Rolling In The Yeast

My all-time favorite "secret ingredient" is cinnamon. It has a spicy, earthy, and rich flavor that pairs well with both sweet and savory items. I love this spice so much that I put it in almost all of my bakes and eat it with my oatmeal every morning. Despite my love of cinnamon, I have always been haunted by the idea of making cinnamon rolls from scratch. This fear stems from the fact that most cinnamon roll dough is made by using and activating the yeast. If the yeast is not properly activated, the dough will not form correctly. I am still a newbie when it comes to working with yeast, but I decided to expand my knowledge by making banana cinnamon rolls.

The recipe, which is listed below, has three separate ingredient lists for the dough, the filling, and the cream cheese frosting. When I initially read the title of this recipe, I automatically assumed that I was going to slice the bananas and use them to create the filling. I was surprised when I read that 2 mashed bananas were also going to be used to form the dough. After doing some research, I learned that eggs and bananas can be used interchangeably in recipes depending on what you have on hand. The dough ingredient list also included 1 packet of yeast, 2 tablespoons of brown sugar, 1 cup of warm milk, 4 cups of flour, and a 1/2 teaspoon of salt. It is important to note that the yeast sugar and milk need to be mixed together first to activate the yeast properly. When the yeast is properly activated, it should form bubbles on the surface and you should be able to smell it. Before I poured the flour and salt into the activated yeast, I added cinnamon and a little bit of nutmeg.

The filling for these cinnamon rolls consisted of butter, cinnamon, nutmeg, brown sugar, and sliced bananas. I ran out of bananas and decided to use diced up granny smith apples coated with maple syrup instead. While I combined the apple mixture, butter, cinnamon, nutmeg, and brown sugar into one bowl, I do not recommend doing this. When fruits such as apples, strawberries, and blueberries are left to sit in sugar, it causes their natural juices to extract and creates additional liquid. When I attempted to roll my dough with the filling inside, some of this liquid poured out making it difficult to shape the rolls. To make up for the liquid and apples I lost, I sprinkled brown sugar and diced apples on the top of the rolls before baking them in the oven.

The last piece of this recipe included assembling the cream cheese icing. I combined cream cheese, milk, vanilla extract, powdered sugar, and of course, cinnamon together in my mixer. After the cinnamon buns were slightly cool, I poured the icing on top. These cinnamon rolls were not only light and airy but the banana flavor in the dough came through nicely. My boyfriend and I were able to reheat and enjoy these the next day and he recommended a side of vanilla ice cream the next time I make these again.

https://www.fitmittenkitchen.com/banana-cinnamon-rolls/#tasty-recipes-16157