We’ve got tons of Thanksgiving traditions in my family that I look forward to every year:
Sipping mimosas while watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
Someone throwing a fit about losing at Scrabble, fueled by the aforementioned mimosas.
Pumpkin pie eaten while watching movies by the fire at night.
Cinnamon rolls to start the day off right.
Yes, before the mimosas, Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, turkey and pie – there’s always a warm batch of cinnamon rolls waiting for my brothers and me as we trickle into my parent’s house from our respective neighborhoods.
They’re warm. They’re sweet. They’re covered in thick icing.
They also kind of sit like a rock in your stomach for a couple hours afterwards. Especially the doughy center piece you fought your brothers off for.
Well this year I thought I’d try something new when it came to those special Thanksgiving morning cinnamon rolls. I thought I’d be the one to bring ‘em, so I could scale back the size and sugar quantity a bit, and start the Thanksgiving morning off right with…
Mini Cinnamon Rolls with Maple Icing!
Don’t you just want to pinch their plump, cinnamon-swirled, icing covered CHEEKS? 
These babies are totally awesome, cause you only need to pop one or two (ok probably 3!) to get the comforting taste of an indulgent cinnamon roll, and YOU control the sugar and butter content in them. Plus they’re really easy. Yep, get ready to channel your inner Sandra Lee and bust out a tube of crescent roll dough. One tube will get you 16 mini cinnamon rolls.
Lay half the dough next to each other, and pinch the seams together.
Flip and repeat.
Next take a rolling pin and roll the dough into a square about 1/4″ thick.
Brush on 1 Tablespoon butter,
sprinkle with cinnamon,
and add a dusting of brown sugar.
Roll the dough into one big log, and cut into 8 even slices.
PS you can use as much cinnamon and brown sugar in these rolls as you want. This is a total non-recipe recipe!
Place the rolls into a non-stick sprayed mini muffin tin and bake for 8-10 minutes, or until golden brown.
Whee!
Aren’t they the cutest? I can’t even describe how delicious they smelled warm out of the oven!
As the minis bake, mix up a quick icing made with maple syrup, powdered sugar, and a little bit of milk. While the cinnamon rolls were still warm, drizzle a teaspoon or two of the icing on top of each one.
DROOL…
Mini Cinnamon Rolls with Maple Icing
Makes 16 mini cinnamon rolls
Ingredients:
1-8oz tube crescent roll dough
2 Tablespoons butter
cinnamon
brown sugar
For the maple icing:
1 teaspoon maple syrup
1 Tablespoon skim milk
3/4 cup powdered sugar
Directions:
1. Preheat oven according to crescent roll dough package directions. Layout half the dough (4 triangles) and pinch all the seams together. Flip over and pinch the seams on the back side together too.
2. Using a rolling pin, smooth the seams and roll the dough into a square about 1/4″ thick. Brush with half the butter, and sprinkle with as much cinnamon and brown sugar as you want. Roll into a log and cut into 8 pieces.
3. Place mini cinnamon rolls into a non-stick sprayed mini muffin tin. Repeat steps 1 and 2 with the other half of the crescent roll dough. Bake according to package directions.
4. Meanwhile whisk together maple syrup and milk in a bowl. Add in powdered sugar until desired consistency is reached. Drizzle over warm cinnamon rolls.
These sweet, poppable bites are tiny enough to sit on a spoon…
but pack BIG, bold flavor!
I’d advise making a couple batches – they’ll go fast!
Have a wonderful, happy, tasty Thanksgiving everyone!
~~~~~
What are some of your Thanksgiving traditions?
and, this settles it- we NEED a mini muffin pan! totally wanna make these!
These are delicious and easy! Thank you so much for sharing your recipe. They are a huge hit at my house.
I am a cinnamon roll lover and I say this is BRILLANT!
[...] seem like a dream. cinnamon rolls in 8 minutes? its true! these are super fast and easy. the best part is that it is a recipe that requires ingredients that [...]
You’ve got some great ideas. I can’t wait to try them!! Thanks ror sharing!!!
wat else can i use for the pastry as we dont have the one u mentioned. puff pastry??
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I just wanted to thank you for posting this. I try making new things in the kitchen, create art, crafts,etc. But I never take the time to take pics and write out a how to. So I’m so grateful that there are people out there like you doing it. So a huge THANK YOU!
Tried these today and they turned out amazing! This will be made many times in my home…all thanks to YOU!
I tried these this weekend and have to thank you for posting such a delicious and easy recipe! It was a huge hit!
I just made these with my 9-year-old son, and they are fantastic! We had fun rolling out the dough, sprinkling the cinnamon and brown sugar, and eating them! Ours came out looking like little flowers and were gone within just a couple of minutes. Thank you!
I have made these with regular sugar and then when making the icing, use orange juice for the liquid with the powdered sugar. They taste like like orange muffins! Lemons are also and good flavor.
I tried these! They were very good and very easy to make! Thanks for sharing!
Hello,
Can someone please explain to me what crescent rolls are please. I really want to make these.
Thank you
So I guess the big question is, how do you not just eat them all at once?
How did you cut them without one side turning into a triangle type shape?
Thought I’d let you know that my sister and I here in the UK saw your recipe and made some…well over 100 to be honest. Yes 100, we made them for my sisters Church congregation today April 20th. She has just reported back that they went down a storm with none left. Luckily I made a few extra for my boys and now I have to make more as they ate them all.
We couldn’t get the dough over here, so we used puff pastry, but they are really yummy.
Thanks for the recipe.
Lilly
Oh yeah and we made your corn dog muffins…all gone. Thanks x
Made these this morning for the first time…WOW! SUPER EASY AND QUICK! My boys LOVED them! A nice (and surprising) change from cereal for breakfast
Thanks for sharing!
Love these! I added crumbled microwave bacon to the maple frosting, they were fabulous! Thanks for sharing the recipe.
I just made these but added chunks of chopped, ripe banana to the inside and it was even tastier than the plain ones!
[...] They’re also perfect for entertaining and this recipe will have them baked in no time (okay not no time but 8 minutes is pretty fast) which is good because I am pretty sure you’ll be baking more! This recipe is great because it calls for ingredients which most likely you will have on hand or are cheap to buy at the grocery store, for the full recipe go to Iowa Girl Eats [...]
[...] this recipe (slightly adapted from Iowa Girl Eats) Share This Post…You know you [...]
I made these for breakfast… Sooooo good! Thanks so much for this simple recipe!
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I am so excited to make these this morning for Mother’s Day! Thanks for the amazing recipe!