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Now you have 2 options. You can either place them in the refrigerator for up to 36 hours or if you want to bake them right away you will proof for another hour before placing them into the oven. If you choose to refrigerate them, you will simply take them out 2 hours ahead of time to warm up and then proof before baking.

Who loves cream cheese frosting?

Let's talk about the cream cheese frosting. Personally I like a less sweet, little more tangy cream cheese frosting for my cinnamon rolls. The roll is sweet enough so making the frosting a little less sweet provides a nice flavor balance. You can always add more powdered sugar to the frosting if you don't feel the same way.

This cream cheese frosting comes together quickly and can be stored for up to 4 days tightly covered in your refrigerator. You simply cream together the cream cheese and butter using either your hand mixer or a stand mixer with a whisk attachment. Add the vanilla. Then add in the powdered sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Ta da! That's it!

a white pan of cinnamon rolls with cream cheese frosting on all but one roll sitting on a dark weathered wood surface with a butter knife covered in frosting laying next to the pan

Time to bake your ooey gooey cinnamon rolls

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. After the cinnamon rolls have proofed for the second time, put them in the oven. Bake for about 20 minutes. Depending on your oven this could possibly take an additional 5 minutes. You don't want to overbake because you will burn or dry out your rolls. Take them out, top them with delicious cream cheese frosting and enjoy your ooey gooey cinnamon rolls! Serve with honey lime fruit salad.

Who's ready to give these cinnamon rolls a shot?! You won't be sorry!

Expert Baking Tips

Use a thermometer to check the temp of your water before adding the yeast. It should read 110°F-115°F on a digital thermometer.
If your yeast does not foam up after the 10-15 minutes it is dead or the water was not the correct temp. This means it did not and will not activate therefore will not work.
Make cream cheese frosting a day or two ahead to save time.
Make cinnamon roll dough a day ahead to save time.
Turn your oven on 275 degrees Fahrenheit and set your covered bowl on the front burners of your stove to help with the rising. The heat coming out of the oven will help your dough rise nicely.
Do not overbake! Overbaking will leave you with a drier, less gooey cinnamon roll.
Use this recipe to top peach cobbler with cinnamon rolls!

cinnamon rolls outside of the baking dish on parchment paper with cream cheese frosting on top of all but one of the rolls. a set of plates, a linen and a butter knife with frosting laying next to the pan

Looking for more sweets?! Have a look at some Desserts!