Cinnamon rolls are a tried and true favorite, but what happens when you put the cinnamon in the dough and swirl colored sugar throughout? Make these Rainbow Cinnamon Rolls and find out!

Everyone loves a cinnamon roll. Light and fluffy pastry, rolled up on butter, sugar, and cinnamon, baked until golden and then drizzled with a powdered sugar glaze. What’s not to love?

As good as the classic cinnamon roll is, I love to play with it, changing things up. Whole Grain Cinnamon Roll? Yes, please. Orange Cinnamon Rolls? Sounds great! Maple-Brown Sugar Cinnamon Rolls? Sign me up!

Change the grain, change the flavor, change the sugar. It wasn’t a far reach for me to change the color. And the result was a super fun breakfast or dessert treat that would make any mermaid or unicorn proud!

As a matter of fact, these would be a fun addition to a budget birthday party that’s got a rainbow theme going!

Rainbow Cinnamon Rolls

Here’s how the story of these Rainbow Cinnamon Rolls went down:

My family loves sweet breads for breakfast. They also love cereal, but seeing as they go through two boxes in a sitting, making my own sweet rolls and breads is a more economical option.

They also love donuts. One girl in particular loves them with rainbow sprinkles. But, donuts make me feel guilty. Surely, homemade baking is better than the donut shop, right?

So, enter the Rainbow Cinnamon Roll.

These rolls are an adaptation of your typical cinnamon roll. But instead of putting cinnamon in the filling, I worked it into the dough. It tastes just like a cinnamon roll but there isn’t the trademark mahogany stripe.

Instead, the stripes are rainbow colored. Yep. I rolled the dough up with butter and colored sugars.

The sprinkling sugar colors the dough a bit which is really cool and opens you up to a world of different colors.

Bake up a batch of these festive rolls for your next holiday breakfast. You can change the colored sugar to coordinate with the event. Red and green for Christmas, rainbow colored for Saint Patrick’s Day or Easter. Match them to your next baby or bridal shower.

The world is your oyster. Or your sweet roll, as they say.

After baking drizzle them with a simple powdered sugar glaze and a sprinkle of nonpareils to reinforce the color scheme.

Sprinkles make everything better, don’t they?

Don’t worry. I adjusted the sugar in the pastry to account for the extra sweetness of the sprinkles, frosting, and sanding sugar.

No matter what you do, these are a fantastic breakfast or dessert treat.

Are cinnamon rolls breakfast or dessert?

Cinnamon rolls are served with breakfast and brunch, as well as an afternoon treat to enjoy with coffee.

What goes with cinnamon rolls?

Cinnamon rolls are great served with coffee, egg dishes, fresh fruit, and bacon or sausage.

How do you make cinnamon rolls?

Cinnamon rolls are super easy to make. You prepare a sweet dough and roll it out into a rectangle shape. Then you spread softened butter, sugar, and cinnamon over the butter. Next you roll up the rectangle in a spiral. Slice the dough into rounds, place them on a baking sheet, and allow them to rise.

Once the dough has doubled in bulk, bake the rolls. Cool them on a rack, and glaze if desired.

Can you freeze cinnamon rolls?

Yes! You can cool and wrap baked cinnamon rolls and store them in the freezer. Or you can make cinnamon rolls for freezing, allowing yourself some convenience in baking them without resorting to canned sweet rolls.

How to make this good and cheap:

You know I don’t typically want to make something if I can’t make it good as well as cheap. Here are some of the strategies you can use to make this recipe more economical:

Stock up on ingredients when they are on sale. When I find regular kitchen staples on sale, I buy a lot. I’m currently using a price book to track prices and that’s saving me money. For this recipe, keeping an eye on the price of flour, butter, and sugars can help keep the price down.

Buying in bulk – It’s rare that I would buy a small bag of flour. I hedge my bets by buying in bulk. I also have gotten into the habit of buying cases of flour from Bob’s Red Mill or VitaCost so that I always have baking supplies on hand.

Load up on post-holiday clearance specials. You’ll find great deals on colored sugars and sprinkles after holidays. Remember that Halloween or 4th of July colors can be used for a variety of occasions. There are lots of ways to use holiday baking items creatively.

How I make this recipe easy:

This recipe really couldn’t be easier than it is, but having the right kitchen tools can really make your time in the kitchen more enjoyable. Over time, I’ve honed my collection so that they are perfect for my needs.

Here are the tools that I use for this recipe:

stand mixer or bread machine – Either of these tools make quick work of making the dough. You can do it by hand, but I prefer my food processor.

unflavored dental floss – A must-have for cutting perfectly round cinnamon rolls.

parchment paper – I hate washing pans. Parchment paper makes clean up a breeze.

sheet pans – I LOVE my set of steel sheet pans. They make such a difference in baking.