School Cafeteria Cinnamon Rolls

There are a lot of cinnamon roll recipes out there, but these soft and fluffy school cafeteria cinnamon rolls are something special! Made with homemade yeast dough, plenty of cinnamon sugar, and a sweet vanilla glaze, they’re just like the old fashioned cinnamon rolls I remember from elementary school.

Maybe I Would Go Back to Public School…

I can’t say there’s much about going to public school that I’d ever want to relive again, except the food. Maybe that’s a funny thing to say, but if you think so, your elementary school cafeteria ladies must not have been like mine!

A school lunch was the thing to get! Square pizza day, the best peanut butter sandwiches, and boy, oh boy, chili and cinnamon roll day. Those ladies knew how to cook, and I still think about some of those lunches all these years later.

So what’s a homeschooling mama to do when she has her first school aged kiddo? Why, get the cinnamon roll recipe from a friend who just so happens to have our local school cafeteria’s recipe, of course!

And Y’ALL, I don’t think I’ll ever make another!

Now, I ought to tell you that I don’t use the original recipe I was given for the dough, so these aren’t technically identical to the originals. But the cafeteria’s dough was so stinking similar to my usual homemade bread dough that it only made sense to use the one I’ve already got memorized. I’ve made and tweaked that dough for so many different yeast breads over the years that I hardly have to think about it anymore.

The filling, icing, and method are the same as the original school recipe, though, and I think that’s where so much of that nostalgic cafeteria flavor comes from.

What Makes School Cafeteria Cinnamon Rolls Different?

If you remember those big pans of fluffy rolls the cafeteria ladies used to make, you probably remember how soft and fluffy they were. Well, they’d use that same dough to create the best cinnamon rolls. They weren’t fancy bakery cinnamon rolls piled high with cream cheese frosting. They were good, old fashioned yeast rolls with a buttery cinnamon sugar filling and a simple powdered sugar glaze.

That’s exactly what we’re making here.

The lunch lady cafeteria rolls dough is soft and slightly sweet, the filling uses both brown and white sugar, and the glaze is thin enough to run down into all those pretty cinnamon swirls.

You don’t need anything fancy to make a pan of these, either. Just a few pantry staples, a rolling pin, and a hungry crew ready to lap them up hot from the oven!

How Do You Keep Homemade Cinnamon Rolls Soft and Fluffy?

If there’s one thing I want in a cinnamon roll, it’s a gooey center. I don’t want a dry, tough roll that needs half a cup of coffee just to wash it down!

And the good news is, making soft cinnamon rolls really isn’t difficult.

For starters, don’t get carried away adding the flour all at once. You want it soft and slightly tacky, not stiff.

You’ll also want to let it rise until it’s doubled in size, both before and after shaping your rolls. Don’t worry too much about how long that takes. Sometimes my kitchen is warm and the dough rises quickly, and other times it takes its sweet time. Just watch the dough instead of the clock.

And don’t forget that little splash of cream before baking! It’s one of my favorite tricks for making these rolls extra soft and rich.

Of course, you’ll want to pull them out of the oven once they’re golden and baked through. Leaving them in too long can dry them out, and we certainly don’t want that after all our hard work!

Can You Make School Cafeteria Cinnamon Rolls Ahead of Time?

Now, if you’re wanting a pan of fresh cinnamon rolls for breakfast but don’t particularly feel like getting up before the chickens to make them, you can do most of the work the night before. Just make your dough, let it rise, and shape your cinnamon rolls as usual. Once you’ve got them tucked into your greased baking pan, cover them well and put them in the refrigerator overnight.

In the morning, take them out and let them finish rising until they’re nice and puffy. This might take a little while since the dough will be cold, so give yourself some extra time. Maybe about an hour. Then pour over your cream and bake just as you normally would.

I love having little tricks like this tucked away for busy mornings, holidays, or those Saturdays when a homemade breakfast sounds wonderful but a slow morning sounds even better.

School Cafeteria Cinnamon Rolls Video(s)

School Cafeteria Cinnamon Rolls Recipe

Dough

• 3/4 cup water
• 2 1/4 teaspoons yeast
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup melted unsalted butter
• 1 egg
• 2 1/2–3 cups all purpose flour or bread flour
• 3/4 teaspoon salt

Cinnamon Sugar Filling

• 1/4 cup melted unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup white sugar

Vanilla Glaze

• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• Pinch of salt
• Splash of vanilla
• Enough milk or water to make a glaze

Mix the Dough

In a large mixing bowl, combine warm water, melted butter, egg, yeast, and sugar. Add 2 1/2 cups of flour and the salt to the yeast mixture, then begin kneading until the dough starts coming together.

If the dough is still very sticky, add a little more flour, 1/4 cup at a time. You want a soft dough that’s just slightly sticky to the touch, but not wet or impossible to handle.

Don’t be too quick to add all that extra flour! A soft dough makes for soft cinnamon rolls, and too much flour can leave you with a heavier roll than you’re after.

Once the dough is smooth and elastic, cover the bowl with a clean tea towel and place dough in a warm area to let the dough rise until doubled in size.

Roll Out the Dough and Add the Filling

Once the dough has doubled, gently punch it down and turn it out onto your countertop. Knead it for a few minutes in a little more flour, then roll it into a rectangle shape about 9 by 13 inches.

Spread the 1/4 cup of melted (or softened is fine) butter over the dough, leaving about a 1/2-inch strip uncovered along one of the long edges.

In a small bowl, stir together the cinnamon, brown sugar, and white sugar. Sprinkle the mixture evenaly over the buttered dough, spreading it all the way to the edges on the two short sides and one long side. It will seem like a lot of powder, but it’s needed!

Leave that little uncovered strip on the remaining long side. We’ll use it to pinch the dough closed once it’s rolled up.

Cut the Cinnamon Rolls and Let Them Rise

Starting with the long buttered edge, roll the dough up into a log. I like to roll the entire length a little and as I roll it, I lift it up away from the countertop and pull the roll towards me as I roll away from me. This adds tension and pulls the roll tighter for more of a swirl. When you reach the uncovered edge, pinch the seam together to keep everything tucked inside.

Trim the ends if you’d like a nice, even roll, then cut the dough into 1 1/2 to 2 inch slices. The number of rolls you end up with can vary but generally, I get about 8 rolls, not counting the ends I cut off. I just like to stick those in tight in the center of the pan wherever they’ll fit. 

Place the cinnamon rolls in a greased 9 by 13 inch baking pan or a 10 inch round cast iron skillet, leaving about an inch between them. Cover with a tea towel and let them rise again until doubled in size and nice and puffy.

Bake the Cinnamon Rolls

Once the rolls have risen, pour a little cream over each one. You don’t need to drown them, just enough to give them a little extra richness as they bake. Bake at 375°F until the tops are golden brown and the centers are baked through. Your kitchen ought to be smelling mighty good by now!

Let Cool and Glaze

Allow the cinnamon rolls to cool just a little before adding the icing. If they’re too hot, that gooey glaze will melt right off.

In a small bowl, combine the powdered sugar, a pinch of salt, a splash of vanilla, and enough milk or water to make a smooth glaze.

You can make your icing as thick or thin as you like, but around here, we prefer a thinner, pourable glaze. I love how it coats every swirl and runs down around the sides of the rolls, soaking into all that cinnamon sugar goodness. Pour the glaze generously over the warm cinnamon rolls and serve.

A Little Taste of the Old School Cafeteria

Now, you certainly can’t talk about school cafeteria cinnamon rolls without talking about chili! I don’t know if your school served them together, but ours sure did, and it was one of my favorite lunches. A big bowl of chili with one of those soft, sweet cinnamon rolls on the side was about as good as it got. Of course, they’re just as good for breakfast with a plate of scrambled eggs and bacon, or even as an afternoon treat with a cup of coffee.

I think that’s one of my favorite things about cooking from scratch. We get to bring a little piece of our childhood into our own kitchens and share it with our families. And this one, is a family favorite! My little ones may not be eating lunch in the same school cafeteria I did, but they can still enjoy those wonderful old fashioned cinnamon rolls around our own kitchen table. And I think that’s pretty special.

If you’d like to see the dough, filling, and rolling process in action, be sure to watch the video playlist above. Sometimes it’s easier to see just how soft that dough ought to be than to read about it!