#148 The core of a cinnamon roll

Neil Pasricha

It’s the center of all taste.

First off, icing that was smeared or drizzled on top a few hours ago is guaranteed to hit the cinnamon roll bulls eye which means your last doughy bite is loaded with that sweet white gold. If you’re lucky the icing will have crisped just slightly so your teeth sort of puncture it into tiny sugary shards, revealing the softer, more liquidy layer of icing below. On top of that, the core of the cinnamon roll is the tallest part of the roll, which means you’ve got a larger variety of textures to choose from. Do you bite off the sticky sweet top, slowly twist apart its fresh-bready innards, or maybe chomp away at that sticky flat bottom. And hey — let’s not forget about the cinnamon itself! We’re talking sugary brown powdered sweetness wrapped delicately around the nucleus of this entire bite.

Eating the core of a cinnamon roll means you just ate an entire cinnamon roll. Let’s stop and appreciate that for a second. You didn’t split it with somebody, you didn’t just have a bite, and you didn’t walk by the stand in the train station and enjoy the fumes. Nope, in one big move, in five big minutes, you just scarfed it all and told vegetable juice diets, pilates sweat-a-thons, and full-length mirrors to shove it.

AWESOME!

Photo from: here and here

42 thoughts to “#148 The core of a cinnamon roll”

      1. *pulls out note pad*

        *writes down strategy that I MUST remember to use when I have kids*

        *wait for delicious cinnamon-y goodness*

  6. I LOVE cinnamon rolls! MMmmmmmmmmmmmm………………. I haven’t had one since… lets see… I was pregnant the first time. I was living with my grandma for a little while when I first found out and she use to make these every Sunday for me. Oh, I miss living at grandma’s.

      1. me too! Although, one of my brothers lurks around, and totally steals (and eats!) the center if you’re not paying attention, which is a line I don’t even want to talk about (traumatizing anyone?)

      2. I unravel them too! I love how it gets softer and better-tasting the further you go toward the center. And the center has not only icing drippings, but usually more cinnamon, too! Now I really want a cinnamon roll. :)

  7. I don’t know if I like todays awesome thing more, or yesterdays both are totally, totally awesome.

  9. My mother made a whole loaf of CINNAMON BUNS when she baked the family bread! The process took an ENTIRE DAY!
    Watching, playing, checking in while aromas filled the air, was like waiting for Christmas! It was plain to see emotions were worked into kneading, pounding and punching out the bread which tasted all the better for them!
    When she sprinkled flour like fairy dust over the counter, folk songs came pouring out of her soul like, “Beautiful Dreamer”, when the rolling pin smoothed over the cinnamon bun dough!
    An EVEN LAYER of REAL BUTTER, the PERFECT RATIO of SUGAR and CINNAMON was spread across the whole platform……..this I know!!!
    After they were cut and placed on the baking sheet, she poured the exact same amount of blended brown sugar with melted butter over each one!
    There were no false additives then; genuine preservatives, and that every single bite be the ratio of perfection…….. LOVE TO THE CORE!
    *I need to make the very same scrumptious memories for my family!*:)

  12. The best ones ever were the University of BC cinnamon buns. I even had the official recipe, but I don’t know if I still do. They were HUGE, just the right balance between sweet, cinnamony, and yeasty bread, and not TOO sticky (but an awsome centre). Many a student has had ONE bun take her through the whole day, when the pennies were getting low, I happen to know. Do they still make them? Sigh – wish I had one right now.

  14. Louis CK has this great stand-up bit where he talks about the self-loathing that comes from him eating a Cinnabon.. he’s one of the quotes from it:

    “I’m buying a Cinnabon…at the airport…I arrived at. You understand why that’s extra disgusting, right?. Because when you’re at the airport you’re leaving from you can say “Oh, I gotta eat. I need some food, because I might be trapped in the sky forever so I should eat right now.” But I’ve landed. The trip is over. I’m 20 minutes from my house where I got bananas and apples and [stuff]. And I’m sitting on my luggage just eating a Cinnabon with a fork and knife.”

    I don’t care about the self-loathing.. I LOVE CINNAMON ROLLS!

  15. D: No more food posts until I get a car so I can drive to the store if I want said food!

    We have the stuff to make the rolls, but no powdered sugar, which means no icing. And what good is a cinnamon roll without the icing?

  16. Mmmmmmmmm… I have a tube of Pillsbury in the fridge as I type. Think I’ll have to pop them in the oven tomorrow AM!

  17. ::drool:: The core is the best part because it’s all soft and smooshy. And thinking scientifically for a moment, the core might also be the healthiest part of the cinnamon roll because it has the highest cinnamon (which has antioxidants) to bread ratio. It also has the highest icing to other stuff ratio, which studies have shown makes people way happier than consuming products with a low icing to other stuff ratio.

    1. Your cinnamon/bread/icing ratio theory is scientifically sound. I concur!

      And I didn’t know cinnamon has antioxidants. Thank you for making me less guilty about eating cinammon rolls! ;)

      Speaking of cinnamon, here’s something to try: spread peanut butter on a piece of bread, sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on it, and stick it in the toaster oven just long enough to melt the pb. Heavenly!

  18. I don’t think I’ve had a cinnamon bun, although I’ve had apple/custard/cinnamon scrolls. But also I LOOOOVE the (one of the two!) middle of ham, cheese and mayo scrolls that I sometimes have for lunch (proudly made by Baker’s Delight). It has a bit of yummy ham, a bit of gooey cheese, and soft bread with yummy greasy mayo baked into it. UMMMM it’s making me hungry just thinking about it. I’ll stop now.

  19. honestly, the only good thing about the core of the cinnamon roll is the soft bread. i don’t really like the abundance of cinnamon in there. however, i’ll take that cream on top.

  20. My grandmother makes THE BEST cinnamon rolls in the WORLD. It’s a recipe my mother has tried to replicate repeatedly, and we humor her and tell them that they’re good, but everyone knows you can’t hold a candle to Grandma’s cinnamon rolls. YUMMY!!!!!

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  24. Oh man, I love a good cinnamon bun. I eat my way around and around until I get to the gooey centre (insert Homer Simpson ahhh drool sound here).

  28. The one thing I hate is when bakers put raisins in perfectly good cinnamon buns! I usually don’t know they’re there until I bite into them! D:<

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  31. I heard about this site from WireTap this morning, and as I’m reading my way backward through your entire list I came upon this one… and discovered that you used my cinnamon roll photo on the site! I’m glad to have contributed in my small way. :)

    In case anyone’s interested in making them, the cinnamon roll recipe is here: http://breadyear.com/2010/09/cinnamon-rolls-take-2/

    Awesome!

  32. ooohhhmmyyyygosh I LOVED THIS!! I was laughing the entire way through! And I agree with pretty much every single sentence:))

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