Red Velvet Cinnamon Rolls

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Red Velvet Cinnamon Rolls

A little twist on the classic cinnamon roll, these red velvet cinnamon rolls are a perfect treat. The bright red filling is topped with a rich cream cheese icing. Yum!

There’s nothing quite like waking up on Christmas morning and enjoying a nice, warm cinnamon roll. But why not try something different this year? These red velvet cinnamon rolls with cream cheese icing are absolutely delicious.

These Red Velvet Cinnamon Rolls are made entirely from scratch (no cake mix here) and are topped with a rich and creamy homemade cream cheese icing. Make your holiday breakfast extra special with these bright and festive sweet rolls.

Related Recipes:

Red Velvet Bundt Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Red Velvet Cream Cheese Thumbprint Cookies
Red Velvet Scones

Ingredients List

Red Velvet Dough

whole milk
unsalted butter, cold
granulated sugar
active dry yeast
large eggs
Red food coloring
all-purpose flour
unsweetened cocoa powder
salt

Filling

unsalted butter, melted
Dixie Crystals Light Brown Sugar
Dixie Crystals Extra Fine Granulated Sugar
ground cinnamon

Frosting

cream cheese, softened
unsalted butter, softened
vanilla extract

How to Make This Recipe – Video

Recipe notes

Red velvet cake has red food coloring added to it which gives these rolls their beautiful reddish hue!
Cream cheese frosting can be made in advance and kept chilled (up to 2 days) or frozen (up to 1 month). When ready to use, thaw in the refrigerator overnight and then bring to room temperature before beating smooth.

Cinnamon Rolls FAQ

How warm does the water need to be for the yeast?

Never put yeast in liquid that is hotter than 115º or you’ll risk killing it before it raises the dough. A good rise to your dough will make all the difference between fluffy, heavenly cinnamon rolls and cinnamon rolls that are tough and dense as soon as they cool down.

Keep your ingredients room temperature.

Yeast likes to be warm. Which means it will rise better if you aren’t adding cold ingredients to a mixture that contains yeast.

How much flour is too much flour?

Don’t add too much flour. And don’t add too little.

I know, I know– it’s a delicate balance and can be difficult to know exactly how much flour you should use when making cinnamon rolls. Here’s a general guideline: stop measuring flour about 1 cupbefore you’ve added the amount of flour the recipe calls for. Add the remaining flour gradually, and evaluate the dough in between additions.

The dough should be pulling away from the bowl slightly, but it should still be a little sticky. If I’m ever unsure, I always err on the side of too sticky. You can always incorporate a little more flour by hand once you’ve got it on the counter for rolling, but there’s no taking flour out of the mixture once it’s in!

Can I let the dough rise overnight?

Did you know you can let the dough rise overnight? Simply put it in the refrigerator in a greased bowl, lightly covered with plastic wrap.

How thin should I roll the dough?

If you’re looking for thick, fluffy cinnamon rolls (who isn’t?!), don’t make the yeast do all the work– because it can’t. Keep the dough at about 3/4-inch thick when you roll it out. That thickness will create pillowy, delicious spirals in your rolls.

What’s the best way to cut cinnamon rolls?

You can use a knife in a pinch, but cutting the rolls with a knife (as opposed to slicing with twine) will smush the rolls and seal off edges that would otherwise expand and rise during baking. It’s not the end of the world– but cinnamon rolls are SO MUCH better when properly sliced. See my video in this post to see the process (but use a thinner twine than you see me use in the video… do as I say, not as I do haha).