Cinnabon Cinnamon Buns Clone

I do not normally do step by step recipes with photos but I've been reading a lot of other food blogs and I really like the blogs that go through the extra steps of photographing the steps and explaining the process. It is time consuming and often times when I'm cooking, I'm the only one in the kitchen so it entails having to wash my hands and pick up the camera. Since today is a holiday for me and not a holiday for the db and dr (dear roommate), I am home alone. I am also only tackling one recipe instead of my usual two, three, or ten. So this is my first attempt at step by step recipe blogging.

I've been inspired by yeast lately and over the last several days I've made six loaves of challah, a batch of parker house rolls, pandesal, and banana bread (no yeast, just an abundance of ripe bananas). We also managed to dip 100 pretzel rods and 100 fortune cookies in white chocolate for the baby shower. We went through six bottles of blue sanding sugar. The sanding sugar matches the shower colors exactly. Before Christmas my friend Lisa and I spent 12 hours in the kitchen baking holiday cookies. We made anise biscotti, craisin biscotti, soft biscotti, almond shortbread, sugar cookies, russian tea cakes, peanut butter blossoms, chocolate dipped peanut butter cookies, Wheaties cookies, holiday pretzel rods, and I'm sure I'm forgetting something.

Today is cinnabon cinnamon rolls. I got a recipe off this site http://www.homeonthewater.com/recipes/cinnabon%20cinnamon%20Rolls.html which I believe came from the Gordon family website.

I made a few changes based on what I had on hand. I also rewrote certain parts with bread machine instructions. I do not have a bread machine in Colorado. I have a bread machine at my parent's house in California. I didn't bring it out when I moved to Colorado. The bread machine is probably ten years old. My dear friend Kellie gave it to me. She received it as a gift from her parents. She doesn't bake bread so she never used it. I have been the recipient of several kitchen gadgets because of Kellie's parent's desire to domesticate Kellie.


Below is the recipe with my changes.

Cinnabon's® World Famous Cinnamon Rolls

DOUGH
1 1/4 C 2% Milk
1/2 C Margarine, melted
1 Egg, Extra Large Grade AA, well beaten (room temperature)
1 t Vanilla Extract
1/2 t Sea Salt
1/2 C Baker's Sugar,
4 1/2 C Unbleached White Bread Flour (1 1/4 lb)
1 T Vital Wheat Gluten
2 t Dough Enhancer or Conditioner
1/4 oz Rapid Rise Yeast (1 envelope, 7 g)

Boy that is a big block of cream cheese!! I bought a Costco block since I am making Coconut Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting for my friend's shower.

1. First step to cooking is mise en place. I got everything out, read and reread the recipe, let the egg and the margarine come to room temp.

2. In a medium microwavable bowl (ie pyrex) melt the margarine in microwave (approx 1 minute).

3. In glass measuring cup (ie pyrex) measure and microwave milk for approximately 1 minute. (I started doing this a long time ago when I made this complicated pancake recipe. It is really handy. Sometimes I can mix all the wet ingredients in the measuring cup.)


4. Add milk to melted margarine. Check temperature to make sure it is warm enough but not too hot. Add egg and vanilla. Mix well.


5. In a large mixing bowl, measure the dry ingredients (the rest of on this list) and combine.

6. Make well in center of dry ingredients. Pour in wet ingredients and mix with wooden spoon. You will have to ditch the wooden spoon after the ingredients combine. Transfer dough onto clean surface and knead. I knead for a little over ten minutes because I really have trouble with my hands on fingers and I'm not a good dough kneader. Form the dough into a boule (ball).

7. This is the point where I wash everything.

8. In the same large bowl (I have two identical so I don't always have to wash) spray some oil onto the bowl. Put dough in the bowl. Spray with a little more oil and cover with plastic wrap. Put in a warm draft free spot to rise about an hour or doubled in bulk. I sometimes turn on the oven, turn it off, check to make sure temp is not too hot and stick bowl of dough in oven. Or sometimes I take it upstairs into one of the extra rooms. In the winter, with the heat on, it gets nice and toasty upstairs.

FILLING
1 C Light Brown Sugar, firmly packed (0.4255 lb)
5 T Saigon Cinnamon
pinch of Sea Salt
1/2 C Margarine (0.25 lb, i.e. 1 stick)

1. In a small bowl, mix the brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt. I find that a little salt in sweets brings out a better sweet flavor. My mom tends to overdo the salt. When she makes the coconut sauce for mango sticky rice, the sauce is too salty. I always have to remind her to use less salt.

2. After the dough has doubled roll and stretch the dough out on a lightly floured surface into a 15" by 24" (38 cm by 61 cm) rectangle. I used my nifty silicone baking sheets with inch and cm guides to help with this. It is still very difficult to get a perfect rectangle. I figured the center ones will be the picture perfect buns and the edge ones will go into what my sister and friends like to call the "reject" piles when we make sushi rolls. The edge pieces were always gobbled up as soon as I rolled them and the center pieces were the ones that ended up on the platter.

3. Mark off 1" along the 24" edge of the dough, closest to you. You will not spread any Margarine or Sugar-Cinnamon mixture on this edge. Spread the softened Margarine over the dough with a rubber spatula (or your hands and fingers) and then evenly distribute the Sugar and Cinnamon mixture. Be careful to leave your 1" edge clean. As a final step, use your rolling pin to lightly roll the Sugar and Cinnamon mixture.



4. Starting at the far edge of the dough, roll it up tightly. Begin at the far 24" edge and roll up the dough toward the 1" clean edge. The clean 1" edge is used to seal the finished roll. Trim the left and right ends of the roll. The result will be a 24" roll. Trim off the left and right ends of the roll so that you have a fulsh end at each end of the roll. Then mark the roll every 1 1/2 inches (3.8 cm). Cut the roll into 1 1/2" portions. I read different suggestions on what to use to slice the dough. I have two different slicers and dental floss. The first slicer is from my Cuisinart set I use as my everyday set. The set is inexpensive enough that I am not afraid to let other people use. It is also nice enough for me to use. I'm picky about my knives. I also have my f.dick superior series slicer. This is the Johnson & Wales set and very nice. I get nervous when I let other people handle this set. I also have dental floss. I tried both slicers and they both did an excellent job so no need to waste floss. If you don't have a good slicer, use the dental floss. You should get 15 rolls.



5. Line your baking pans with parchment paper. Place 5 rolls into 8" square baking pans 1" apart. (One roll in each corner, and one in the center.) I ended up getting 16 rolls instead of 15 because my log was slightly more tapered at the ends and longer than 24". I used two square cake pans and one round one. The squares each had 5 buns and the round had 6 buns. Cover with a lint free cloth (I used flour sack towels) and let rise in a warm, draft free place until almost double, approximately 1 hour. After rising, rolls should be touching each other and the sides of the pan. This is important for best results. This gives the resulting rolls the soft, moist outer edge that most people prefer.



6. After rising, bake in a convection oven at 310°F for 15 minutes. If you are using a conventional oven, bake at 350°F for 20 minutes. The resulting rolls should be only lightly browned. (See the rolls are only slightly browned and almost too pale? Well any darker and you will have hard crusty buns and overcooked centers. Cinnabon centers are still doughy. I actually prefer them a little more cooked but since I wanted to replicate the experience, I took them out of the oven.) The author of the recipe suggests baking one pan at a time to get uniform results in a regular oven.

FROSTING
4 oz Cream Cheese (0.25 lb)
1/2 C Margarine (0.25 lb, i.e. 1 stick)
1 3/4 C 10x Powdered Sugar (1/2 lb)
1 t Vanilla
1/8 tsp Lemon Juice

The original recipe has a complicate recipe for frosting. It takes 50 minutes. I decided that wasn't necessary since it was going on top of hot rolls anyway.

1. Put margarine and cream cheese in a pyrex bowl. Add the vanilla and lemon juice. Stick the bowl in the oven with the dough. The oven is slightly warmer in my house. Wait a while.
2. Cream the margarine and cream cheese. Slowly add the powdered sugar and cream everything together until light and fluffy.
3. Transfer the finished frosting to a convenient covered container and refrigerate it. Once the rolls are finished baking, frost them while they're still very warm and serve them immediately. I didn't frost them immediately because I wasn't serving them yet. I took one for myself, frosted it and ate it. I took another one and put in on the same plate for the photo above.

Ingredient Notes:
- Milk: Original recipe called for 1/4 cup water and 1 cup whole milk. I don't usually buy whole millk so I just used 1 1/4 cups 2% milk.

- Margarine: Original recipe calls for butter in the dough but I read on many posts that Cinnabon uses margarine called Oleo. Margarine produces a gooey-er dough with gooey-er center and creamier frosting than butter. I do not know the last time I purchased margarine. When I was younger, I experimented with various baking recipes by using butter, margarine, and crisco (regular and butter flavored). I liked the flavor or butter but loved the ease of creaming with margarine and crisco. I couldn't even find it in the store. Apparently everyone stopped labeling their margarine as margarine. I ended purchasing Blue Bonnet Regular Sticks. The store brand was labeled margarine and I compared the ingredients and fat content and they were fairly close. Plus Blue Bonnet was the only brand that read "bakes like butter".

- Egg: The recipe called for 1 1/4 large egg. I specifically bought extra large eggs since my last few egg purchases have all been large and not extra large. The Barefoot Contessa also recommends extra large eggs in her newest book. She said her baking improved once she started using extra large instead of large.

- Vanilla: I couldn't find alcohol free vanilla extract. I have a bottle of Rodelle brand pure vanilla and it seems to work very well in my other recipes. http://www.rodellevanilla.com Hey I can only do so much. I'm sure Cinnabon doesn't seek out all the finest ingredients. The website says the plant is wind-powered and the company is socially responsible. It is also a local Colorado company. McCormick uses corn syrup in their vanilla extract.

- Salt: I only use sea and kosher salt in my cooking. I sent the db out for sea salt the last time I ran out. He bought the kind with the little metal pouring spigot. I can never get it opened with my nails. It is so annoying. My other bottle was so much easier to open. I had to refrain from purchasing a different brand with a different dispenser. I may have to repackage it because I know the container will last a long time.

- Flour: King Arthur bread flour is a little too expensive here. I get the Gold Medal Better for Bread flour. I suppose I can try other brands. Sunflower Market probably sells bulk bread flour. I also found Pillsbury and Arrowhead Mills. Sometimes with these expensive specialty brands, they tend to sit on the shelf a little longer than the cheaper stuff.

- Vital Wheat Gluten: This helps with the rise and texture of the bread. I purchased mine at Vitamin Cottage in their pre-packaged bulk items section. Since I started looking for this ingredient, I've found it at several regular grocery stores. I believe under the brand Hodgson Mills.

- Dough Enhancer: My Johnson & Wales challah recipe calls for a dough conditioner. They essentially serve the same purpose. Although different brands have different ingredients. I have the Authentic Foods brand dough enhancer. I purchased it from Vitamin Cottage. There are several online websites that sell similar products. I just haven't gotten around to ordering it. Plus the shipping fees are ridiculous! The dough enhancer is a little expensive but I bake in high altitude so I'll try anything. Most dough enhancers and conditioners have acsorbic acid, lecithin, and sometimes ginger, gluten, and a few other ingredients. I think you can look online for a recipe for making your own bread enhancer. A lot of recipes with whole wheat recommend using a dough enhancer to help with the rise. I believe bread machine yeast actually has acsorbic acid added.

- Yeast: I've had good results with Fleischmann's rapid rise yeast. I remember baking with Red Star wet yeast from costco when I was younger. I could never get a good rise. Maybe I killed the yeast when I added it to the warm liquid or during storage. I'm not sure. I hated making bread. I just recently was brave enough to try baking with yeast again. First I tried the active dry but then I bought Peter Reinhart's The Bread Baker's Apprentice and he prefers rapid rise or instant yeast because you get more live yeast, it lasts a long time, and you can add it directly to your dry ingredients. He says that even though it is labeled rapid rise, it is actually a very potent, slow to awaken yeast.

- Light Brown Sugar: I used dark brown. I just find that you get more bang for your buck when you buy dark brown since there is more molasses. I also have molasses in my pantry. It helps out when I run out or am short on brown sugar. I mainly have it for another recipe that calls for it.

- Cinnamon: So Cinnabon uses something called Makara Cinnamon. Since this is a cinnamon bun recipe and even Pillsbury's can of cinnamon rolls claim to use Cinnabon cinnamon, I thought it worth it to seek a better cinnamon than what I have in my pantry. I did some reading and Makara is marketing name and Cinnabon actually uses Korintje or Korintji cinnamon. I walked down the spice aisle and found Saigon cinnamon and Watkin's brand pure ground cinnamon. They were the fanciest cinnamons in the store so I bought both. I also had a bottle of Simply Organic brand cinnamon. I bought the Saigon and the Watkin's cinnamon. I smelled all three brands and decided that the Saigon had the best scent. It was closer to cinnamon flavor of cinnamon red hots. It also had a lot more essential oil than regular cinnamon. It clumped in the bottle and was a pain to get out. It was just McCormick's Gourmet Collection and I could definitely tell a difference between the Gourmet Collection and the regular McCormick. After I made the cinnamon sugar mixture, I googled Watkin's cinnamon and the site says they use korintje cinnamon as their regular cinnamon. They also carry the Saigon variety but that is clearly marked. No where on their label does it say korintje cinnamon. Maybe they should start marketing it as such. The packaging is actually very attractive. The Simply Organic cinnamon is Cinnamomum burmannii or Indonesian cinnamon. I've been reading about Ceylon cinnamon, Saigon cinnamon, and korintje cinnamon. Wow a whole lot of cinnamon education today! Maybe I'll make a visit to the little spice store and get some of their special cinnamon. I actually worked at a spice store before and I didn't find that the spices were that much better. Maybe fresher since all the area restaurants purchased their spices and special proprietary blends from this place. Costco also carries a huge bottle of Saigon cinnamon now.


My observations:
- I am overall very happy with the recipe. It tastes really good. I will be making this again.
- This recipe actually tells you to smush the cinnamon sugar mixture into the dough with a rolling pin. I found that this really helped with the oozing everyone talks about when they bake their buns. If you find a lot of oozing, immediately flip the buns out of the pan and pour the cinnamon syrup back into your buns. Mine did not ooze much. I left them in the pan and the syrup actually caramelized and formed a nice crunch on the bottoms.
- Flat or domed? If you prefer your buns flat like pucks, don't roll the dough too tight. If you prefer them to be puffier in the center, roll them tight. I tried rolling them really tight but mine were not that tight so I only got slightly raised centers.
- Size: I was expecting Cinnabon-size buns but I got somewhere between Minibon and Cinnabons. I'm not sure if this was because of the altitude or my lack of kneading skills. I notice that my yeasted doughs do not have a good rise.
- Taste: These taste like heaven. I already ate two. They are a very good clone of Cinnabon. I can now make my own and refrigerate or freeze them in small batches. The db already requested that these be added my breakfast repertoire. This weekend the challah will likely become challah french toast. I have regular, raisin, and nutella challah.
- Variations: The copycat recipe in the famous copycat book uses AP flour instead of bread. I'm not sure if this has much of an effect. The only fear I had with using bread flour was the buns not being tender enough. I didn't have an issue with this. Maybe next time I'll try it with AP flour. I keep a couple different types of flours around. Regular unbleached AP, high altitude bleached AP (it is usually on sale here in Colorado), unbleached bread, whole wheat, soy, and rice. The db also asked if I can add raisins next time. I told him Cinnabon does not use raisins in their buns. Perhaps I will oblige next time