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Without a doubt this is the Best Cinnamon Roll Recipe you’ll ever eat. These are the Famous Trilogy Cinnamon Rolls, and you need this recipe.

Trilogy Cinnamon Rolls are a homemade cinnamon roll recipe with a pillowy soft and sweet yeasted dough filled with sugar and cinnamon and topped with the most delicious icing ever. Then they’re sprinkled with macadamia nuts!

one cinnamon roll on a white plate with a fork.


Gooey Cinnamon Rolls

Right now is about when you are thinking to yourself, what the heck is a Trilogy Cinnamon Roll, am I right? Well, I’m about to tell you: they’re the BEST cinnamon rolls you’ll ever eat. And the recipe makes TWO PANS!

If you’ve ever been to Maui, you might be familiar with the Trilogy Sailing Excursions. They do catamaran snorkeling and sunset cruises out of Lahaina and they feed you cinnamon rolls on the trip. We’ve been sailing with Trilogy for over 20 years – and we hope to go back some day once Maui has recovered.

The cinnamon roll dough is soft and fluffy and they’re filled with the best cinnamon sugar filling – and topped with a unique frosting that makes the rolls, along with the sprinkling of macadamia nuts. These are EPIC!

Famous Trilogy Cinnamon Rolls Recipe

Ingredients Needed

  • Active Dry Yeast: This recipe is designed for active dry yeast – NOT instant!
  • Pure Cane Sugar: You may substitute granulated sugar or brown sugar.
  • Vegetable Oil: Where my normal cinnamon rolls use butter in the dough, these use oil, making them super soft.
  • All Purpose Flour: You can also substitute bread flour.
  • Macadamia Nuts: The best Hawaiian touch shop them small.
  • Lemon Extract and Almond Extract: These go in the frosting. Sounds weird – but it works! My normal cinnamon rolls are frosted with cream cheese frosting, but these just use softened butter and you don’t miss the cream cheese icing at all.

How to make Fluffy Cinnamon Rolls

  • You’ll want your water to be warm to start – between 100-110°F. Use an instant read thermometer for best results. Place the warm water in the bowl of an electric stand mixer and add yeast. Allow the yeast to activate – it will bubble and foam.
  • Whisk eggs and oil together. Add the egg mixture to the yeast mixture along with 1 cup of the flour.  Start the mixer and then slowly add rest of flour, stirring in gradually. Run the mixer with the dough hook until the dough is elastic. Turn it out onto a floured board and knead it a few times until it is no longer sticky.
  • Place the dough into a bowl that’s been sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. Let the dough rise until doubled.
  • Spray two 9×13-inch baking pans with nonstick cooking spray.
  • Divide the dough in half and roll each into a rectangle. Top with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. Slice rolls and place 12 in each baking pan, then let sit for a second rise.
  • Preheat oven to 350°F. Bake sweet rolls approximately 20-25 minutes.
  • Make the icing: beat butter and confectioners’ sugar until crumbly, the add extracts, salt, and heavy whipping cream and mix until smooth.
  • Sprinkle the warm rolls with chopped macadamia nuts and spread with icing.
one cinnamon roll on a white plate with a fork.

Expert Tips

  • To help them rise faster, place them on the stove top or near the oven while it’s preheating. You can also set the bowl and/or pans over a heating pad set to low.
  • Use unflavored dental floss to make the slicing easier., or use a serrated sharp knife.
  • Cinnamon buns are done baking when they are a beautiful light golden brown. The cooking time is approximately 20-25 minutes.
  • Serve warm or room temperature. Store tightly covered for up to 4 days.
  • Freeze baked or unbaked rolls for up to 3 months – thaw before baking.

FAQs

Can you freeze these cinnamon rolls?

You can! Freeze in an airtight container for up to 3 months!

How do you store them?

You can store at room temperature or in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.

Famous trilogy cinnamon roll on white plate with silver fork

Famous Trilogy Cinnamon Rolls Recipe

3.95 from 19 votes
This is my favorite soft and fluffy cinnamon roll – they're the official recipe from Trilogy Sailing Excursions.
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Resting Time 2 hours
Total Time 2 hours 55 minutes
Yield 24 rolls
Serving Size 1 roll

Ingredients
 

Dough:

  • 1 ½ cups (355ml) warm water
  • 2 tablespoons active dry yeast
  • ½ cup (100g) pure cane sugar (may substitute granulated sugar)
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 large eggs
  • ¾ cup (177ml) vegetable oil
  • 5 cups (620g) all-purpose flour

Filling:

  • 6 tablespoons (85g) unsalted butter , melted
  • cup (167g) pure cane sugar or brown sugar
  • 2-4 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Icing:

  • ½ cup finely chopped Macadamia nuts
  • 6 tablespoons (85g) unsalted butter , softened
  • 2 cups (226g) powdered sugar
  • ¼ tsp lemon extract
  • ¼ tsp almond extract
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 3 tablespoons (45ml) heavy whipping cream
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Instructions

  • Place warm water (about 100-110°F) into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook. (The easiest way to test the water is using an instant read thermometer, but if you don’t have one, think hot bathwater.) Sprinkle the yeast into the water, then add the salt and sugar. Stir with a wooden spoon. Let rest until it bubbles, about 5 minutes.
  • In another bowl or large measuring cup, whisk eggs and oil together. Add the egg mixture to the yeast mixture along with 1 cup of the flour.  Start the mixer and then slowly add rest of flour, stirring in gradually. Run the mixture for about 5-10 minutes or until the dough is elastic. The dough will be slightly sticky and very soft. Turn it out onto a floured board and knead it a few times until it is no longer sticky.
  • Place the dough into a bowl that’s been sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. Let rest until doubled.
  • Spray two 9×13” pans with nonstick cooking spray.
  • Punch down the dough and divide it in half. Roll each half out to a rectangle that is about 12×15”. To fill, spread each rectangle with melted butter, sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar to taste. Roll up lengthwise. Make roll as tight as possible. Cut into one-inch pieces. Place in greased pan so that rolls just touch each other.
  • At this point you have two options: 1. Let rise until doubled (about 20-30 minutes), then bake as directed below or 2. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and chill overnight. Let the rolls come to room temperature before baking.
  • Preheat oven to 350°F. Bake approximately 20-25 minutes.
  • Make the icing: beat butter and powdered sugar until crumbly, the add extracts, salt, and heavy whipping cream and mix until smooth. The frosting should be thin enough to easily spread but not liquidy.
  • Sprinkle the warm rolls with chopped macadamia nuts and spread with icing. Serve warm or room temperature. Store tightly covered for up to 4 days.

Recipe Video

Recipe Nutrition

Serving: 1roll | Calories: 300kcal | Carbohydrates: 36g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 16g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Trans Fat: 0.3g | Cholesterol: 33mg | Sodium: 129mg | Potassium: 56mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 16g | Vitamin A: 248IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 14mg | Iron: 1mg
Nutritional information not guaranteed to be accurate
Course Breakfast
Cuisine American

Favorite Cinnamon Rolls

Last Updated on March 12, 2024



Dorothy Kern

Welcome to Crazy for Crust, where I share recipes that are sometimes crazy, often with a crust, and always served with a slice of life.

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40 Comments

  1. Cinnamon rolls and snorkeling?! What a fun way to spend a day! I never pass on cinnamon rolls myself šŸ™‚

  2. My hubby and I have been on 2 Trilogy trips while in Maui the past few years and can attest to the fact that these are YUMMY! Ā I have to second your initial thought that eating them while on a catamaran does add to the experience šŸ™‚ Ā Thanks for sharing the link to their other recipes as well. the noodles are relish! Love your blog and videos!

  3. Life is too short to pass on a cinnamon roll – you’re right! This recipe sounds amazing – can’t wait to try!

  4. I have tried almost every recipe in this thread but the one handed down from my grandmother (from her mother) is, by far, the best.Ā If you want I can write it out. It’s amazing. I have yet to meet a single person who didn’t say it is the best they’ve ever had.

  5. What a great way to keep a little reminder of Maui when your home. I love to find the signature of a trip and be able to recreate it, for me its Pad Thai from a remarkable trip to Chiang Mai in Thailand.

    http://www.yankified.com

  6. For you to say that this is your forever-and-ever recipe from now on, that’s huge. Wow, that is such a big statement and I wish I could have been in your kitchen (or on that catamaran in Maui!) to sample one!!

    I love almond extract with a passion…I bet it’s heavenly in these!

    And I have NEVER been fed sweets on catamaran sailing events or excursions when traveling. Ā It’s always salty appetizers (usually poorly done) and I would love a cinn roll!!

  7. How could anyone pass on cinnamon rolls? Don’t they know what’s good for them? Cinnamon rolls are one of my favorite things to make. I have to try these!

  8. Iā€™m so jealous you went to Maui, Iā€™ve always wanted to go but unfortunately for me, itā€™s not in the budget so Iā€™ll keep on dreaming!

    And these cinnamon rolls look the bomb, girl! So, so good. And perfect any time of the year. Pinning!