Buzz
Cinnamon rolls are the ultimate ‘reconsider food.’ These treats have a special way of making you say, ‘No, I shouldn’t. But maybe just one.’ Walking past a Cinnabon without taking a few extra breaths is a real test of willpower; the smell of that cinnamon roll is almost thick enough to chew. When I came across a hack for transforming store-bought cinnamon rolls into something Cinnabon-like, I thought, ‘Nah, that’s probably not true. Okay, maybe I’ll give it a try.’ The result was surprisingly tasty, but I don’t think I’ll be doing it again.
I came across a TikTok-famous Cinnabon copycat hack on The Kitchn, which offered a simple solution: Pour heavy cream over store-bought cinnamon rolls and enjoy a doughy experience resembling Cinnabon’s iconic rolls. Supposedly, adding the cream transforms your standard grocery store cinnamon rolls into a food court-worthy delight. The theory is that as the rolls bake, the cream in the pan is absorbed into the dough, creating that ultra-moist, slightly undercooked texture we all crave. Some other bloggers added cream cheese to the frosting or extra cinnamon and brown sugar to the pan, but the secret weapon is always heavy cream.
The Kitchn recommends using Pillsbury Grands cinnamon rolls rather than the smaller, original-sized rolls. This makes sense since Grands are larger, and to replicate a Cinnabon, we need a roll closer in size to a manhole cover. But for the sake of experimentation, I tried both sizes.
Armed with heavy cream and ready to go, I began the task. I placed all the rolls in oiled nine-inch cake pans, as if baking them like normal. Then, I poured half a cup of heavy cream over each pan, trying to cover the tops of the rolls evenly. The cream gathered at the bottom of the pans, but this was exactly how it should be. Following the directions on the packaging, I put the rolls in a preheated oven and waited.
Within five minutes, the cream began to bubble around the edges of the pan, and the rolls started to puff up. Normally, these cinnamon rolls take 15-20 minutes to bake, but with the added liquid, the center was still raw at the 20-minute mark. I left them in for another five minutes. Once the edges of the rolls were lightly browned and the center had a slight bounce when pressed, I pulled my cinnamon rolls from the oven.
I observed that some cream was still pooling between the Grands rolls, while the spaces in the original-sized batch had caramelized cream residue, which looked quite tempting. I allowed the rolls to cool for 10 minutes to see if any remaining cream would absorb (there was barely any), then added the icing. They looked fantastic, smelled even better, and tasted delicious. Soft, moist, sweet-cinnamon perfection, and I devoured at least two. The smaller rolls had crispy, caramelized cream edges, which was an unexpected but tasty bonus. Was it a successful Cinnabon hack, though? Not really. (However, we do have some legit Cinnabon hacks if you're interested.)
Let me clarify: it depends on how you define a hack. I take it case by case, and in this situation, the results weren’t very impressive given the starting point. The hack basically turns a perfectly good store-bought cinnamon roll into…another tasty cinnamon roll? Both rolls are undeniably delicious, and Pillsbury already has a collab roll with Cinnabon.
Under these conditions, I would only be impressed if the hack tackled the two main differences between the food court classic and the store-bought version: size and filling. Neither of these changed much. I made a control cinnamon roll without the heavy cream, and initially, I thought the hacked ones were expanding, but once they baked and cooled, they were the same size. Even if the added moisture did make them grow a bit, a Cinnabon is still much larger. The filling also stayed the same. One of the most indulgent parts of a real Cinnabon is that thick, gooey filling, and until heavy cream starts soaking into the swirls and thickening a Pillsbury roll's cinnamon filling, I’m not convinced.
Is this a clever way to use up leftover heavy cream? Absolutely! If I’m already opening a pack of Pillsbury rolls, I’d have no problem pouring in half a cup (or less, if that's what I have on hand), but I wouldn’t go out of my way to buy heavy cream for this. I always encourage people to explore their food options, so feel free to give it a try, but I’d suggest unrolling a couple of Grands and combining them into one giant cinnamon roll before adding the cream.
