Recipe: Bread Machine Clone of a Cinnabon

Clone of a Cinnabon; you can add frosting or eat them plain.

I’ve been making this recipe for a long, long time. I used to sell it, made-to-order, around the holidays. It makes the house smell great and I always got fabulous feedback…even from my girlfriend who bought a batch to take up to a family brunch 2 hours away…appearently, they were still warm, gooey and addictive even after a few hours in a car. You can’t really say that for the real Cinnabons, can you?

Logan,3, taste-testing the flour for the cinnamon rolls. I tried to tell him it didn’t taste like sugar, but he wanted to findout for himself.

Like every food on here, Cinnamon Rolls are special to me. My mom used to make them every Christmas Morning. My eldest cousin, Jennifer, and I used to split a Cinnabon at the mall and talk about boys and life; she is five years older than me and was always–ALWAYS–the cool person I wanted to be. So if Jennifer liked Cinnabons, then I knew I should, too.

…and even now as an adult, I still do. But I think it is cooler to make them myself.

Special Equipment: you will need a bread machine, rolling pin, a pastry brush, and  some type of large baking dish with sides.

This recipe comes from allrecipes.com

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup warm milk (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 1/3 cup margarine, melted
• 4 1/2 cups bread flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 1/2 teaspoons bread machine yeast
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• 2 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
• 1/3 cup butter, softened
• 1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS:

1. Place ingredients in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select dough cycle; press Start.
2. After the dough has doubled in size turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, cover and let rest for 10 minutes. In a small bowl, combine brown sugar and cinnamon.
3. Roll dough into a 16×21 inch rectangle. Spread dough with 1/3 cup butter and sprinkle evenly with sugar/cinnamon mixture. Roll up dough and cut into 12 rolls. Place rolls in a lightly greased 9×13 inch baking pan. Cover and let rise until nearly doubled, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
4. Bake rolls in preheated oven until golden brown, about 15 minutes. While rolls are baking, beat together cream cheese, 1/4 cup butter, confectioners’ sugar, vanilla extract and salt. Spread frosting on warm rolls before serving.

RECIPE: Easy, addictive banana bread

Fresh outta the pan. Yum.

I don’t remember when I created this recipe; all I remember is that it changed my life.

I know it must seem like I say that a lot; it must seem like I didn’t have much of a life if a recipe for Banana Bread changed it. Maybe I didn’t have much of a life. Maybe none of us do until we discover The Recipe that defines us, the one that becomes our go-to treat for bake sales, fun kid snacks or rainy days.

Perfect.

Don’t get me wrong; I love to make pies. I can eat entire coconut cakes in one sitting. The smell of making my own veggie broth is divine, as is the look on a customer’s face when they come to pick up my cinnamon rolls for a casual family brunch they are driving to a few hours away. And my Nana’s chocolate cake? To die for.

But that’s Nana’s chocolate cake, not mine. It’s her defining recipe, not mine. The pies? They belong to a woman who taught a pie-making class in Twin Falls, Idaho (though I am certainly guilty of hoarding them for the better part of a few years). But this recipe? This is mine. All mine.

When my son was 2-years-old I would make this in place of muffins or cupcakes. I made two or three batches a week. We’d whip up a batch, put it in the Nordicware cupcake molds for cars or bugs or dinosaurs, and freeze them.

Make it fun, use a bug mold like this from NordicWare

Bugs, cars and dinosaurs are a lot more fun to eat for breakfast than slices of bread, you know. Especially when you are two-years-old.

Got too many overly ripe bananas? Mash them all, freeze them in little one cup sizes, ready to make a batch later. Rubbermaid makes some fantastic one-cup sized containers. Mine have a light blue lid. Or use freezer bags.

I like that the recipe doesn’t use a ton of sugar. I also like that it includes a decent amount of oatmeal, so it is somewhat filling. You can sprinkle some powdered sugar on top if you want, or eat it plain. It is glorious both ways.

I used to sell this for $10 a loaf. In Idaho. That’s saying something.

Ingredients:

I put over-ripe bananas in freezer bags, mash, and freeze for use later.

Wet Ingredients:

1/2 c shortening
3/4 c w. sugar
2 eggs
1c mashed banana
1 tsp vanilla

Dry Ingredients:

1.5 c flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c quick oats

Directions:

Preheat to 350

Our chickens’ eggs have these unreal amber-gold yolks that color everything bright and sunny.

CREAM shortening and sugar. Stir in eggs, banana and vanilla. Combine dry ingredients separately and keep oats separate from both mixes. Add dry mix to the wet mix slowly. Add oats last.

Pour (scoop!) in to a well-greased pan (I suggest using real butter instead of spray..makes an amazing buttery-crisp crust). Bake 45-55 min as a loaf of bread. Less if making muffins. I pulled today’s loaf out at 43 minutes because that was when a knife inserted came out clean…but keep in mind that if you triple the banana a knife may never come out clean, and that’s OK, too.
If you have a Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer, like Ada, then you will have a very easy time with this recipe. Heck, you don’t even need to mash the bananas ahead of time, you can just slip them in.
You can use more than 1 c mashed bananas. I have been known to use up to 3 cups. I’ve also been known to add in cinnamon and more oats, just because I can.

And, I’m sorry, but I just couldn’t resist including Mr. Bourdain. It’s a post about bananas, for goodness sake. No food is more phalic other than, perhaps, my hometown’s own Geoduck. Did you happen to see that episode of No Reservations? Where Tony ate Geoduck in the Seattle area? Was it as good for you as it was for me? (6:43 mark; watch from 4:00 on.)

Anthony Bourdain would like my banana bread.