You know yourself there are loads and loads of advice and recipes out there on how to make the best cinnamon roll. And my guess is you seasoned Cook’n bakers even have your favorite recipe and technique that you fully intend to keep using. So I won’t take your time with all the Internet blah blah blah on the topic.


But I will pass on one tip that has taken my cinnamon roll-making to a whole new level. I’m talking about how you address the filling. I used to just heavily coat my flattened rectangle of dough with loads of softened butter and then sprinkle gobs of brown sugar and some cinnamon over the butter and roll it all up. Does anyone relate?

If you do relate, then you know what happens as they bake—the layers don’t adhere to each other—the rolls separate. While they taste fine, they don’t look nice. This result is so disappointing.


But thanks to Paula from www.callmepmc.com, I now know exactly how to correct the separating layers problem. Paula says the trick is in making a paste filling from that above-mentioned softened butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon. She mixes ½ cup soft butter with ½ cup brown sugar and 2 tablespoon ground cinnamon. She finishes it with 1/8 teaspoon salt.

It won’t surprise me if many of you already know this trick. Thus, this tip is for all our newbies out there. But you seasoned pros will want to keep reading:


Paula went on to suggest that we triple or at least double this filling so we have plenty of leftovers. And what do we do with this decadent stuff? It is spectacular as a sweet potato topping. And slather it onto slices of pound cake, pieces of toast, or halved baking powder biscuits. And if you want a hurry-up cinnamon roll “effect,” unroll crescent rolls, spread this filling onto them, then roll them back up. Delicious! Paula concluded her advice by suggesting we also consider stirring it into hot chocolate and the morning coffee.

Drooling yet? Well hang on, because here’s what I just found on the Southern Living site (www.southernliving.com) on how they put a new spin on this classic treat. Southern Living’s recipe creators swapped out the traditional cinnamon and created some mouth-watering treats we need to try. Besides the famous orange roll or raspberry roll filling, they suggest we also:

• combine softened butter with white sugar and lemon zest and spread this filling over the dough; then top the baked rolls with a thick cream cheese glaze.
  
• mix white sugar with cream cheese and spread it over the rolled-out dough, then sprinkle on a layer of blueberries. Roll it up and top with a few extra blueberries before baking.
• spread a thick coating of Nutella over the dough and finish with a hearty sprinkle of chopped hazelnuts before rolling it all up.
• make a carrot cake filling with shredded carrots, brown sugar, sweetened shredded coconut, chopped pecans, butter, and cinnamon. [Me: I’d add some roughly chopped raisins to this mix because I’m a raisin fan.]
  

Don’t these ideas sound tantalizing? The bakers at Southern Living closed their tutorial with their permission to think outside the cinnamon roll box. I just bet you’ll come up with your own yummy fillings as well!

    Alice Osborne
    DVO Newsletter Contributor since 2006
    Email the author! alice@dvo.com