Take Canned Cinnamon Rolls To New Heights With One Sweet Addition

Canned cinnamon rolls are a great way to satisfy your craving for fresh pastries in the comfort of your own kitchen, without the hassle of kneading, forming, and leavening the yeast-based dough from scratch. But if you still want the creativity of homemade cinnamon rolls without all the work, you can easily take the canned pastry to new heights with one sweet addition: chocolate. 

Adding chocolate to canned cinnamon rolls is an easy way to elevate the treat, since once melted, it adds a world of gooey texture and rich flavor in every bite. Beyond making your cinnamon roll taste similar to other decadent chocolate-filled pastries like pain au chocolat, chocolate and cinnamon work exceptionally well together to give your sweet roll more depth of flavor. In fact, chocolate's rich, earthy flavor and creamy mouthfeel pair perfectly with cinnamon spice's warmth and aromatic flair. In baking and confectionery applications, cinnamon is even said to accentuate the flavor compounds of chocolate. 

To add the chocolate, be sure to select a quality chocolate brand. Semi-sweet or dark chocolate adds a pleasant, slightly bitter balance to the sugar in the roll and icing, and mini chips work well for even chocolate distribution and melting. From there, remove your favorite store-bought cinnamon rolls from the can and unroll the raw dough. Then, sprinkle mini chocolate chips atop the existing sugary cinnamon filling, and roll it back up. Repeat with each individual raw cinnamon roll before baking them in the oven.

Once you've added chocolate to canned cinnamon rolls, it's likely you'll be inspired to doctor up the store-bought dough with other flavorful ingredients. Let the creativity flow, and play around with other add-ins that pair well with chocolate and cinnamon. For instance, you can unroll the pastry and add a light coating of chili powder before the addition of chocolate for a spicy twist inspired by velvety Mexican champurrado (spiced drinking cocoa). Add berries to the filling for a tart complement to the chocolate and cinnamon, or whisk some orange juice or zest into the packet of icing to craft a symphony of chocolate, orange, and cinnamon that sings of cozy winter months and Christmas. You could also add instant coffee powder to the filling or icing for a cinnamon mocha latte-esque pastry.

If you don't feel like unrolling and re-rolling the dough, you can melt chocolate and drizzle it on the top of the baked cinnamon rolls for a simple and delicious sweet accent, or cover each baked roll in a rich ganache, made by melting chocolate with hot milk. Experiment with other easy ways to make canned cinnamon rolls taste homemade, like adding heavy cream, butter, or brown sugar to the top of the cinnamon rolls before baking them. Additionally, try topping the rolls with a cinnamon crumble coating, just like you would with coffee cake.