Cream Cheese Cinnamon Rolls

These Cream Cheese Cinnamon Rolls are great for a holiday like Christmas morning. Prep the dough with an Instant Pot and make a big batch – great for freezing! Rich and delicious, with cream cheese frosting and a gooey cinnamon filling.

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Ingredients

For Cinnamon Rolls & Filling: whole milk sugar vegetable oil active dry yeast all-purpose flour baking powder baking soda salt cream cheese butter sugar ground cinnamon For Cream Cheese Icing: cream cheese powdered sugar vanilla extract milk butter coffee salt

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1

With a liner in the Instant Pot, add milk, oil, and sugar. Stir well. Use the yogurt setting (not available on some models...I have an Instant Pot DUO 6 quart) and press the "adjust" button until you see "boil" on your screen. Place a glass lid on the pot if you have one and allow the boil cycle to complete, lasting about 10-15 minutes. It helps to whisk your milk every 3-5 minutes during this process. If you don't have an Instant Pot, bring this mixture to a low boil on the stovetop.

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2

Once the boil cycle is complete, test the milk. It shouldn't be boiling, but should feel warm if you hold your hand above it and should be giving off some steam. If it's not, do another boil cycle, covering your pot while it heats and whisking regularly. Once the milk is as warm as needed, allow it to cool. It will need to cool to lukewarm (but not hot) to the touch before moving on to the next step. If you have a digital thermometer, the milk mixture needs to be under 110 degrees.

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3

Once the milk is cool, sprinkle the yeast on top and let it activate for a minute or two. It should start to smell "yeasty" after a few seconds. While the yeast activates, mix together dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt). About a cup at a time, add dry ingredients into the milk/yeast mixture to form a dough. The dough shouldn't be mushy or wet once all dry ingredients are added.

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4

Put the inner liner back into the Instant Pot to allow your dough to rise. To do this, use the yogurt setting and select the 8-hour option (you won't let it rise for this long, but this is the lowest automatic setting). If you don't have an Instant Pot, a warm area (like a window) will work. Allow dough to rise for at least an hour (you can do it for a few hours if desired). You might have to poke it down with a fork a couple of times to keep the cinnamon roll dough from overflowing.

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5

Once cinnamon roll dough has risen, refrigerate for an hour or two to make for easier handling. I usually like to refrigerate dough overnight before moving on to the next step. Once dough is cooled, plop (very technical term) half of your dough onto a floured surface and sprinkle with a little bit more flour. The surface of the dough should not be sticky; if it is, sprinkle with more flour. Knead dough until it is firm and easier to work with. Add more flour if needed.

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6

Then, roll out into a very long piece. I usually make mine about 2 feet by 1 foot, with a thickness of maybe 1/4". Make your cinnamon filling. To do this, microwave 2 8oz blocks of cream cheese and 3 sticks butter in 30 second increments until melted. Once melted, mix in 2 cups sugar and 1/3 cup cinnamon. Blend well; there will probably be lumps, this is normal. Spread half of the filling mixture on the first rolled half of dough. Then, gently, roll the end of the dough away from you into a log.

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7

Cut log into 1" pieces and fill your containers sprayed with cooking spray. Allow cut cinnamon rolls to rise for 15-20 minutes while you preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Once rolls rise, bake for 20ish minutes, or until tops of rolls start to turn golden brown. Repeat for the other half of the dough and filling.

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8

While rolls bake, mix the frosting. Microwave 1 8oz block of cream cheese and 1/2 stick butter for 30 seconds or so, until stirrable. Microwave another 30 seconds if needed. Once you can stir easily, add in powdered sugar, vanilla extract, milk, splash of coffee, and pinch of salt. Whisk together well, until there are no lumps.

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9

Once the cinnamon rolls are out of the oven, pour icing over while still warm. You'll want it to get all in those nooks and crannies...that's what makes them good! Serve warm.

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