Looks are Deceiving

Okay, as a follow-up to last week's post I am writing a review for the cinnamon bun recipe I mentioned Clone of a Cinnabon.

As you may remember from the last post Lazy Day, Sunday I wrote that I tried out a scratch recipe for cinnamon buns (among other things) and that while it took a really long time to rise, they came out fabulous. Tender, sweet, fluffy, flaky - although they were somewhat small and hadn't risen that high.  They didn't LOOK like the most wonderful cinnamon bun, but they tasted great.

This week I decided to break down (it is the holidays after all and I want the perfect cinnamon bun for breakfast Christmas morning - a tradition in our house) and try another recipe. I was hoping to find one that worked in the bread maker, assuming that it would be faster, easier and perhaps better.  You are right to point out that no one NEEDS cinnamon buns two weeks in a row.  They aren't healthy and most of their ingredients are not local either. :( However, we can't be perfect every week can we?  I feel good in not buying Pillsbury dough or supermarket premades (I am pretty sure that should be a word).

These buns look absolutely picture perfect. They are huge - you get 12 rolls in the batch (compared to 16 in the last recipe). But that is more of a method, not the recipe itself - which is actually a 4 1/2 cup of flour recipe,  versus the 3 1/2 of the other recipe - since it instructs you to cut them into 12 rather than 16 for the previous ones. You could cut them into 8, 13, 27 or whatever and have larger or smaller buns. 

In the moment of  truth - they aren't as tasty. They are fluffy and flaky, but they seem a bit bland and they are a little drier. In fact, I found that they didn't have enough icing  and they were really just TOO BIG. I wasn't enjoying the last few bites. And, that is a bad thing. 

Consider them side by side:

                 1st try                                                                                2nd try

So, next time I will compromise.  The first scratch recipe could easily be made into 12 larger rolls - then they would be higher and perhaps more visually appealing, yet with the smaller batch of that recipe, they would not be as large overall as the Clone of a Cinnabon recipe. Sort of in-between. I would still get the flavour and moistness of my preferred rolls but just a little bigger.  

Can't wait to try it - when I can convince myself that we need to try another batch. Right now we still have to eat another 10 HUGE rolls.  So off I go...