Recipe for Cinnamon Rolls Pioneer Woman: The Ultimate Homemade Guide

Pioneer Woman’s Cinnamon Rolls have become a beloved classic for home bakers, and for good reason. These sweet rolls are celebrated for their incredibly tender, flaky, and buttery texture, generously infused with cinnamon flavor, and topped with a luscious maple frosting that takes them to another level. Originally designed as a recipe to share, this guide will walk you through creating these delightful treats, making them accessible and enjoyable for everyone.

Three pans of baking cinnamon rolls, no frosting

Why Pioneer Woman’s Cinnamon Rolls Are a Must-Try for Home Bakers

If you’ve ever dreamt of baking cinnamon rolls that are soft, flavorful, and practically melt in your mouth, the Pioneer Woman cinnamon rolls recipe is your answer. Many homemade cinnamon roll recipes can be finicky, leading to dough that doesn’t rise, over-proofs, or simply doesn’t deliver on taste and texture. This recipe, however, stands out for its foolproof nature and forgiving qualities, ensuring that each roll emerges from the oven perfectly delicious.

This guide focuses on a slightly adjusted version of Ree Drummond’s original recipe, tailored for home bakers. The recipe has been thoughtfully refined with scaled-down measurements and more detailed instructions to ensure success, even for novice bakers. You’ll find that this cinnamon roll recipe is not just easy to follow, but also produces results that are truly exceptional, making it a recipe you’ll want to keep and share.

The Secret to Irresistible Cinnamon Rolls: Texture and Flavor

What exactly makes Pioneer Woman’s Cinnamon Rolls so incredibly good? It’s a combination of factors that work in perfect harmony. Firstly, the dough is rolled out remarkably thin, creating numerous layers of buttery, cinnamon-sugar filling within each spiral. This generous filling-to-dough ratio is a key element of their perfection, ensuring every bite is bursting with flavor.

Secondly, the unique maple frosting elevates these cinnamon rolls from simply delicious to utterly divine. The frosting, a blend of powdered sugar, maple extract, milk, butter, and a hint of strong brewed coffee, adds a distinctive depth of flavor. The coffee subtly enhances the maple, creating a frosting that is both sweet and complex, perfectly complementing the warm cinnamon spice of the rolls. This unexpected combination is what truly sets this recipe apart.

Three pans of fresh from the oven cinnamon rolls.

Baking Pioneer Woman’s Cinnamon Rolls: Step-by-Step Recipe

This resized version of the Pioneer Woman’s cinnamon roll recipe is designed to make approximately 30 rolls, perfectly fitting into three 9-inch cake pans. This quantity is ideal for sharing or enjoying over a few days, if they last that long! Be warned – these cinnamon rolls are incredibly addictive, and their delightful aroma and taste are hard to resist.

You can choose to bake these rolls in various pan sizes. For gifting, consider using four disposable 7-inch foil pans. Alternatively, four 8-inch cake pans or three 9-inch cake pans, as used in this guide, work equally well. The flexibility in pan size makes this recipe adaptable to your needs.

Unique Ingredients for Unmatched Softness

One of the more unconventional yet brilliant aspects of this recipe is the inclusion of baking powder and baking soda in a yeast-based dough. Typically, yeast dough relies solely on yeast for leavening. However, the addition of baking powder and baking soda in this recipe contributes to the uniquely soft, sweet-bread texture and classic yeasty flavor characteristic of authentic cinnamon rolls.

This combination of leavening agents is quite unusual, but it’s a game-changer for achieving the perfect cinnamon roll texture. It also reduces the rise time after shaping the rolls into spirals to just 30 minutes. Furthermore, baking at a lower oven temperature ensures the rolls rise fully before the tops brown too quickly. The result is incredibly soft, puffy, and flaky rolls that are far from chewy – they practically melt in your mouth with each bite.

Fresh, warm cinnamon rolls on a plate

Make-Ahead and Freezing Tips for Cinnamon Roll Success

Planning ahead is easy with Pioneer Woman’s Cinnamon Rolls. While freezing the unbaked dough isn’t recommended, baked cinnamon rolls freeze beautifully. For best results, freeze them after baking but before frosting. This way, you can thaw and frost them fresh when you’re ready to serve, preserving their texture and flavor.

The cinnamon roll dough itself can also be prepared in advance. You can make the dough up to 3 days ahead of baking. Simply keep the dough well-covered in the refrigerator. If storing for more than a day, check the dough periodically and punch it down if necessary to prevent it from overflowing. With just a short 30-minute rise time needed after shaping, this make-ahead option is incredibly convenient for busy schedules or special occasions.

If you need to make a larger batch, this recipe is easily doubled. For a doubled recipe, allow the dough to rise in a large pot or Dutch oven in the refrigerator overnight, as the dough will expand significantly.

A pan of fresh baked cinnamon rolls being drizzled with icing

Pioneer Woman’s Cinnamon Rolls Recipe

Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 1 day 2 hours 15 minutes
Yield: 30 rolls
Course: Bread, Breakfast or Brunch
Author: Tricia

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Ingredients:

For the cinnamon rolls:

2 cups whole milk (16oz)
½ cup vegetable oil (4oz)
½ cup granulated sugar (110g)
1 (.25 ounce) package Active Dry Yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
4 ½ cups all-purpose flour separated (586g)
½ teaspoon baking powder heaping
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt

For the filling:

3 tablespoons unsalted butter melted for greasing pans
12 tablespoons unsalted butter melted (6oz)
⅔ cup granulated sugar (135g)
3 tablespoons ground cinnamon

For the maple frosting:

4 ounces powdered sugar sifted (1 cup or 115g)
½ teaspoon maple flavoring
2 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon unsalted butter melted
1 tablespoon strong brewed coffee
pinch of salt

Equipment:

Instant read thermometer
Rolling pin
3 (9-inch) cake pans

Instructions:

To make the dough:

In a small saucepan, combine milk, vegetable oil, and sugar. Warm over medium heat until sugar dissolves and mixture reaches 95-100°F (lukewarm). Use an instant-read thermometer to ensure accuracy. Remove from heat and pour into a large mixing bowl. Cool if necessary to maintain 95-100°F.
Sprinkle yeast over the lukewarm milk mixture and let stand for 5-10 minutes until foamy. Add 4 cups of flour and stir until just combined. You can mix by hand with a wooden spoon or use a stand mixer with a dough hook. Cover and let rise in a warm place for one hour, or until bubbly and puffed.
In a separate small bowl, whisk together the remaining ½ cup of flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add this mixture to the risen dough and mix until fully incorporated. Loosely cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight, or for up to 2-3 days. If refrigerating for more than a day, monitor dough and punch down if needed to prevent overflowing.

To make the cinnamon rolls:

Grease three 9-inch cake pans with melted butter and set aside.
Generously flour a large, clean work surface. Lightly punch down the chilled dough and scrape it onto the floured surface. Using floured hands and a floured rolling pin, roll the dough into a large, thin rectangle, approximately 30×20 inches. The dough should be quite thin.
Brush 12 tablespoons of melted butter evenly over the dough surface, leaving a 1-inch border along one of the longer (30-inch) sides.
Sprinkle ⅔ cup of granulated sugar uniformly over the buttered dough, followed by an even layer of ground cinnamon.
Starting from the 30-inch side closest to you, tightly roll the dough into a log. Gently pull the dough towards you as you roll, tucking and rolling tightly. Pinch the seam to seal the log.
Using a ruler as a guide, cut the log into 30 (1-inch) slices. For clean cuts, use a large, sharp, thin knife or a piece of unflavored dental floss. Place the rolls, cut side down, in the prepared cake pans.
Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C).
Let the rolls rise in a warm location for 30-40 minutes, until noticeably puffed and smooth. To check if risen sufficiently, gently press the edge of a roll; if the indentation slowly fills back, they are ready to bake. Bake at 375°F for 15-20 minutes, or until lightly golden brown.
Transfer pans to a wire rack to cool slightly while you prepare the frosting.

To make the frosting:

In a medium bowl, combine sifted powdered sugar, maple flavoring, milk, melted butter, strong brewed coffee, and a pinch of salt.
Using an electric mixer or whisk, blend until smooth and pourable. If too thick, add milk one teaspoon at a time until desired consistency is reached.
Generously drizzle the maple frosting over the warm cinnamon rolls immediately after baking. Serve warm and enjoy!

Recipe Notes:

Recipe adapted from Pioneer Woman.
Leftover cinnamon rolls can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator. For best taste and texture, bring chilled rolls to room temperature for about 30 minutes before serving.
Unfrosted rolls can be stored at room temperature.

Enjoy these delightful Pioneer Woman’s Cinnamon Rolls, perfect for breakfast, brunch, or a sweet treat any time of day!