Posted on 08/30/2025 5:06:12 AM PDT by Twotone
As the primary cook in my house, I’m always looking for smart shortcuts that deliver delicious results. While I adore homemade cinnamon rolls, the time and effort involved means I reserve them for lazy weekend baking projects or holidays. For all other times, I reach for a tube of refrigerated cinnamon rolls.
If you’ve been anywhere near TikTok or Instagram in the last few years, you’ve likely seen cascades of heavy cream poured over refrigerated rolls in kitchens across the country. I first saw this hack from MacKenzie Smith of @grilledcheesesocial. She credits @mississippi_kween and @manthacancook with the inspiration, but it’s still not clear where this sensation started. The claim is that pouring heavy cream over place-and-bake breakfast pastries turns them into decadent Cinnabon-style cinnamon rolls. Could it be that easy? I took to the kitchen to find out.
How to Make the Viral TikTok Cinnamon Rolls with Heavy Cream
Making these mall-inspired pastries is easier than finding a parking space during the holiday rush. Arrange a package of refrigerated cinnamon rolls in a buttered baking dish. Pour 1/2 cup heavy cream over the rolls and bake according to package directions. Once the cinnamon rolls are puffed and brown, frost them with the included icing and serve.
My Honest Review of the Viral TikTok Cinnamon Rolls with Heavy Cream
I’ve always believed that the best part of refrigerated cinnamon rolls was the icing. The rolls themselves were always oddly dry and and without much flavor. Baking the rolls with heavy cream changed all of that — but with a few caveats!
While MacKenzie makes a double batch, with two tubes of dough and one cup of cream, I baked half that amount — one tube of rolls and a half-cup heavy cream — for my family of four. I feared that the underside of the rolls would be soggy, but the rolls soaked up most of the cream. The resulting rolls were plush, soft, and rich, just like Cinnabon’s! With a few rolls leftover, I set them aside at room temperature to see how they would hold up. The next morning the rolls were still soft and, once warmed, were immediately gobbled up.
If You’re Going to Try the Viral TikTok Cinnamon Rolls, a Few Tips:
Use Grands cinnamon rolls. I tested this hack twice (you know, for science). First I baked regular-sized Pillsbury cinnamon rolls, then the larger Grands-style rolls. The size and texture of the Grands cinnamon rolls resembled the Cinnabon rolls much more closely than the regular rolls.
Do not underbake. The heavy cream can slow the bake time, so even if you’re used to pulling refrigerated rolls from the oven a minute or two early (as I am), you’ll want to shoot for the middle of the recommended baking time. If you’re worried about over-browning, cover the top with foil once they turn golden.
Wait before icing. Let the cinnamon rolls cool for two minutes before adding the icing. If the icing is added to pipin’ hot rolls, it will melt and glaze them. Waiting a bit will ensure the icing goes on like a thick, rich frosting.
whaat? here I am still cookin’ from scratch.
Ummm...
Give it a try with homemade cinnamon rolls.
I will. Quite curious, though my rolls are NEVER dry (combine a fruit with the sugar; I use pear sauce).
The packaged stuff uses crap fats. Toxic.
Who knew?
“But every once in a while, it’s nice to have a treat.”
That’s true. Suffering 100% of the time is not how God wants everyone to live — IMO.
I’ll pray for you! :)
Pillsbury Cinnamom Rolls Ingredients:
Enriched Flour Bleached (wheat Flour, Niacin, Ferrous Sulfate, Thiamin Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid),
Water, Sugar,
Palm And Soybean Oil, Dextrose,
Wheat Starch,
Contains 2% Or Less Of: Baking Powder (sodium Acid Pyrophosphate, Baking Soda), Palm Kernel Oil, Salt, Modified Whey, Corn Syrup Solids, Cinnamon, Monoglycerides, Xanthan Gum, Potassium Sorbate (preservative), Polysorbate 60, Corn Starch, Natural And Artificial Flavor, Annatto Extract (for Color)
****************************************************
For Sourdough Or Yeast recipes try to use UN-enriched flours such as King Arther or Caputo Chef’s
Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls Ingredients:
Sweet Dough
160 g (2/3 cup) milk, whole or 2%
28 g (2 tbsp) unsalted butter, melted (see notes below for variation)
1 large egg
100 g (1/2 cup) bubbly, active sourdough starter
24 g (2 tbsp) granulated sugar
300 g (2½ cups) King Arthur all-purpose flour
5 g (1 tsp) fine sea salt
cooking spray or oil, for coating
Cinnamon-Sugar Filling
28 g (2 tbsp) unsalted butter (see notes below for variation)
100 g (1/2 cup) granulated sugar
3 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 level tbsp. flour
********************************************************
Yeast Dough Cinnamon Rolls Ingredients
Ingredients
DOUGH
¾ cup (180 grams) milk (whole milk or 2% preferred)
2 ¼ teaspoons (one ¼-ounce package) quick-rise (instant) or active dry yeast*
¼ cup (50 grams) granulated sugar
4 tablespoons (57 grams) salted butter, melted and cooled
1 large egg plus 1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
3 cups (360 grams) bread flour, plus more as needed
¾ teaspoon kosher salt
Extra-virgin olive oil, for greasing the bowl
FILLING
4 tablespoons (57 grams) salted butter, softened
⅔ cup (142 grams) packed dark brown sugar
1 ½ tablespoons ground cinnamon
CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
4 oz (112 grams) cream cheese, softened
¾ cup (85 grams) powdered sugar
3 tablespoons salted butter, softened
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
At a brunch years ago someone served something like cinnamon buns. They were made with packaged rolls and butterscotch pudding. IIRC, they were baked in a bundt pan.
I think I have the recipe somewhere, and it probably can be found online.
Sounds great.
Also if you want your store bought blue cheese dressing to taste better wisk in a fourth of a cup of heavy cream to every cup of dressing before serving.
haha!
Yeah. That’s it!
I had these pralines made with butterscotch pudding once. They were good.
https://aimeebroussard.com/wp-json/mv-create/v1/creations/245/print
Testify! This works great! 😋
Are you planning to replace the cream with egg custard in the recipe?
This will take some tasty (hopefully) experiments. Including a beaten egg with the cream with a few drop of vanilla, extra cinnamon (I use McCormick Organic ROASTED Saigon Cinnamon-—order online...fantastic), I’ve been thinking of baking rolls plain first, putting each baked roll in an individual custard cup (maybe whole, maybe cut up) and and pouring sauce over it. Bake in water bath. And how about adding chopped apples, raisins? Lots of good thoughts.
That does sound good—sort of like a bread pudding very heavy on the custard. Do you plan to allow the rolls to absorb the custard or put them in the oven before it’s absorbed and see what happens?
Yes, I’ll let them soak it up...like you do with French toast.
I have a better hack. I prebake bacon so that is done or close to done. Then I unroll each roll and place a slice of bacon in-between. Roll that bad boy back up and bake. Yummy for the tummy!
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