Cheesecake Stuffed Cinnamon Rolls

Jump to Recipe

Hawaiian rolls are loaded with a cheesecake filling, covered in sweet cinnamon butter, baked to golden perfection, and finished with a simple frosting. These are a quick and easy breakfast or brunch, perfect for the holidays.

If you like these shortcut kings Hawaiian cinnamon rolls, you’ll also like my boston cream Hawaiian rolls! They’re rich, decadent, and super easy to make!

Why you’ll love this recipe:

Whenever I need to make a special breakfast, I always turn to this shortcut cinnamon roll recipe. Christmas morning, birthdays, you name it, my family always requests that we begin our celebrations with these gooey cheesecake stuffed cinnamon rolls!

Everyone knows the best part of a cinnamon roll is the middle, because it’s the part that is the softest and the gooiest! But what if I told you these easy hawaiian roll cinnamon rolls are sweet, soft, and gooey throughout, topped with an incredible cream cheese icing, AND ready in under 30 minutes?!

Ingredients you’ll need:

For the filling:

• Kings Hawaiian Original Sweet Rolls
• Cream cheese- softened
• Powdered sugar
• Vanilla extract

For the cinnamon butter:

• Butter- melted
• Brown sugar
• Cinnamon

For the frosting:

• Cream cheese- softened
• Powdered sugar
• Heavy whipping cream

Let’s be honest, homemade cinnamon rolls are a ton of work, between kneading the dough, waiting for it to rise, rolling, cutting, etc., sometimes it’s nice to have a quick, delicious, and indulgent recipe that mimics the flavors and textures of homemade cinnamon buns, without all the work!

Kings hawaiian rolls are the key to creating these perfect little cinnamon rolls, thanks to their perfect amount of sweetness and pillowy texture! Simply poke holes in them, pipe a decadent cream cheese filling into the middle, pour on melted cinnamon butter, and bake until gooey. Then you create a luscious cream cheese frosting, and you’ll have the most perfect little cinnamon rolls in no time.

How to make the best cream cheese stuffed cinnamon rolls:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Separate the hawaiian rolls from each other, then use your finger or the handle of a utensil to punch a hole into the side of each roll.
• In a medium mixing bowl, combine softened cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract. Mix until there are no lumps remaining.
• Transfer the cream cheese mixture into a piping bag or Ziploc bag, cut off one end of the bag, then generously fill each hawaiian roll.
• Place the filled Hawaiian rolls into a 9×9 baking dish, then set aside.
• In another mixing bowl, combine melted butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Evenly pour the cinnamon butter onto the hawiian rolls, and bake for 10 minutes.
• In the meantime, make the frosting by combining softened cream cheese, powdered sugar, and heavy whipping cream.
• When the cinnamon rolls come out of the oven, spread on the frosting before enjoying!

Nothing is better than a pan of warm cinnamon rolls! These come together so quickly that they make a perfect quick sweet treat for breakfast or brunch.  These would also be so perfect on a Christmas morning! Especially because you can easily double the recipe for a larger crowd.

My top tips:

• HAWAIIAN ROLLS: I used a 12-count package of Kings Hawaiian rolls, but you can use any premade, precooked roll. However, I like the King’s Hawaiian rolls best because they have a subtly sweet and light texture.
• SOFTENED CREAM CHEESE: Using softened cream cheese is key in this recipe! It’s super important to make sure your cream cheese is fully softened so that it incorporates into the other ingredients easily and ensures your filling and frosting will be smooth and creamy, rather than lumpy.
• PIPING BAGS: Adding the cream cheese filling into a piping bag helps control how much filling you’re piping into to the Hawaiian rolls and in turn, keeps them nice and neat. You can also use a large Ziploc bag here.
• FILLING THE ROLLS: I like punching a hole in the side of each roll, then filling the rolls through that same hole. If you would rather fill the rolls from the top or bottom, feel free to change the placement of the holes!
• BAKING: Popping these hawaiian roll cinnamon rolls in the oven helps them soak up all the cinnamon butter flavor and makes the filling warm and gooey. It’s important to evenly pour the cinnamon butter on top of the rolls so that the rolls don’t dry out while baking.
• MAKING THE FROSTING: Adding whipping cream to the frosting keeps it thick and fluffy! If you want something that is thinner, glaze consistency, you can use whole milk in place of the whipping cream.
• STORING: Cheesecake stuffed cinnamon rolls are best enjoyed day of. You can make the cream cheese filling a day ahead and keep it in the refrigerator, then fill and bake the rolls when ready to enjoy.

Looking for more easy baking recipes? Try these out!

• No Bake Peanut Butter Blossoms
• Cherry Pie Cookie Cups
• Butter Toffee Pretzels
• Pecan Pie Ritz Cookies
• Buckeye Graham Crackers
• Churro Bugles
• Peanut Butter Dipped Oreos
• Boston Cream Pie Cookie Bites

This post contains Amazon Affiliate links. Dangthatssweet may receive a small commission for Amazon purchases made through these links at no cost to you. Thanks for your support!