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Cast Iron Cinnamon Rolls. Brought to you by my never-ending Christmas-food-mood and my love for cast iron pans! ?
Honestly you don’t need to make these in a cast iron pan (any baking dish or cake pan will do just fine) but there’s just something about baking in cast iron that makes me feel like some kind of modern-prairie-domestic-wonder-woman.
These aren’t just any old cinnamon rolls either – these are some Grant Just Finished Student Teaching Celebration Cinnamon Rolls and they are stuffed with love and excitement and pride because student teaching has not been the easiest but he made it through! I am soooo proud of him!
He’s not one to take pride in accomplishments or brag but that’s fine because I have no problem doing it for him ??. Student teaching, check. Up next: Graduation!
Shall we talk about these cinnamon rolls now? I think we shall. These beautiful, golden, puffy, cinnamony, buttery, easy, spirals of goodness.
Cinnamon Rolls? Easy? Yes. I was even surprised by how easy these turned out to be. I used this hot roll mix
So what makes these easy?
There’s not much kneading involved, the rise time is only 35 minutes total, and you don’t need many ingredients to make them. Here’s a 1-minute, super-helpful video that explains the proper way to cut cinnamon rolls, to avoid squishing them. Watch it if you’ve never cut cinnamon rolls with string before!
Prepare to dazzle your family/friends/guests this Christmastime with some fluffy, gooey, magic cinnamon rolls ✨
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Cast Iron Cinnamon Rolls
Ingredients
- FOR THE ROLLS:
- 1 box of Pillsbury Hot Roll mix, see note below
- 3 TBS granulated sugar
- 1 cup hot water
- 2 TBS butter
- 1 egg
- FOR THE FILLING:
- 6 TBS butter
- 1 TBS flour
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- Pinch of ground cloves
- Pinch of salt
- 2 TBS milk
- FOR THE FROSTING:
- 4 ounces cream cheese
- 4 TBS butter
- About 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
Instructions
- Grease a 9 or 10 inch cast iron skillet or cake pan and preheat oven to 375 degrees. Set pan aside.
- Combine the flour mixture packet and the yeast packet (both found in the hot roll mix box) with sugar in a mixing bowl. Add the water, butter, and egg. Stir until dough comes together and ingredients are mixed in.
- Lightly flour your countertop/surface of choice and knead the dough for a few minutes, or until it's smooth.
- Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let rest for 5 minutes.
- While that's resting, make the filling. Combine the brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt in a bowl and mix until combined. Set aside.
- Roll out the rested dough to a 11 x 16 inch rectangle (it doesn't have to be exact).
- Microwave the 6 TBS of butter until softened - not melted. Spread this over the rolled out dough. Sprinkle the brown sugar/spice mixture evenly over the spread butter.
- Starting with the longer side of the rectangle, begin to roll the dough, slowly, keeping a tight roll all the way through. Pinch the opposite edge to the dough when you finish rolling to seal. Using a string, cut the cinnamon rolls into about 7 even slices.
- Place each cinnamon roll in prepared pan. Cover the pan loosely with plastic wrap and let it rise next to the preheated oven for 30 minutes. The dough should double in size. Make the frosting during this time. (See below for instructions)
- After 30 minutes, uncover the dough and brush the cinnamon rolls with the 2 TBS of milk. Bake about 22 minutes, or until golden brown. At that point, take a piece of foil and lay it over the tops of the rolls if they already seem pretty brown, to prevent burning. Bake for 3-4 more minutes.
- To make the frosting, soften the cream cheese and butter in the microwave for about 30 seconds. Mix with electric mixer until smooth. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla and mix until combined. When the rolls have cooled for a few minutes, frost them! If you frost them right away the frosting will become too runny.
Note: If you can’t find the exact boxed mix that I used, I can’t guarantee that another boxed bread mix would work. It probably would work but I have only tested this recipe with this specific mix. If you absolutely can’t get your hands on it, any pre-made dough should work – just skip numbers 2,3, and 4 in the directions.
I used this cast iron skillet
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I love baking in a cast iron pan, too – there’s something about serving comfort food in a rustic pan. These cinnamon rolls look so fluffy and gooey with frosting!
I love making anything and everything in cast iron 🙂
I adore cinnamon rolls! And freshly made – amazing! They will make the house smell absolutely amazing!
Yes! My husband smelled their lovely smell as soon as he walked in the door!
OMG these look so GOOD!! I love my cast iron and am always looking for new fun ways to use it! Can’t wait to try these!!
Thank you! 🙂
Man these are making my mouth water! I would have a hard time not eating all of them myself… but a great idea for a slow weekend morning
Absolutely! 🙂
Girl! Cinnamon rolls are a fav of mine. You know what? I love that you used hot roll mix. Sometimes I want fresh cinnamon rolls but I don’t want spend a lot of time making them. I have to remember to buy hot roll mix next time I go shopping!
I love that I used it too – lol! Makes life a little easier this time of year 🙂
These sound so easy to make! Definitely the perfect thing to make on Christmas morning.
Absolutely! 🙂
Do you use the same cast iron that you do for cooking meat? I never do sweet in mine and wonder if any strange flavors may transfer! They look great!!
I use the same one for everything! I’ve never had an issue with flavors transfering 🙂
You decked up the cinnamon roll mix with spices and frosting. I am in for a digg in. Love to it.
Thank you! 🙂
Never used cast iron for baking. Will try this very soon.
Glad to hear it! 🙂
Oh I could dive right into that skillet! And that’s exactly why I don’t make cinnamon rolls very often 🙂 These would be a huge hit on Christmas morning
We always have cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning 🙂