The Easy Way To Boost The Flavor Of Canned Cinnamon Rolls

Pop goes the can of cinnamon rolls, nearly startling the house as you prepare weekend brunch. Cinnamon rolls are the ultimate excuse to have something sweet and dessert-like for breakfast. Typically made with a yeasted dough when whipping 'em up from scratch, and filled with a cinnamon, sugar, and butter mixture to achieve those ooey-gooey centers, the end result is drizzled with a sweet glaze to add even more irresistibility. 

You can even tweak them to your liking with different flavors. Make it fruity by adding berry preserves into the filling for raspberry cinnamon rolls, or fold cake mix into the dough for red velvet cinnamon rolls, and you can even sub in plant-based butter and oat milk for a vegan version of cinnamon rolls. However, making them from scratch takes much longer and can get a little complicated compared to the canned stuff. 

When working with yeasted dough, you need a warm kitchen in order for the yeast to thrive and the dough to expand properly. Furthermore, it takes at least one hour, or until the dough springs back to the touch to tell it has been completely proofed. When it's time to whip up breakfast, whether in a pinch or you're just really hungry, waiting for the dough to rise and for it to bake in the oven can seem like forever. Thankfully, canned cinnamon rolls are just as good and with the help of one handy technique, you can spruce 'em up to taste homemade.

The filling doesn't just belong on the insides — who says you can't drizzle it on top? In fact, it is one of the best parts. When your cinnamon rolls are all nestled into your baking dish and ready for the oven, simply make a little extra filling by melting butter and stirring in brown sugar and ground cinnamon until spoonable. Next, drizzle the filling on top of the rolls, cover the dish with foil, and pop it in the oven. This will slightly caramelize the tops, creating a crusty sweet texture in nearly every bite.

If an extra-crispy texture on top is what you're looking for, you can also sprinkle granulated or turbinado sugar on the tops of your freshly baked cinnamon rolls and take the blow torch to it for a nice brûlée-d moment. If you don't own a blow torch, you can easily pop the sugar-topped rolls back into the oven and broil on high, watching carefully, until they've reached the level of caramelization you want. This technique can easily take the place of your sweet frosting, substituting a sweet crunch for a soft drizzle or you can simply add your glaze on top, as the hard sugar topping will still remain.