The Best Date Cinnamon Roll Recipe! Easy Old Fashioned

This Date Cinnamon Roll Recipe is so sweet and delicious! No one will notice they aren't filled with sugar, because they're filled with caramelly gooey dates and cinnamon and rolled to perfection!

These date cinnamon rolls make everyone excited to eat, and I'll show you how to make them from scratch.

Date Cinnamon Roll Recipe

Ingredients

Dough Ingredients

• 1 & ¾ tablespoons Active Dry Yeast
• 2 teaspoon sugar
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 2 cups of warm water (100°-110° F)
• 1 & ½ teaspoons SALT
• ¼ cup melted butter or your favorite oil
• 5-6 cups flour.

Filling Ingredients

• 3 eggs
• ⅓ cup butter
• 1 & ½ - 8 ounce packages of chopped dates

Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting

• 3 cups of powdered sugar
• ⅓ cup melted butter
• ½ cup cream cheese
• 2 tablespoons cream
• 1-2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Activate Yeast

To make these date cinnamon rolls from scratch start with the yeast - The first step is to dissolve yeast and activate it in warm water with a little bit of sugar!

In a glass cup or small bowl, dissolve 1 and ¾ tablespoons of active dry yeast, and 2 teaspoons of granulated sugar (or honey) in 1 cups of warm water. Let it stand a few minutes till it gets nice and frothy, I'll show you what that looks like in this video. ***Important - Do not use HOT water, because it will kill the yeast. Your water should be warm to the touch (about 100°-110° F).

*** If you are using INSTANT yeast, you can add your yeast directly in with other ingredients and skip the activating step. (Just make sure you use 2 cups of water in the recipe.)

Add All Other Ingredients & Mix

Add the remaining sugar, flour, salt, into your mixing bowl and give it a stir to combine. Make a small hole (nest hole) in the middle of your flour mixture and pour in the activated yeast and the remaining 1 cup of warm water.

Now MIX! You can mix with your hand or with a kneading attachment on your Kitchen Air or mixer. (This will get too thick for a hand mixer.) Mix till well combine, about 2 minutes in an electric mixer or 5 minutes by hand.

Knead Your Dough!

This is the fun part! Now it's time to sprinkle a small areas (1'-2'x1'-2') of your clean counter top with a bit of flour to prevent sticking. Dump your mixture out of the mixing bowl on to the floured counter space and start kneading.

If the dough is sticky, sprinkle flour on top and keep kneading. Continue this process till your dough is super soft (like babies skin) and no longer too sticky, but still smooth and elastic. Knead your dough for at least 7 minutes. ***Don't add flour till it's dry or hard to knead, because that will make dense dry bread.

It's ok if your dough sticks a bit to the counter, or bottom of the bowel if kneading in bowl.

Let Your Dough Rise!

Put your kneaded bread dough into an oiled mixing bowl that is at least twice the size of the dough. Spread the top of your dough with a little oil so that it won't dry out while rising.

Cover your dough and bowl with a clean cloth, and set in a warm place to rise for about an hour. If your house is cold it will take longer to rise. You can put rising dough in a warmed oven. Just turn your oven on for a couple minutes till it gets warm (NOT HOT) and then turn the oven off. AFTER turning the oven off, put your bowl of dough in to rise.

Let rise till doubled in size (about an hour).

TIP: How to make bread with granite counters - Solid surface counters stay colder, so if you have granite or a hard surface countertop, put a folded towel under the bowl of dough. This will keep dough warm while rising, and insulate it from the colder countertop.

Punch Dough Down & Roll It Out!

"Punching the dough" down just pushes out the air inside so that you don't get huge holes in your bread. (Don't worry, it will rise again.)

Quickly roll your dough oto an oiled or floured counter top. Roll into a rectangle shape measuring about 10 inches by 20 inches.

What Kind Of Bread Pan Should I Use?

There are a lot of baking pan options to make cinnamon rolls. I love to use my ceramic and glass pans for cinnamon rolls! They heat evenly and loaves bake really well.

You don't have to have a baking pan, you can make these cinnamon rolls on a baking/cookie sheet.

Date Cinnamon Roll Filling

To make the filling for this date cinnamon roll recipe: First - In a food processor or blender combine 1 and a half packages of chopped dates with ⅓ a cup of cutter and 3 eggs and blend till all incorporated.

*This is much easier in a food processor. I used my blender because my food processor bit the dust a bit ago.

Spread Filling & Roll Dough

Get your filling all out of the mixer, and spread it all over the rectangle shaped dough. LEAVE about an inch or so on the edges of dough uncovered by filling.

Roll your dough starting at one end (long end) and continue till the entire rectangle of dough is one big roll.

Cut Date Cinnamon Rolls & Place in Buttered Pan

Starting at one end of big rolled up dough log, cut into 1.5 inch roll one at a time with a serrated knife. Then place each cut cinnamon roll into baking dish.

***Do not cut all the rolls before placing them into the baking dish, because they'll stick together and make a mess.

Let Cinnamon Rolls Rise Again

Cover date cinnamon rolls with a clean towel again, and Put them in a warm place to rise before baking them. Let rise for 30 minutes.

***If your house is cold, turn the oven on for just a minute or two to warm it and TURN IT OFF. Then put your covered rolls in to rise.

Bake Your Date Cinnamon Rolls!

If your cinnamon rolls are rising in the oven, take them out. Move your oven racks to the center of the oven, and preheat your oven to three hundred and fifty degrees - 350°F.

Once your oven is preheated, put your baking dish in on center racks, and let bake for 30 minutes.

Check them at 30 minutes, they should be nice and golden on top. Perfectly baked cinnamon rolls should be about 190° degrees F inside.

Let Date Cinnamon Rolls Cool OR Frost Them!

When cinnamon rolls are done, remove them with hot pads and set them on the counter. Let rolls cool for ten minutes. Then enjoy! OR use the vanilla cream cheese frosting recipe below to frost your warm rolls and ENJOY!

TIP

Don't skimp when kneading bread dough! Kneading dough activates the proteins in the flour that make bread elastic and hold together well! Aim to knead your cinnamon roll dough for at least seven minutes.

Effects of Weather on Date Cinnamon Roll Recipe

The weather can affect on how you make dough for date cinnamon roll recipe in different ways! If it's cold, it will take longer to rise. If it's a hot day, your dough will rise much faster, so keep an eye on your dough and just let it double the first rise and the second rise.

***If your dough rises too much, it will fall while baking and you'll have a flatter cinnamon rolls that aren't as exciting.

If you are in a humid climate, you'll need to add more flour while kneading. Add flour ⅛ a cup at a time till dough is smooth and elastic. You may need to add ¼ cup to ½ cup in humid climates.

Don't Knead Dough After First Rise

After your dough rises the first time, you'll punch it down and shape it... Make sure you don't overhandle it at this point. Overworking dough at this point will make dense and less fluffy cinnamon rolls.

How To Store Date Cinnamon Rolls

If you have any cinnamon rolls left after they're cool, my family eats them fast, you can store them in an airtight container.

Place wrapped cinnamon rolls on the counter. If you put it into the refrigerator, they will get hard and stiffer. Keeping finished cinnamon rolls on the counter keeps them soft.

Don't UNDER Bake Date Cinnamon Roll Recipe

If you don't bake your cinnamon rolls long enough, the inside will fall or sink and be doughy. The best way to make sure you've baked your cinnamon rolls long enough is to use a cooking thermometer and check the temp inside the rolls. They should be 190° F inside before you take it out.

How To Make Date Cinnamon Roll Recipe From Scratch - Easy Recipe

This is the simple date cinnamon roll recipe I use to make them from scratch at home. Yields 24 date cinnamon rolls:

Directions

In a small bowl dissolve 2 teaspoon sugar in 1 cup warm water and stir in the yeast with a plastic spoon (not metal it retards yeast growth). Allow to activate till it's foamy on top and growing.

In a large mixing bowl combine all other ingredients BUT hold back 1 cup of flour. And MIX to combine.

Make a well in the middle of flour mixture, and pour in activated yeast and the second cup of warm water.

knead your dough for at least 7 minutes till it is smooth and elastic adding the last cup of flour as needed.

Allow to rise in warm place for about an hour, till dough has doubled in size.

Punch down dough and quickly roll out into 2 10x20" rectangles.

Make filling by blending or using a food processor to mix 3 eggs with ⅓ cup butter and 1 ½ packages of chopped dates.

Spread filling on rectangle shaped dough.

Cut into rolls and place in BUTTERED baking pan.

Preheat your oven to 350° F.

Let rise again for up to 30 minutes, till doubled. Do not let over rise, or they will actually turn out smaller because they'll get too much air inside and then fall while baking.

Bake at 350° F for 30 minutes just till golden brown on top and 190° F inside.

Let your cinnamon rolls cool for 10 mins and enjoy them plain or, better yet, frost with cream cheese vanilla icing recipe below!

ENJOY!

Recipe Card

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