Your favorite breakfast treat is now in ice cream form! This Cinnamon Roll Ice Cream is packed with cinnamon roll dough and a sweet cinnamon swirl.
I'm pretty sure I could eat cinnamon rolls every day for the rest of my life and be perfectly happy. They're a bit of a labor of love to make, but are worth every minute spent (and to be honest, many of those minutes are simply spent waiting for dough to rise).
I have a huge range of cinnamon roll recipes here on We are not Martha, but lately I've found myself craving that cinnamon roll flavor in more desserts. So, I'm starting with ice cream and going from there.
This cinnamon roll ice cream isn't just a cinnamon-based ice cream... it actually has cinnamon roll dough (think edible cookie dough, but for cinnamon rolls) and a sweet cinnamon sugar swirl incorporated throughout.
This ice cream does also require a bit of time... but much like in the baking of cinnamon rolls, most of that time is simply spent waiting for the ice cream to chill. Aside from that, it's pretty easy to make!
How to Make Cinnamon Roll Ice Cream
If you've ever made homemade ice cream before, this is a pretty standard one, with a few mix-ins incorporated. The cinnamon ice cream base is delicious, but I have to tell you that the add-ins are very necessary for the full cinnamon roll effect.
To start, heat milk, sugar, and cinnamon in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir constantly, until the mixture just reaches the point of simmer. Remove from heat.
In a separate medium bowl, lightly whisk egg yolks. Pour about half of the warm milk into the bowl with the egg yolks, whisking while you do so. This is to temper the eggs so they won't scramble when heated.
Pour the egg/milk mixture back into the saucepan with the rest of the milk.
Cook mixture over low heat, stirring constantly, until it thickens enough to coat the back of the spoon.
Pour the heavy cream into a separate large bowl. Strain the egg/milk mixture into the heavy cream and stir to combine. Stir in vanilla.
Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for at least 4 hours.
How to Make Cinnamon Roll Dough
While your cinnamon roll ice cream base is chilling, you should make the cinnamon roll dough as it also needs to chill for an hour.
This cinnamon roll dough is edible because it doesn't have any raw eggs in it. However, flour can also cause foodborne illness, so it's recommended that you heat treat the flour before using it. I like to spread it on a baking sheet and heat it at 350 degrees for about 5 minutes. Easy peasy!
In the bowl of a stand mixer or a large bowl with a hand mixer, cream butter and brown sugar together until light and fluffy. Mix in vanilla and salt.
Slowly beat in flour and cinnamon until combined. Stir in milk.
Pop the dough in the fridge for about an hour.
How to Make Cinnamon Swirl
And right before you're ready to process the ice cream, whip up the super simple cinnamon swirl mixture.
All you have to do is combine the melted butter, corn syrup, brown sugar, and cinnamon in a small bowl. Don't make this too far in advance of processing ice cream or else it will harden. If this happens, pop it in the microwave for a few seconds.
When the ice cream base has been fully chilled, process in ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s directions. When it's almost done hardening, mix in the cinnamon roll cookie dough and cinnamon swirl mixture. I recommend using about ½ cup of the cinnamon roll dough, but you can, of course, use as much as you like!
Scoop ice cream in airtight containers and place in the freezer for another 4+ hours, but ideally overnight.
omg you have no idea how excited I was to dig into this!
Scoop generous servings of cinnamon roll ice cream into bowls. The ice cream really requires no toppings since it has so many delicious goodies packed into it, but I really wouldn't judge you if you topped it with some marshmallow sauce or something like that (kind of like the icing on top of cinnamon rolls!).
I also wouldn't judge you if you had a little bowl for breakfast or brunch because if cinnamon rolls are an acceptable breakfast, why wouldn't cinnamon roll ice cream be?
But really, this is the perfect fall ice cream as it goes so perfectly with all kinds of pies (especially apple and pumpkin!) and other fall desserts, like apple crisp or pumpkin anything.
And it really, really does taste just like a fresh batch of homemade cinnamon rolls!
The ice cream is absolutely packed with sweet cinnamon flavor and the cinnamon roll dough adds the perfect little bite.
Don't you think we should make "dough" versions of all our favorite desserts? Why do cookies get all the love??
If you make one ice cream this fall, I think it should be this cinnamon roll ice cream... But also maybe make my sweet potato ice cream? OK, and my Apple Pie Ice Cream, too. And if you find yourself with some extra time on your hands and a serious craving for ice cream, add my pumpkin beer ice cream to your list! The next fall ice cream I make will be this caramelized fig ice cream from Sushiday!
Are you a huge cinnamon roll fan like me?
Cinnamon Roll Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups whole milk
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- 4 large egg yolks
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ cup cinnamon roll dough, broken into pieces
- Cinnamon swirl, recipe below
Cinnamon Roll Dough
- 4 Tbsp (½ stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
- ¼ cup + 2 Tbsp light brown sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ⅛ tsp salt
- ½ cup + 1 Tbsp all-purpose flour (see notes for heat-treating)
- 1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 Tbsp milk
Cinnamon Swirl
- 3 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
- 1 Tbsp corn syrup
- 3 Tbsp light brown sugar
- 1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Heat milk, sugar, and cinnamon in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir constantly, until the mixture just reaches the point of simmer. Remove from heat.
- In a separate medium bowl, lightly whisk egg yolks. Pour about half of the warm milk into the bowl with the egg yolks, whisking while you do so. Pour the egg/milk mixture back into the saucepan with the rest of the milk.
- Cook mixture over low heat, stirring constantly, until it thickens enough to coat the back of the spoon.
- Pour the heavy cream into a separate large bowl. Strain the egg/milk mixture into the heavy cream and stir to combine. Stir in the vanilla. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for at least 4 hours.
- While ice cream is chilling, make cookie roll dough (it needs to charge for an hour). Right before processing ice cream, make cinnamon swirl mixture. You'll want it to cool, but still be liquid. If it hardens before you're ready to use it in ice cream, heat it in the microwave for a few seconds.
- Once mixture has been sufficiently chilled, process in ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s directions. When the ice cream is almost done hardening, mix in the cinnamon roll cookie dough and cinnamon swirl mixture.
- Scoop ice cream in airtight containers and place in the freezer for another 4+ hours, but ideally overnight.
Cinnamon Roll Cookie Dough
- In the bowl of a stand mixer or a large bowl with a hand mixer, cream butter and brown sugar together until light and fluffy. Mix in vanilla and salt.
- Slowly beat in flour and cinnamon until combined. Stir in milk.
- Refrigerate cookie dough for at least one hour.
Cinnamon Swirl
- In a small bowl, combine melted butter, corn syrup, brown sugar, and cinnamon.
Notes
- To ensure flour is safe for eating (raw flour can cause foodborne illness), you can toast it. Just spread flour on a baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for about 5 minutes
Diane says
This was outstanding. I brought it to Thanksgiving and everyone was raving about it. The cookie dough really brought it next level and was actually very easy to put together. The cinnamon swirl was also easy to mix and tasted exactly like the swirl in a cinnamon bun but I would probably omit next time just to simplify. Even just the cinnamon ice cream itself is absolutely delicious. Thank you for posting!