The 2-Ingredient Maple Icing That Seriously Elevates Cinnamon Rolls

It's no small task whipping up delicacies that are as rich and pillowy soft as homemade cinnamon rolls. Typically, the dough needs to be kneaded by hand and given time to rise, the filling needs to be mixed together, and the glaze's ingredients need to warm up on the stove. But if you can omit quite a few steps and end up with a final product that's just as delicious, why wouldn't you? So if easy is what you're going for, skip the complicated glaze and spread a yummy 2-ingredient maple icing on your cinnamon rolls instead.

As its name suggests, you only need two ingredients here: cream cheese and maple syrup. This may sound a little too basic at first, but it's really not so different from a typical cream cheese frosting – you're essentially just using maple syrup instead of powdered sugar and omitting the butter, since this is an icing. The biggest plus here, of course, is that it's infinitely easier to whip up than a classic glaze, since you don't need to get the stove involved. Plus, the whole thing can be finished in about five minutes.

The first step for making this super simple icing is allowing your cream cheese to come to room temperature. You want a luscious, silky final product, and that's hard to achieve with a frigid block. Try to use a full-fat cream cheese for maximum flavor, although a lower fat version will work here too. Once your block is pliable, the easiest way to make this icing is to whip it together in a stand mixer with the whisk attachment. If you only have electric hand beaters, however, you can also use those — but either way, make sure to pause occasionally to scrape down the sides.

Within the basic concept of combining cream cheese and maple syrup, you can customize this recipe a little to fit your taste buds. Start off small with two tablespoons of maple syrup, mix and taste, and add more if you'd like a sweeter icing. And if the maple flavor isn't your favorite, you can also try subbing in honey, agave syrup, or molasses. If you don't mind the extra ingredients, you could also add a dash of vanilla extract, a scrape of vanilla bean paste, or a sprinkle of cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice into the mix. But while these would be delicious, all you need for a simple, tasty icing are the two main ingredients.