Trader Joe's Jumbo Cinnamon Rolls with Vanilla Icing

I've had these things five or six times now. Does that count as a spoiler and tip you off as to what I think of them?

Yeah, they're that good.

They're not overly sweet and gooey, like some other ready-to-bake cinnamon rolls. They're just right.

I have no complaints about how they turn out. They are so easy to get right that even an oaf like me can manage it every time:

They even look pretty much like the picture on the wrapper--a rarity in my kitchen, which has not exactly made the Dean's List of Betty Crocker College.

My only gripes are with the packaging.

First, they come five to a can. That works out great if I make them for dessert on a night that Nina is here for dinner. I want two at a time, she wants only one. That leaves two for me to eat the next night--exactly right. But if I'm by myself, it means that I have to eat three the first night, two the second night, because they really don't keep well into a third day. Besides, the sadness of eating just one of them in a sitting would probably pitch me into a cycle of despair and overdosing on Prozac. (If you're thinking, "Just throw one of them away," I beseech you to leave this blog and never return. I have no use for the likes of such heathens.)

The other problem with the packaging is that they're hard to get from the tube to the baking sheet. They glom together in strange ways, often nesting sort of conically into each other. And one time when the container popped open, dry cinnamon spewed out all over me and the kitchen counter. Admittedly, that probably made me smell better than I usually do, but it was kind of a mess.

But these are small annoyances to have to put up with in order to get the reward of polishing off two or three of these lovelies.

Will I buy it again? 

Yes. This is not only a Top Ten item, but one of the handful of TJ's products that I always keep on hand, ready for when I am hit with that irresistible urge to have a nice cinnamon roll.


Nina's View

For those of you prone to craving cinnamon rolls, these'll fix you right up. Me, I want one maybe a couple few times a year. But the man is right, at least they are not over-the-top grotesquely sweet. For example, I will eat these with the frosting, which I generally skip on other brands (including store-bought like Cinnabon) because it's always SUGAROVERLOADTOTHEMAX.

(If you've been following along so far, you'll be seeing the start of what is likely to be a consistent trend: in general, Bob likes the sweet stuff a lot more than I do. Unless I'm eating with him, I rarely have a dessert.)

To my beloved: there's no law that says you have to bake all the rolls at once just 'cause you've opened the package. Wrap the extras individually in saran wrap and put them in a baggie in the fridge and you can prepare them separately on subsequent days. (They should keep for four days.) They will always be hot 'n' fresh 'n' yummy.