People Are Cooking Cinnamon Roll in Their Waffle Makers — And They All Have One Thing to Say

You bite into the crisp, golden crust of the cinnamon roll, squishy with the frosted cream. As the hunk gets squeezed between your teeth, the outer crust paves the way to the roll’s innards, squidgy with butter and nuts. Here starts a hypnotic dance. One moment, the roll feels crispy, the other moment, it’s creamy- the perfect marriage of burnt sugar and sharp spice. There’s something quite healing about cuddling in your blanket with a good book, a cup of hot coffee, and a dish of cinnamon rolls by the side. Over the years, people have invented interesting variations of cinnamon roll recipes, from boozy rolls to decorated cake-pan-sized versions. An unusual trend, however, that has been coming to highlight is “cinnamon roll waffles.”

Waffling the cinnamon rolls might sound like a freakish idea, but over the past few years, the recipe has been gaining widespread popularity among users of YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and Reddit. “I decided to try out the cinnamon roll waffles. Everything turned out nicely,” a Reddit user, u/mr_miggs, wrote in a Reddit post while sharing a snapshot of how she baked the viral roll waffles using a waffle maker. In 2017, Kylie Jenner shared the same recipe, telling her viewers, “All you need is Pillsbury cinnamon rolls and a waffle maker.”

“This Pillsbury waffle hack is going to change your life forever,” said a TikTok mom who goes by the moniker @bestfriendsforfrosting. In a video, she shared the recipe for a cinnamon roll waffle. She took a Pillsbury cinnamon roll with its signature blue-red packaging. She unwrapped the packaging, cut the roll into small slices, and placed four of these slices into the waffle maker, which was glazed with non-stick cooking spray. With this, she closed the waffle maker, and within a few minutes, the crisp cinnamon roll waffles were ready. She glazed the waffles with creamy frosting. “This tastes better than any other waffle,” she commented.

In another video, Kortney & Karlee (@kortneyandkarlee) shared that they love to eat cinnamon roll waffles for breakfast or simply as a good snack. While @eatwithjada preferred to have them topped with cream cheese frosting, @thecaketoonist dusted the roll waffles with cinnamon sugar for heightened sweetness.  

Sharing another recipe on Instagram, @thebakermama explained that the cut-out cinnamon slice is usually placed inside the waffle maker based on its size and shape. “It depends on how large and how many waffles your waffle maker holds. One of our waffle makers has two large squares, so we make two at a time, and our other waffle maker has one large circle, so we can only make one at a time in it,” she wrote in the caption.

Elaborating on the process, she said that the rolls should be cooked until golden brown and cooked all the way through, about 2 to 3 minutes. “The rolls should be crisp on the outside and soft in the center,” she added. Overall, the "cinnamon roll waffle" trend turned out to be a hit, and even the dessert lovers who questioned it ended up trying and falling in love with what came out of those waffle makers.

You can follow @kortneyandkarlee, @bestfriendsforfrosting, @eatwithjada, and @thecaketoonist on TikTok and @thebakermama on Instagram to watch more content from their channels.