These giant Old-Fashioned Cinnamon Rolls are a sweet treat with cinnamon and brown sugar filling and the best flour buttercream frosting.

Grandma made these homemade rolls for many holidays and special occasions like Christmas morning, Valentine’s Day and Easter. This is a vintage recipe that we enjoy.

Close up Farmhouse style cinnamon roll on a plate in front of pan of rolls

For a much faster recipe that tastes homemade try our Cinnamon Rolls From Frozen Bread Dough.

Amish Style Cinnamon Rolls

With a soft and moist dough that’s sweet this homemade bread dough, has a brown sugar and cinnamon filling with icing that makes each bite melt in your mouth.

Soft cinnamon rolls that are sweet, but not too sweet are topped with old-fashioned buttercream frosting with flour. These traditional Amish-style cinnamon rolls are made with mashed potatoes and other common ingredients.

Mashed potatoes help hold the moisture in this recipe. You don’t taste potatoes, but get the benefits of texture and moisture. We use leftover unseasoned Mashed Potatoes or mashing up baked potatoes.

Baking pan of ermine frosted giant homemade cinnamon rolls

The frosting is more rich than sweet and has a good thickness to stick to the top of the roll. There’s no drizzling this icing and hoping you taste it. Thick buttercream has a little flour to help stiffen it up. The frosting is one of our favorite icing recipes in simplicity as well as in taste and texture.

Cream cheese icing is commonly used on Frosted Banana Bars, The Best Cake, and Pumpkin Pecan Bars, but we love this old-fashioned icing without cream cheese.

Eight of the best homemade giant cinnamon rolls on a dish towel

Farmhouse Cinnamon Rolls

Giant bakery style cinnamon rolls are always a treat and we love making these giant treats at home. Soft with a rich frosting when you eat one you think “Oh boy, this is excellent!”

These rolls feel like something your grandma would make and that’s exactly where this recipe came from. The same grandma that lived in the farmhouse that’s part of the underground railroad. It’s no surprise that these Farmhouse Cinnamon Rolls are one of our farmhouse favorite breakfast recipes.

While the recipe takes time because there are several steps that involve some work and then waiting, these rolls are not difficult to make. Just plan an afternoon at home and enjoy making these yeast rolls to enjoy for breakfast the next day.

Old-fashioned cinnamon roll made with mashed potatoes and covered in a simple frosting

These giant cinnamon rolls are also reminiscent of Gaston’s Cinnamon Roll at Be Our Guest Restaurant at Disney World.

We also love our Strawberry Cinnamon Rolls that start with a can of Grands rolls and these Old Fashioned Butter Rolls from Cooking with Carlee. There are so many delicious variations of cinnamon rolls!

Ingredients Needed

Warm water
Sugar
Vegetable oil
Mashed potatoes, unseasoned and without milk
Egg
Salt
Rapid rise yeast
Nonfat dry milk powder
All-purpose flour
Bread flour
Butter
Brown sugar
Cinnamon
Confectioners’ sugar
Vanilla extract

Can You Freeze Cinnamon Rolls?

Cinnamon rolls can be baked and wrapped in foil and then frozen in an airtight self sealing bag. Be sure to freeze baked bread without frosting for best result.

Icing can be frozen separately, but it is very easy to mix up a whole or partial batch of icing when the cinnamon rolls are defrosted.

Eight of the best homemade cinnamon rolls in a 9 x 13 pan

Tips & Tricks

Recipe makes 8 giant rolls, 12 large rolls or 27 standard rolls
Use unseasoned mashed potatoes without milk that are at room temperature or warm. Using cold mashed potatoes could prevent the yeast from activating and rising. Ensure potatoes are peeled before mashing.
Warm water before mixing to help yeast grow and dough to rise.
Times listed are for rapid rise yeast; if active dry yeast is used rising times should be doubled.
Since this makes a big batch of dough I found beginning kneading with the dough hook on the electric mixer and finishing up with my hands on a clean counter works well.
I use the warming drawer on my oven set to low for dough to rise.

Messy frosting slathered across cinnamon rolls in a pan

How to Make Old-Fashioned Cinnamon Rolls

Heat water to around 110°F. In a large mixing bowl dissolve yeast in warm water with sugar. Add vegetable oil, egg, salt, mashed potatoes and mix well.

Stir in nonfat dry milk powder and all-purpose flour and beat for 3 minutes.

Gradually add the bread flour 1/2 cup to 1 cup at a time until dough no longer sticks to the bowl.

mashed potatoes added to mixing bowl to make cinnamon roll dough

Sticky yeast cinnamon roll dough on hook in mixing bowl

When the dough is workable transfer to a lightly floured surface or use the dough hook attachment on your electric mixer and knead for about 10 minutes.

Ball of old fashioned cinnamon roll dough being kneaded

Ball of kneaded dough in a buttered dish to rise

Grease a large, deep bowl with butter. Form the dough into a large, smooth ball and place in the bowl with the smooth side down. Then flip over with the smooth side up so the bottom can get greased while the dough rises.

Cover with a clean dish towel and allow the dough to rise in a warm, draft free place until it has doubled. This step takes about 45 minutes to an hour.

Punch dough down very thoroughly to break up any air bubbles. Regrease bowl. Shape into a smooth ball again. Turn over so the dough is greased on the top and bottom. Cover and let rise for an additional 30 minutes.

Punch dough down again and transfer to a lightly floured surface.

Roll into a rectangle. Dough should be about 1 3/4 inch thick and 15 x 12 inches in total size. Spread softened butter across the dough.

In a small mixing bowl stir together brown sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle mixture over the butter and tightly roll the dough up from the long side.

Cinnamon roll dough pressed in a rectangle and covered with softened butter

Homemade dough with brown sugar and cinnamon filling rolled up to make cinnamon rolls

Measure dough and make the roll 16″ long. With a serrated knife, cut the roll using a sawing motion into 8, 12 or more rolls.

Place rolls cut side up in greased baking dishes. Cover with clean dish towels and allow the dough to rise in a warm place for 30 minutes.

Cinnamon rolls in glass dish before rising

Bake rolls for 10 minutes in a preheated 325°F oven. Then raise the temperature to 350°F and bake for 5 to 10 minutes longer. Making 12 rolls bakes for an additional 8 minutes. Smaller rolls will take closer to 5 additional minutes, and giant rolls may take closer to 10 more minutes.

Remove from oven and invert pan onto wax paper-lined wire racks to cool as quickly as possible. Rolls may be left in the pan but will take longer to cool. Allow rolls to cool completely before icing.