I love cinnamon rolls and the smell of Cinnabon reminds me of my childhood when my family and I would frequent the mall. Every once in awhile, my parents would let my siblings and I indulge on cinnamon bun for all of us to share. As much as I always wanted to have my own cinnamon roll, I always had just the right amount to be satisfied until the next indulgence! It was a good idea that my parents never bought me my own cinnamon bun because when I was 12, I went to this food fair in California and I got to try all of these different foods. One station made their own cinnamon rolls. I watched in awe behind the glass on the magic of cinnamon rolls. As I saw the bakers slobber sticks and sticks of butter on the bread dough, I began to feel this heavy pitted feeling in my stomach. I told my mom I never wanted to eat a cinnamon roll again because it looked disgusting. She laughed but I was as serious as a 12 year old could be!
That experience is still vivid in my memory but there is something about the cinnamon-ness in a cinnamon roll that just makes it a divine treat. I will indulge every once in awhile and if I do, I will eat a bite...or two. The thing is if you make it on your own cinnamon buns, you can regulate the fat in the recipe, you'll feel better about yourself by regulating how much you make and eat. I'm not saying this recipe is not fattening but I feel better about eating something that I made. The smell of the cinnamon buns baking in the oven is one of the greatest scents because it reminds me so much of my childhood. Now, I can recreate those memories right in my own kitchen.
If I learned one thing from my cinnamon buns encounter it is the importance of the icing. While cinnamon buns are delectable on their own, the icing really make a cinnamon bun from good to stupendous! I used a cream cheese icing for this recipe because I love cream cheese but it also provides a depth of flavor beyond a simple sweetness that a standard icing provides. I kept the integrity of the cream cheese by not adding hat much sugar so you can still taste the cream cheese but doesn't overpower the cinnamon goodness.
I am proud of this cinnamon bun baking experience for many reasons. First, this is my first time making homemade cinnamon buns (I have only made shortcut
Cinnamon Bun Bread before). Second, I found making these cinnamon buns pretty easy. I usually have some sort of anxiety when it comes to making bread. I remember when I first started baking bread, I was a hot mess. I didn't understand how particular I had to be when it came to the directions and that yeast is a very sensitive matter. If the liquid is too cold, the yeast takes a long time to activate. If the liquid is too hot, the yeast can die. I have experienced both but I guess it is what has gotten me to this feeling of ease. I am so happy with the result of my cinnamon buns and I'm even happier to share my experience with you!
Cinnamon buns before they went into the oven. If you think this looks good, just wait!
Lookin' good, ain't it? They are missing something though...
Finished product with cream cheese icing. Cinnamon buns aren't cinnamon buns without the icing.
Yes, I'm on an oat bran craze...and a healthy craze. I have finally baked enough to understand what is needed in order to make a successful bake good. So my newest obsession is making recipes tasty and healthy at the same time. This recipe is similar to my oat bran muffins but I incorporated oat bran into a zucchini muffin recipe instead of a incorporating zucchini in an oat bran muffin recipe...if that makes sense. I used a calorie counter website and after calculating, each muffin is 134 calories! How did I do it? I used a minimal amount of fat (oil) and replaced most of it with applesauce which will keep the muffins moist. Also, I incorporated oat bran to give you additional nutrition like fiber. While the zucchini provides moisture and flavor to the muffins, the cinnamon makes the muffins tasty and a little addictive. I love this recipe because not only is the calorie count low, the muffins didn't taste healthy. My sister asked me what I put in the muffins to make them healthy because they didn't taste "healthy" to her. That only means one word: success!
Next time, I will modify is the amount of sugar because it is too high for a healthy muffin like this. I might also play with the baking powder proportion because I felt like the muffins could be fluffier. Also, my zucchini was not fine enough. I didn't mind because I like the chunks throughout the batter but I think I will make it finer just to compare.
