Cinnabon's Cinnamon Is Exclusive: Here's The Closest Copycat To Use In Your Recipe

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Imagine, for a moment, if you will: you walk into your kitchen, and your nose perks up just like it used to when you strolled through the concourse of your favorite mall years ago. You'd know the smell of Cinnabon anywhere, and it's clearly at the top of the list of fast food chains that serve mouth-watering cinnamon rolls. While you may not be able to recreate the exact recipe at home, you can ditch the canned cinnamon rolls and get pretty close to the Cinnabon version. It all comes down to the type of cinnamon that you use in your recipe, and here you'll need a blend of ceylon and korintje varieties.

It turns out that Cinnabon has actually trademarked the cinnamon blend it uses to create the recognizable cinnamon taste we all know and love. It comes from the Cassia Cinnamomum tree in Indonesia (commonly known as the cassia tree), and it's known as Makara cinnamon. According to Reddit, the chain used to sell its unique cinnamon blend years ago, but doesn't any longer. However, per copycat recipes, you'll want to go with a half-and-half blend of ceylon cinnamon (it adds a touch of sweetness) and korintje cinnamon (it adds the tiniest hint of spice) to recreate the Cinnabon taste (or, at least, pretty close to it) in your at-home cinnamon rolls.

If you're interested in putting in the work to create Cinnabon-style treats at home (and you're not lucky enough to have one of the Cinnabon cinnamon shakers you bought years ago tucked away in the back of your pantry), you're going to need to get your hands on ceylon and korintje cinnamon (you can also add the latter to your lasagna to give it a kick of spice). If you have a grocery store with a seriously well-stocked spice section in your area, you might be able to find it locally. Otherwise, you can order them from Amazon. You can get a four-ounce package of organic ceylon cinnamon like the one by Spice Profile for about $8, and a 1.9-ounce bottle of korintje cinnamon by Frontier Co-op for about $6.

Once you've got your cinnamon on hand, mix it up with butter and sugar as usual, but don't be surprised if it takes a little bit of time to come together into a smooth, spreadable consistency. You can try microwaving the blend for a few seconds at a time to help the butter melt down so it creates a cohesive paste (try not to start drooling as the smell permeates your kitchen). If you have a bit left over, pop it into the fridge to save for another day — you don't want to waste a single pinch of the ceylon-korintje goodness.