Make Bakery-Worthy Cinnamon Rolls With This Elegant Rose Trick

Cinnamon rolls are by no means boring. A tray of fluffy, cloud-like pastries with warm, gooey centers loaded with sticky brown sugar and cream cheese frosting? You don't need much more than that to impress a crowd. But if you really want your cinnamon rolls to stand out, there is an easy trick you can try to give them a gorgeous rose-like design worthy of a bakery display case. You've probably seen cinnamon roses before. They're almost like a cross between Swedish cardamom buns and typical cinnamon rolls, but with an obvious floral shape.

The roses look fancy and technical, but they're actually simple to create. All you really need to do is follow your usual cinnamon rolls recipe, but instead of rolling up the sheet of dough into a cylinder, you fold it in half and cut it into strips. Once you have your strips, you can slice through the middles and twist the pieces around each other like a braid. Then, simply roll up the twist like a roll of tape, tuck the ends underneath the bottom, and bake. The roses will puff up in the oven like a real-life flower in bloom.

If you want to skip the step of folding the dough, just cut wider strips and do your braid with the filling facing the top. You can also give the roses some layers by shaping them like a cardamom knot. To try it out, fold the dough sheet in thirds (almost like folding a business letter), and when your strips are cut, twist the two ends of the strips in opposite directions and roll. Another method you can try is rolling the dough into small circles and layering the circles in a long line before rolling.

Whichever option you choose, make sure that you roll your dough out very thinly. You're only looking for it to be about ¼ inch thick. Like when you make any cinnamon roll, you also want to ensure your filling is soft enough to spread without being completely melted, as it will just spill out otherwise.

The cinnamon roses will look best when they're baked tightly together in a pan, but you can bake them in a cupcake tin, too. And you should utilize this secret ingredient to make cinnamon roll slights and fluffy. Once they're ready, glaze them, dip them in a shiny syrup, or top them with sugar and enjoy.