Healthified Cinnabon Clones

Many moons ago on my family blog, I threatened to take on the challenge of healthifying my Christmas morning cinnamon rolls. Well, I didn't get to that project in time for Christmas, but I did make them for our first day of homeschool this morning.

I used my regular recipe from Allrecipes:

Clone of a Cinnabon Cinnamon Roll

DOUGH:
1 c. warm milk (110 degrees)
2 eggs, room temperature
1/3 c. butter, melted
4 1/2 c. flour
1 t. salt
1/2 c. sugar
2 1/2 t. yeast

FILLING:
1 c. packed brown sugar
2 1/2 T. ground cinnamon
1/3 c. butter, softened

FROSTING:
3 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/4 c. butter softened
1 1/2 c. powdered sugar
1/2 t. vanilla
1/8 t. salt

Notes on ingredients: I used fresh milled white wheat flour. For the other ingredients, I used organic. I know I don't use the best sugar. There's not a trace of nutrients in organic evaporated cane juice, but at least I am not getting the GMOs that are in most white sugar.

If you forget to take the eggs out to get them to room temperature, just stick them in a bowl with hot water. Let them sit while you prepare the other ingredients, and by the time you need them, they'll be warmed up adequately.

For the frosting, I used homemade cream cheese. It's so easy! We have already discussed making yogurt, so just get out a jar of homemade yogurt. Then strain it through a cloth (I noticed you can just strain store-bought yogurt, but the homemade needs to strain through a cloth). If you strain it for 24 hours, you will have sour cream. If you strain it for 48 hours, ta-da! Cream cheese.

Instructions: (I use a bread machine for this recipe, but you can also make the dough the old-fashioned way.) The original recipe was suited for a bread machine, so the instructions are to place the dough ingredients in the bread machine in the order listed and then follow the bread machine instructions.

After the dough is made, roll out. Spread with the softened butter and then sprinkle with the brown sugar/cinnamon mixture. Roll up and cut into 12 rolls. Place in greased 9x13 baking pan. Let rise for 30 minutes. Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes.

More notes: Don't want to have to wake up at the crack of dawn to prepare breakfast? The night before, make the dough, roll it out and cut the rolls. Then place them in your pan and stick in the fridge, covered. The next morning, take the rolls out of the fridge and proof. You can do this in the oven if your oven has a proofing setting. OR just boil a pan of water and place the hot, boiling pot in the bottom of the stove. Without turning it on, put the pan of rolls in the oven. After 30 minutes, bake at 350 as instructed.

And that's it...now enjoy your delicious rolls that taste just like they came from that store in the mall!

Swedish Pancakes

Contributed by Kathleen Pierce
Original Source: Childhood...most likely from the version of the day of the BH&G red and white checkered cookbook.

Swedish Pancakes
1 1/4 c. milk
3/4 c. fresh milled white whole wheat flour
1 T. sugar
1/2 t. salt

Beat eggs; stir in milk. Sift together dry ingredients. Add to egg mixture and mix until smooth. Cook on griddle or small saute pan.

Whole Wheat Waffles

(Contributed by Elin)

3 Eggs
1 1/2 cup Natural Yogurt
1/2 cup of Oil
2 Tbls. of Orange Juice or Tangerine Juice (I squeezed tangerines)
1 tsp. Baking soda
2 tsp. Bkg. powder
1/2 tsp. Salt
Whisk all of the above and then stir in:
1 and 3/4 cup of Whole Wheat Flour

The orange juice cuts the strong whole wheat taste (so I'm told). The waffles were crispy and delicious! Of course I made my own syrup of 2 cups of RAW sugar and 1 cup of water. Bring that to boil for one minute and then add 1/2 tsp. maple flavor and 1/2 tsp. vanilla.

Baked Oatmeal (with Yogurt)

(Contributed by Esther)

Mix together: 1/3 cup oil
2/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
2/3 cup yogurt
2 cups oats
Bake 30 minutes at 350 in a 9 inch ungreased round pan, or 15-20 minutes in muffin tins. Pour warm milk and sprinkle cinnamon on it to serve. OPTION: Add some cinnamon to the cake when mixing.

Taken from a cookbook called "Wild Boar on the Kitchen Floor".

Baked Oatmeal

(Contributed by Debbi)

1/2 c. oil
2/3 c. brown sugar
2 eggs
Beat together and then mix in:
3 c. oatmeal
2 t. baking powder
1 t. salt
1 c. milk
cinnamon and nutmeg to taste
raisins
(The original recipe didn't call for raisins, but I put in about 1/2 c. of them.)
Bake at 350 for 30 mins.
Serve with milk like a cereal, or better yet put fresh fruit over it.

Healthy Muffin

(Contributed by Karen)

Here is a healthy muffin:

1 cup boiling water poured over 2 cups of all bran cereal.
In another bowl mix these items;
1.5 cups sugar (I don't like white sugar so maybe you could use brown or 'sugar in the raw')
1/2 cup apple sauce
2 cups buttermilk (I use orange juice)
2 1/3rd cups flour (I do not use white flour. Make a mix of whole wheat flour and some white flour MORE wheat or rye than white)
1 cup bran flakes
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/3 teaspoon baking soda
Now the fun stuff..... add: raisins, chopped dates, walnuts, grated carrots, chopped apples, fresh pineapple, dried cherries, blueberries and flaxseed....... whatever you want.
Mix the ingredients from both bowls together, mix well, pour into muffin tins. Pour into the tins to half full. The batter keeps in the fridge covered for a month and the muffins freeze well.
I packaged the muffins in
freezer bags so my mom can grab a muffin anytime.
Enjoy these very healthy muffins!

Pecan Maple Breakfast Cookies

(Shared by Heidi via 100 Days of Real Food)

Pecan Maple Breakfast Cookies
Ingredients

1 cup whole-wheat flour
¾ cup rolled oats
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ cup applesauce
3 tablespoons maple syrup
2 tablespoons butter, softened but not melted
1 egg
½ teaspoon vanilla
½ cup chopped pecans
Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and grease a cookie sheet.
Whisk together the flour, oats, baking soda, and salt.
In a separate bowl using an electric mixer beat the applesauce, maple syrup, butter, egg, and vanilla.
While beating the mixture on a low speed add the dry ingredients until well blended.
Fold in the nuts with a spatula.
Drop onto prepared cookie sheet with a spoon. Bake for 8 – 9 minutes or until they start to brown.
Yield: 20 cookies

Pumpkin Muffins

‎1 1/2 c. flour (I used hard white wheat)
1/2 t. salt
1 c. sugar (I used honey granules)
1 t. baking soda
1 c. pumpkin puree
1/2 c. oil (you could sub apple sauce)
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 c. water (I used plain yogurt)
1/2 t. nutmeg (I used 1/4 for a milder flavor)
1/2 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. allspice (optional)
1/2 c. chopped walnuts (optional)
handful of mini chocolate chips (necessary)

Mix dry ingredients. Beat wet ingredients. Mix in pumpkin. Fold wet into dry. Add nuts and chocolate chips. Bake at 350.

"Maple" Syrup

I live in the land of real maple syrup now, and my children don't even like the taste of it.

So I decided to make my own syrup this morning - a combination of 1 1/2 c. water, 1 c. Sucanat, 1/2 c. honey, 1 t. vanilla (I don't have maple flavoring on hand).

It tastes pretty good, and my oldest even had some which is surprising! I made whole wheat/flax pancakes. I love that I can put flax in just about anything - I grind it finely in my blender (it is too oily to go in the wheat mill). My kids don't like fish, and only 2 of them really like eating eggs, so I can give them a good dose of Omega 3s unbeknownst to them! :-)

Banana Bread

Today was a busy day. For one, last night the moment Irene made her exit, our power went out, prompting us to take our frozen and refrigerated food to a friend's house. Our power was only out for a couple of hours, but I waited until this morning to go get our food.

While I was retrieving our food, I stopped by a farm. I've said before how much I love all of the farms around here; you don't see this in the south. We have 3 or 4 of them within a mile or two of our house. If you remember, I visited one last year at the end of the season. All I got was some not-so-good end-of-the-season corn. Today, though, I was seeking two specific things: farm fresh eggs and local honey. I got both at one stop...eggs only a couple hours old and honey from hives right there on the property. ("They" say consuming local honey can help if you have allergies; we'll see if "they" are correct.)


I also had other things to do like teach the kids school, sign Michael up for swim team, and find some new running shoes for me that will hopefully help my painful ankles. As expensive as they are, they ought to enable me to comfortably run a marathon.

All this to say, today was more of a prep day than a day to focus on making elaborate new and healthy snacks for the kids. I did, however, have some yummy banana bread on hand that I had made the day before Irene visited so we would have a ready-made breakfast.

In college I had this yellow cookbook that, though lost, I can still picture in my mind. I also still use some of the recipes from it, like the banana bread recipe. Here it is:

Sift together:
1 3/4 c. flour
2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt

In separate bowl, eat until frothy:
3/4 c. sugar
1/2 c. oil
2 eggs

Add:
1 c. mashed banana

Add wet ingredients to dry and fold. Bake at 325 for about an hour.

I used freshly milled flour in this - hard white wheat. I only use my hard red wheat in bread as it does definitely have a stronger whole wheat taste. Honestly, you really can't taste that much of a difference between the processed white flour you'd find in the store and freshly milled hard white wheat, but the health benefits for the freshly milled flour are plentiful! Don't be fooled by "whole wheat" flour in the store either; it is still processed in order to allow for a long shelf life. I will tell you more about fresh milled wheat later this week when I make bread.

Anyway...for the sugar, I used the last of my honey granules; thankfully, I have my new bucket arriving sometime this week from Bread Beckers. I didn't quite have enough bananas to make a cup, so I filled the rest of the cup with organic plain yogurt, which I actually think made the bread more fluffy; I may make yogurt a regular add-in!

I meant to add some ground flaxseed because, honestly, that can be added to ANYTHING, and it's so healthful! But I forgot. I also often add chocolate chips and/or finely ground nuts of some kind (the kids don't like big pieces of nuts in bread or cookies).

So that was their snack today - whole, real food, just leftover whole, real food! Tomorrow hopefully there will be less running around so I can get more creative.