Ok, I'm not even sure what Cinnabon is, but using my deductive reasoning skills, I think it's another chain that is causing American's to expand their girth too much. I think they sell sticky buns that are to die for. I think you can even get things flavored as a Cinnabon bun. I swear I saw that somewhere.
I thought all cinnamon rolls were supposed to be very cinnamony, very sticky and huge and very bad for you. I don't really like them. Cinnamon is one of the things I can't tolerate anymore.
Instead, I created these marvelous, magical, mouth pleasing circles of goodness from part of a recipe and part of my imagination. The recipe is at the bottom, so keep going if you really want to make them.
I like to have apples in these buns, so I chop up 2 apples, any kind, and throw in some brown sugar (maybe 2 large tablespoons) and a sprinkle of cinnamon and let it sit while I'm getting the rest ready.
Then I get out my marble board for rolling the dough. I love this marble board because I always know it's clean, unlike my counters which I am never sure I can get clean. I only use this board for rolling dough and wash it immediately, so I know that nothing gets put on there that shouldn't be.
See that gap between the cabinet and the refrigerator? That's where the marble gets to live because I can't find anywhere else to put it. If I lay it flat somewhere, I know things will get put on top of it and then I'll get lazy and never want to move the things off of it. Then that would be the end of any dough ever made by me.
It's pretty heavy, so when I drag it out of its home, it scrapes on the floor. If we ever replace the floor, I will have to do something different because I won't be allowed to scrape new linoleum. This linoleum from 1978 is impenetrable, so I'm not too worried.
Once you make the dough (recipe below) roll it out. I like to roll it fairly thin and as big as I can get it. You're going to roll it into a log, so think ahead. Then you toss the apples onto the dough, in a haphazard manner, but remember that you're going to roll it up, so don't put too much in any one place.
Begin rolling, pushing any apples that fall out back in, somewhere.
I like to leave the seam side down when I'm done so it will stay together better when I cut it into the separate rolls.
As with the rest of this, there isn't much precision. I cut it into maybe 1 inch thick pieces and then I count how many I have. I try to figure out which dish will work the best for the number of pieces I have. See the open piece? I just move it around and make it fit. I wasn't worried that I'd ruined anything. You really can't ruin this.
My stoneware is kind of big, but I wanted to use it, so I just squished them in like this, and let the rest be empty. They should all touch each other so that when they bake, they will spread out a little.
Bake them and WATCH OUT! They will vanish before your very eyes!!
I actually like these even better the next day because the moisture from the apples makes them a little bit gooier. Kind of like the bottom of an apple piece crust gets gooey as the days go by.
Here's the recipe:
2 c. flour
3/4 t. baking soda
1/4 c. sugar
2 t. baking powder
1/4 c. oil
3/4 c. yogurt (these are especially good with lemon, but plain is fine)
Mix dry ingredients and then add oil and yogurt and mix until a dough forms. If it's not quite wet enough, add a little water until it becomes a kneadable dough. Roll out as described above and bake at 425 for 15-17 minutes.
Linking here:
http://www.glitterglueandpaint.com/
http://www.skiptomylou.org/
http://yesteachercrafts.com/
They look delicious! I've been craving some cinnamon rolls for awhile now too.
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