Fit Reviews

Cinnamon Rolls

Every so often, I get it in my head that I MUST LEARN HOW to make something. A while back it was macarons. Then the perfect steak. And most recently, cinnamon rolls. I kept using a recipe from The Pioneer Woman Cooks because, well, usually her recipes are awesome. Yet…I failed at her cinnamon rolls time and time again. Not only was her recipe a HUGE pain in the ass to make, but the cinnamon rolls always tasted kinda bland.

I complained about this to a close friend who laughed and told me that instead, I must use her recipe— or rather, AllRecipes.com’s recipe entitled “Clone of a Cinnabon.” I had my doubts, given my other cinnamon roll failures, but I decided to give them a shot since I had a free afternoon.

Here’s a few user submitted pictures of these rolls from the AllRecipes.com website:

They look good, don’t they? You know why?

Because they are the best cinnamon rolls on the face of the earth.

No. Seriously.

So, for starters: I do not own a bread machine, and that recipe calls for bread machine things. So for what it’s worth, I used regular active dry yeast (one full packet) instead of bread machine yeast. Then I replaced step one with:

Dissolve the yeast in the warm milk in a large bowl. Mix in the sugar, margarine, salt, and eggs. Add flour and mix well. Knead the dough like hell until it gets all smooth and pretty (at least 7 minutes) and forms a large ball— if it’s the tiniest bit crumbly you haven’t kneaded it enough. Put in a bowl, cover and let rise in a warm place about 1 hour or until doubled in size (I turned my oven on, heated it to 100 degrees, then turned it off and put the dough inside).

It took two attempts to get these right— the first time around I was afraid of over kneading and ended up UNDER kneading. The secret is that the dough should look like bread dough. Like a perfectly round ball. So perfect it looks like fake bread dough, the sort they’d stick in a movie star’s hands in a movie so she can pretend to be a baker. I’m looking at you, Julia Roberts.

I also used light butter, since I don’t like margarine, and neufchâtel cheese instead of cream cheese. I used extra cinnamon an a little less brown sugar for the filling. Whatever you do though, don’t substitute the bread flour. Not all purpose, not self rising, not pastry— BREAD FLOUR. That’s totally the secret to these being incredible. I also turned the dough out onto parchment paper (you could use wax paper), which made the dough MUCH easier to roll up and MUCH easier to clean up.

And in the end? These were INCREDIBLE. INCREDIBLE. I can’t say it enough. Wait, maybe I can. INCREDIBLE. Nope, still not enough. These were every bit as good as Cinnabon, if you ask me. This will forever be my cinnamon roll recipe. I have big plans to make several tins, freeze them, and have them ready to go for Christmas morning or special occasions here and there.

Would I make it again? If I could justify making them right now, I totally would.
Are they easy to make? Hm. If you’ve baked anything involving yeast, you can probably handle these. Even if you haven’t, you can probably handle these. They’re really not that tricky— thought I wouldn’t try these for the first time on a special occasion or anything. For what it’s worth, this recipe is much, much easier than most of the other cinnamon roll recipes I’ve seen.
Are they healthy? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA no. No, no they are not. One cinnamon roll, iced, is about 430 calories (that’s with my small substitutions). They are pretty big though. Still, definitely a special-treat-food.
On a scale of one to chocolate cake, how delicious is it? 10. Legit.

Carrot Salad

I like salads. Really, really like salads. A friend and I are always talking about delicious salads. I order them often when I go out. I daresay the fact that salads are generally a pretty healthy choices has been something of a saving grace for dieting-me.

So, when this carrot salad came up as a random recipe to try this week, I was pretty pumped. Salad…but ORANGE.

Yeah, I know. It’s pretty easy for me to get pumped, I guess.

This recipe is from TheHealthyFoodie.net (which is a fantastic site, btw), as is the photo below.

I had to buy an unusual amount of stuff for this recipe. I didn’t have unsweeted coconut or pumpkin seeds, for example. I forgot to get parsley, so I didn’t use any, and I bought a bag of matchstick carrots instead of grating my own. In retrospect, that was a mistake— matchstick carrots are very crunchy, whereas grated carrots are thinner, softer and would probably have given this a more salad-like texture, instead of the coleslaw-like texture mine had. Plus, I always feel super healthy when I buy a bunch of whole carrots. Is that just me?

BUT all that said, the salad itself was pretty damn good. The unsweetened coconut really makes it, imo, and if you leave it in the fridge for an hour or so the flavors combine and it’s even better. Is it the best salad I’ve ever eaten? Well…no. It’s also much more of a side dish, imo, not a main course. But it WAS good, and I would make it again, especially as a unique dish to take to a party or the like, or as a side dish when I’m out of or sick of greens-based salads.

Would I make it again? Yes, but not all the time. It was a nice dish, not an OMG MUST EAT dish.
Are they easy to make? It involves some ingredients that aren’t commonly found in kitchens, like coconut, nuts, and pumpkin seeds. You could probably skip some of those, but I wouldn’t skip the coconut (and make sure it’s unsweetened!). As far as assembly though, it doesn’t get much easier. Throw ingredients in a bowl. Toss. Eat. Done.
Is it healthy? Oh yeah, without doubt. Very healthy, I’d say.
On a scale of one to chocolate cake, how delicious is it? 6— very good, but not so delicious that I suspect I’ll crave it. It’ll be one of those “Hm, I could throw together that carrot salad…” type recipes that I make from time to time, not one that I plan for.