I Tried (& Struggled) To Make Travis Kelce's Fave Cinnamon Rolls

Taylor Swift has spent more time in Kansas City recently than most Swifties could have ever predicted this time last year. When she’s not attending football games at Arrowhead Stadium, Travis Kelce has been taking the Midnights singer to some his favorite spots around town. One restaurant that the NFL superstar is a big fan of is Rye in Leawood, Kansas — and it all has to do with the eatery’s cinnamon rolls.

The glazed cinnamon rolls with pecans on Rye’s brunch menu are Kelce’s favorite, according to the restaurant’s co-owner Megan Garrelts. After Swift and other WAGs of the Kansas City Chiefs stopped by Rye in December for dinner, Garrelts told Page Six the singer made sure to try the famed dessert at the end of their meal. She believes that, since Kelce always orders the cinnamon rolls, “he must have said something to her.”

Fans know that the sticky buns are also a fave of Swift’s. In 2020, she shared a batch of rolls she made herself at home on X (formerly Twitter), saying, “When you’re proud of your buns so you post them on the internet.”

Swift also reportedly made cinnamon rolls for a pregame meal at Kelce’s house back in December, so it seems the invisible string tying these two together also includes a love of baked goods.

After chatting with Donna Kelce about Travis’ favorite foods and getting a confirmation that he enjoys Rye’s cinnamon rolls, I knew — as a Swiftie — that I had to try these for myself.

I Was Not Ready For How Hard These Cinnamon Rolls Were To Make

Since I don’t live anywhere near Kansas, I had to made these at home if I wanted to sample them. I consider myself more of a baker than a cook, but I have never actually tried making homemade cinnamon rolls before. The closest I’ve gotten are ready-to-bake Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls that come from a can, so you can just imagine how naive I was about how much prep it actually takes to make cinnamon rolls from scratch.

The steps of the official Glazed Cinnamon Rolls with Pecan Swirls recipe from Food & Wine were not difficult to follow along with, but it does take several hours to go from one step to the next because you need time to proof your dough and freeze it. The recipe says it takes about 10 hours and 30 minutes — which is already a long time — but these cinnamon rolls took me THREE DAYS to make.

If you’ve got the time, here is everything you need to grab from the grocery store:

For the dough:

• 2 ¼ teaspoons of dry yeast
• 2 tablespoons of warm water
• ¼ cup plus 1 teaspoon of sugar
• 6 large eggs
• 4 ½ cups of all-purpose flour
• 1 ½ teaspoons of salt
• 3 sticks of unsalted butter

For the filling:

• 4 ounces of pecans
• 1 ½ cups of light brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon of cinnamon
• 1 cup of sour cream
• 2 large eggs
• ¼ cup of water

For the sugar glaze:

• 1 ½ cups of confectioners' sugar
• 4 tablespoons of unsalted butter
• ¼ cup of heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract

To begin, you’ll want to make the dough by combining all your ingredients, kneading, and placing in an oiled up bowl to refrigerate overnight. You can chill for just two hours, but since it took some time for me to fully knead my dough, I decided to just cover in plastic wrap and leave in the fridge for the morning. Once your dough has slightly risen, it’s time to work on the filling.

This step took some time as well, because you need to toast the pecans in your oven and roll out your dough onto separate baking sheets. When your dough is ready, spread half of your sour cream onto each rectangle and top with your brown sugar, cinnamon, and toasted chopped pecans filling. Add an egg wash to the ends of your dough and roll your giant rectangles into cylinders. This was probably the messiest part of the recipe, so make sure you place some parchment paper at the bottom of your baking sheet to help keep everything together as you roll it up.

Once you have two cinnamon roll logs, place those into your freezer for about two hours. I really had to make space in my freezer for this, so be sure to move some things around before you begin. After your dough is fully chilled, it’s time to cut each of your logs into 12 even slices.

You might think you’re ready to bake at this point, but you’re not. After you cut out 24 cinnamon roll slices, you need to place those back into the freezer for at least three more hours. The recipe says it’s best to leave them overnight, so since this step took forever, I ended up just leaving my pre-cut rolls in the freezer until the next morning.

Finally, on the third day of trying to make Kelce’s favorite cinnamon rolls, you’ll be on your way to actually enjoying them. But first, you must set out your dough for about an hour. Then, bake in the oven for 35 to 40 minutes after brushing with any leftover egg wash you have. While the rolls were in the oven, I made the sugar glaze to go on top. This was the easiest step.

When your cinnamon rolls are done, add the glaze on top. The recipe says to wait about 20 minutes for your rolls to chill, which wasn’t as bad as waiting overnight, but it somehow felt like an eternity because they smelled so good.

When I was finally able to eat the cinnamon rolls, I thought they were delicious... but was a little disappointed. I was expecting the best cinnamon rolls of my life after waiting literal days to try them, but they were just just fine. I did like the sour cream, which I’ve never had on homemade cinnamon rolls. It added an interesting flavor and balance for the sweet cinnamon and sugar glaze. The pecans are also a nice touch since they added a crunch. However, as tasty as they were, all I could think about was how much work I had to do to get them.

TL;DR: Travis Has Great Taste, But...

Ultimately, I understand why Kelce loves these cinnamon rolls from Rye so much. When they’re fresh from the oven, these buns are warm with a flaky outside and gooey center. The cinnamon, sugar glaze, and toasted pecans are a perfect combination for someone with a sweet tooth. So if I didn’t have to make them myself and could just order a to-go box to bring home, like Swift did, I would probably love them more.