Cinnamon rolls are my go-to special occasion breakfast. Christmas? Cinnamon roll breakfast. Easter? Cinnamon roll breakfast. Valentine’s day? Cinnamon roll breakfast. And it’s great. There’s nothing like eating in your PJs and tucking into a warm, gooey cinnamon roll straight out of the oven. The only problem is that most cinnamon roll recipes make a dozen or more, which is fine if you’re feeding a whole family, but if it’s just you and your partner, a dozen is a little bit much.
This post and its photos have been updated. Don’t worry, you’re in the right place.
And the cream cheese frosting? This is not your thin, drizzly glaze that melts daintily over your rolls. This is thick, amazing, cream cheese frosting that’s not going to play second fiddle to anything it’s slathered on. It will knock your socks off.
Ingredient Notes
Active dry yeast: If you don’t usually bake with yeast, you can find it in the baking aisle of your grocery store either in a glass jar or little packets. Stick with the packets since you’ll need very little for this recipe. Milk: I prefer to use whole milk in this recipe, but any milk will work. An egg yolk: Because this is a small-batch recipe, we don’t need a whole egg, just the yolk. For ideas on what to do with the leftover egg white, check out my post What to Do With Leftover Egg Whites (I recommend a quick small batch of banana muffins). Cream cheese: Philadelphia cream cheese is my favorite cream cheese brand. Make sure to allow it to come to room temperature before using it in the frosting so you don’t end up with cream cheese lumps (the same goes for your butter).
How to Make Small-batch Cinnamon Rolls
Make the dough: This dough comes together fast and easy. Simply mix the dough ingredients together until you get a sticky dough. Use a plastic bench scraper or rubber spatula to help turn the dough out onto a well-floured surface and knead the dough until it becomes smooth and is no longer sticky.
First rise: Place the dough in a greased bowl and cover with a towel and allow it to sit in a warm place until doubled in size, about an hour to 90 minutes.
Shape the rolls: Roll out the dough and add butter and cinnamon sugar before tightly rolling and slicing. These can now go into the refrigerator overnight or start their second rise.
Bake: Bake until the rolls are lightly golden. While the rolls bake, make the cream cheese frosting. Spread frosting on the warm rolls and enjoy!
Overnight Cinnamon Rolls for Two
These rolls are a fantastic make-ahead breakfast. You can make and shape them the night before and then pull them out of the refrigerator when you wake up to complete their second rise. This second rise will usually take between 1 and 2 hours depending on the temperature of your kitchen, but if you’re in a hurry, you can also put the rolls in your cold oven on the top shelf and place a baking pan on the bottom shelf. Fill the pan with boiling water and close the oven. The heat and steam from the boiling water will help the rolls rise more quickly, and they should be ready to bake in just a little over half an hour. Once the rolls are fluffy, remove them from the oven, preheat the oven to 375°F and bake according to the recipe instructions.
My yeast didn’t foam. What went wrong?
If it didn’t foam there are couple things it might be:
Your milk was too hot and killed the yeast. Try again and use an instant-read thermometer to check the temperature of your milk. It should be between 105 and 115° F. If you don’t have a thermometer, feel the water, and it should feel like lukewarm bathwater. It should not be hot, and definitely not steaming!! If you’re sure the milk temp is good and the yeast still doesn’t foam, your yeast is no good. You’ll need to replace it before you can start again.
I don’t have a 6-inch baking dish. What can I use instead?
You want to use a small baking dish for these rolls because being packed together helps them stay moist while baking and prevents the filling from running out and burning. Don’t try to bake them on a baking sheet or large baking dish. A square or circular 6-inch cake pan is perfect for these, but if you don’t own either of those, you can use a 7×5-inch rectangular baking dish or any oven-safe dish that is between about 28 and 40 square inches.
Can I double this recipe?
Yes! This recipe doubles with no preparation changes needed. You can bake the doubled recipe in a 9-inch round cake pan. Just extend the baking time slightly.
Why is this called a recipe for two when there are four cinnamon rolls!!??
(I actually get this question a lot.) When I call this a recipe for two, I don’t mean sit down and eat two cinnamon rolls each for breakfast (you probably shouldn’t—they’re really rich). I mean this is the perfect number of cinnamon rolls for two people to enjoy over a day or two. Maybe you have one for breakfast and split one for dessert. Maybe you have cinnamon rolls for breakfast two days in a row. And if four is really too many for you, freeze half of them. They freeze really, really well.
How to Freeze Cinnamon Rolls
I prefer to freeze the cinnamon rolls un-frosted, so if you plan on freezing some of the rolls, don’t frost the entire batch right out of the oven.
More Small-batch Breakfast Ideas
Buttermilk Pancakes for Two Crispy Waffles Pancakes for One Small-batch Cream Scones Banana Pancakes
More Small-batch Favorites
Small-batch Chocolate Chip Cookies Easy Kettle Corn Small Carrot Cake Small-batch Brownies
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Cut the yeast. For a recipe this size, it did not need as much as it was using. Added a pinch of sugar to the milk when proofing the yeast. This is not actually necessary but makes the yeast foam more dramatically so it’s easier to tell that it’s alive. Added time for a second rise. Originally these rolls went straight from the fridge into a cold oven and did a sort of abbreviated second rise as the oven preheated. This always worked for me, but it didn’t work well with all ovens. Decreased the baking temperature.
If you loved the original recipe, you can still find it here.
