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Grandma's Famous Holiday Cinnamon Rolls & Yeast Rolls from ONE Recipe

Taking notes from grandma, here's her recipe for making yeast rolls and cinnamon rolls from one dough with one preparation. With the holidays around the corner, this recipe will save you time, energy, and make most everyone you know happy.
Prep Time1 hour 30 minutes
Cook Time25 minutes
Resting & Rising Time1 hour 30 minutes
Total Time4 hours 25 minutes
Course: Appetizer, Breakfast, Dessert, Side Dish, Snack
Cuisine: American
Keyword: yeast rolls, cinnamon rolls, holiday bread, sweet rolls, buns, cinnamon buns
Servings: 12 servings
Author: Summer

Ingredients

Yeast Roll Ingredients

  • 14 g (2 pkgs / 4½ tsp) active dry yeast
  • 38 g (3 tbsp) granulated sugar divided
  • 590 ml (2½ cups) water divided
  • 96 g (½ cup) shortening
  • 23 g (1 tbsp+1 tsp) salt
  • 2 large eggs room temperature
  • 840 g (7 cups) all-purpose flour (sifted preferred & divided) fluff, scoop, and level off flour if using a measuring cup
  • 1-2 tbsp butter for brushing over the baked rolls & greasing pans

Cinnamon Roll Additional Ingredients

    Filling:

    • 216 g (1 cup firmly packed) dark brown sugar
    • 10 g (~1½ tbsp) ground cinnamon
    • 113 g (1 stick) butter softened

    Frosting:

    • 360 g (3 cups) powdered sugar
    • 2 tsp vanilla extract
    • 4-8 tbsp cream or milk any kind

    Instructions

    Make the Dough for Both Rolls (Yeast & Cinnamon Rolls)

    • In a small bowl, add yeast. Measure out total granulated sugar and remove 13 g (1 tbsp) and add that to the yeast. Stir. Pour in 118 ml (½ cup) of warm water 100˚F-110˚F (38˚C-43˚C). Stir and set aside for about 10 minutes until doubled, bubbly, and frothy.
    • Meanwhile, boil 472 ml (2 cups) of water over the stove or in the microwave. In a large bowl, place diced shortening. Pour the boiling water over the shortening. Allow about 2 minutes for the shortening to melt; you can stir the shortening with a spoon to encourage a quicker melt.
    • To the hot melted shortening, add the remaining 25 g (2 tbsp) of sugar and all of the salt. Stir until the sugar and salt dissolve, a few seconds. Allow the water to cool down to 100˚F-110˚F (38˚C-43˚C) about 5-10 minutes. Once cooled, stir yeast mixture into the shortening mixture.
      TIP: Finer grains of sugar and salt will dissolve more quickly.
    • In another small bowl/cup (reuse the yeast mixture bowl), beat lightly 2 eggs, one at a time, and add them to shortening and yeast mixture. Stir well.
    • To the wet ingredients, add 480 g (4 cups) of flour. Whisk or stir well. Add remaining 360 g (3 cups) of flour and stir very well. The dough will be sticky and shaggy.
      TIP: For ease, you can make these rolls without sifting the flour, but sifted flour creates a very light yeast roll.
    • Cover dough with a towel or plastic wrap sprayed with cooking spray and set dough aside in a warm area to rise and double in size ~ 1 hour.
      TIP: You can place the covered dough OVER an oven set at 200˚F (93˚C) or IN the oven turned OFF with the oven incandescent light ON. On a warm day, set it outside away from drafts. 😉
    • Grease two 9-x13-inch casserole dishes using butter, shortening, or cooking spray.
      TIP: Greasing pans with butter adds a salty richness to the exterior of the baked rolls. 😊
    • When dough has doubled in size, scoop dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead 10 minutes adding enough flour during kneading until dough is no longer sticky. Dough should be tacky but not stick to the surface.
      TIP: Since this is a wet dough, you may need as much as 1 cup of additional flour when kneading. That's OK as long as you stop adding flour when the dough becomes tacky, and it is no longer sticking to your hands or the work surface.
    • Divide the dough in half. Knead each half separately for another 3-5 minutes until elastic and not sticky. Cover the dough halves and allow them to rest a few minutes.
      TIP: You can eyeball the cut or weigh the total dough and divide in half based on weight.

    Make the Yeast Rolls: Use 1 Dough Half

    • Pat or roll out dough using a rolling pin 1 dough half out to a 1½ -inch-thick disk. Use a small ~2 -inch biscuit/cookie cutter or small drinking glass (something that is round). Cut out rolls and place them touching in one of the prepared greased pans. Gather remaining dough, shape into another disk 1½ -inch-thick, and cut out rolls until all dough is used. You should get 22-24 rolls out of this dough half.
    • Cover rolls with a towel or plastic wrap to either rise and bake or store and bake at a later date.

    Make Ahead Yeast Rolls to Store until Ready to Bake:

    • To store until ready to bake the following day, place covered pan of yeast rolls in the fridge overnight. Remove risen yeast rolls from fridge about 45 minutes before baking to give them time to warm up and rise a little more. You can also freeze the cinnamon rolls if making them days to weeks ahead; thaw overnight in the fridge, rise, and bake as directed when ready.

    Make the Cinnamon Rolls: Use 1 Dough Half

    • To a small bowl, stir together brown sugar and cinnamon until combined and set aside.
      TIP: Dark brown sugar has a little more molasses than light brown sugar. In this recipe, dark brown sugar is preferred as it adds a little more depth in flavor than light brown sugar, but either will work just fine.
    • Pat or roll out dough to about an 18×12-inch rectangle. Use the back of a spoon or spatula to spread softened butter evenly all over the dough from edge to edge.
      TIP: If butter is not easily spreadable, cut it into chunks and heat it in the microwave for 10 seconds. Stir and add another 5 seconds or so just until softened.
    • Spread all the brown sugar and cinnamon mixture evenly over the butter and pat it lightly into the dough so it sticks to the butter.
    • Start at one short end and roll up the dough. Cut the log into 12 slices. Place each roll in the other well-greased 9×13- inch pan touching each other (3 rows across and 4 rows down). Cover with a towel or plastic wrap.
      TIPS: Cut the 12 slices using a serrated knife (or unflavored dental floss), so the cuts are smooth. To cut into 12 equal pieces, cut the dough in half. Cut each half in half again to get quarters. Cut each quarter now into thirds. That should equal 12 rolls.

    Make Ahead Cinnamon Rolls to Store until Ready to Bake:

    • To store until ready to bake the following day, place covered pan of cinnamon rolls in the fridge overnight. Remove risen cinnamon rolls from fridge about 45 minutes before baking to give them time to warm up and rise a little more. You can also freeze the cinnamon rolls if making them days to weeks ahead; thaw overnight in the fridge, rise, and bake as directed when ready.

    Rise & Bake Both Pans of Rolls (Yeast & Cinnamon Rolls)

    • Place the covered pan(s) in a warm area to rise 30-60 minutes. Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C) during the last 30 minutes of the rise.
      TIP: If making and baking the rolls on the same day, allow the yeast rolls to rise while filling the cinnamon rolls. Then, you can bake the yeast rolls while the cinnamon rolls rise.
    • Bake one pan at a time (if 1 oven) for 25 minutes or until golden brown.
      TIP: If making both rolls ahead of time, bake the cinnamon rolls in the morning for breakfast and the yeast rolls in the evening for dinner.

    Butter Tops of Yeast Rolls:

    • After removing baked yeast rolls from oven, while still hot, butter tops of rolls with salted butter. Cut and serve while hot with additional salted butter.
      TIP: To easily butter tops of rolls, cut a tablespoon of butter and stab it with a fork or knife. Rub the butter over the tops of the rolls and watch it melt and ooze. You can also take a stick of butter, holding half of the butter in the wrapper, and just rub the other end (wrapper pulled back) along the tops of the rolls.

    Frost Tops of Cinnamon Rolls:

    • While the cinnamon rolls slightly cool, make the frosting. In a small bowl, add powdered sugar and vanilla. Whisk in cream or milk, 1 tbsp at a time, until you reach the consistency you want. Use a spoon to spread the frosting over the rolls. There is enough frosting to cover the tops of each roll as thick as a cake.
      TIP: Frost the cinnamon rolls while hot or cooled. If frosting the cinnamon rolls while hot, the frosting will ooze down through the layers and crevices. If frosting the cooled cinnamon rolls, the frosting will sit on top like cake frosting. Both are good.

    Video

    Notes

    Storage Suggestions:
    Once both rolls have cooled, cover them well and store at room temperature for a couple of days. The longer they sit, the drier they become. For longer storage, wrap the yeast rolls in plastic or foil and place in a freezer bag; wrap the cinnamon rolls individually (to prevent sticking together) in plastic wrap and place all together in a freezer bag. Store rolls in the freezer for up to a couple of months. When ready to eat, remove only as many as you want, allow them to thaw on the counter for 30 min to an hour and heat in the microwave until warm OR heat directly from the freezer for ~45 seconds in the microwave or until heated through. If you want to serve a lot at once, after they’ve thawed, place them (out of plastic) in foil and seal the foil edges. Then, heat in an oven at 350˚F (177˚F) for 15 minutes until soft and warm; careful not dry them out.