The Gigantic Cinnamon Roll Your Holiday Brunch Needs
Table Of Content
Source: Bon Appétit
Category: Food
Originally Published: 2024-11-01
Curated: 2025-11-02 10:13
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November 2025: Giant, Gooey Cinnamon Roll
Surely there's a scientific reason oversized (or miniaturized) versions of food are so appealing. Take this panna cotta, or this falafel, for instance. A simple change in form is enough to make one squeal with delight. Such was the case with this giant cinnamon roll. Designed to maximize the ratio of sticky, gooey insides, arguably the best part of the pastry, it was received with joy almost every time I made it. And I made it a lot. This one was uniquely challenging because scaling up a recipe involves much more than simply increasing the weights of ingredients. With this cinnamon roll (which started out as a sticky bun!), it took a few attempts to figure out the baking time and temperature so the insides were cooked through without the top burning, a less prevalent problem with traditional cinnamon rolls because the heat is distributed more evenly across the smaller shape.
But perhaps the most challenging part of the bake was reconfiguring the way I shaped the roll. Rolling it the traditional way required some mental gymnastics and also resulted in all of the filling leaking to the bottom. The solution was inspired by braided challah, utilizing three separate ropes of dough to form the final shape. The result is a goofy spiral of dough that springs upwards and locks all of the filling within its tender embrace.
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