The Ultimate Bread Swap For Quick And Easy Cinnamon Rolls

Cinnamon rolls are the ultimate "treat yourself" breakfast, and there is an easy bread swap just waiting to turn them from a weekend project into an anytime treat. Great homemade cinnamon rolls have two essential keys to success: You, of course, have that rich cinnamon sugar flavor permeating every bite, but you also want a pillowy soft and tender break that your fork can slice right through. Normally this is achieved through an enriched bread dough base like brioche, which has the advantage of being delicious, but the disadvantage of being a challenging bread dough to work with because it takes a lot of time and prep to do right. But for cinnamon roll lovers who want all the taste with almost none of the work, there is a widely available store-bought (or Amazon-ordered) bread that can fill in also perfectly: Sweet Hawaiian Dinner Rolls.

The soft texture and sweet taste of Hawaiian rolls are almost tailor-made for cinnamon rolls, and their smaller size is even ideal for single-serving breakfasts. By slicing up the rolls and filling them with a simple cinnamon-sugar mixture you can replicate hours of rolling, rising, and kneading in a little over half an hour. They may not have the perfectly rich taste of homemade rolls, but for something you are dousing with icing, most of the flavor is coming from the additions anyway. It's a bread swap whose biggest downside is potentially making it too easy to have melt-in-your-mouth cinnamon rolls whenever you want.

There are a few ways to turn Hawaiian rolls into cinnamon rolls, depending on how critical the "roll" aspect is to you. All you need is cinnamon and sugar, butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla for the glaze. The first method is as basic as cutting the rolls in half just like you would for a sandwich. Butter both sides, sprinkle with cinnamon sugar, put the rolls back together, and then bake in an oven preheated to 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 to 30 minutes until the filling is caramelized and gooey.

As an alternative, you can keep the package of rolls connected when you slice them in half, and then after you fill the rolls use a rolling pin to flatten them. Then spread more butter and cinnamon sugar over the flattened bread. From there, you can roll up the bread and slice it for a more traditional cinnamon roll shape. Bake in muffin tins or tightly packed on a baking sheet at the same temperature and for the same amount of time.

Once the rolls are done, they should be cooled until warm, not hot, and then drizzled with your prepared glaze. And with such easy prep, it also leaves plenty of time to find new ways to upgrade your cinnamon rolls with customizations. From a pop of fresh fruit to crunchy pecans or walnuts, there are plenty of quick additions that will make your already great cinnamon rolls extra special.