The dough should be enriched — butter, eggs, whole milk — and cold-proofed overnight for flavor. A same-day dough is edible; a cold-proofed one is memorable.
The filling should be a paste of soft butter, brown sugar, and Saigon cinnamon. Not a dust of sugar — a paste, so it melts into the dough instead of running out the sides.
The swirl should be tight. Loose swirls unravel in the pan and lose the layered chew that makes a cinnamon roll worth the calories.
The icing should go on warm. Cream cheese icing on a warm roll melts into the folds; on a cold roll it sits on top like a hat.