Cinnamon Melts
Source of Recipe
RC
Recipe Introduction
Everyone knows the center of a cinnamon roll is the best part. With that in mind, McDonald's designed a cinnamon pastry where every bite is coated with the same deliciously gooey cinnamon and brown sugar filling that you discover only after working your way through the dry, doubhy part of traditional rolls. It's sort fo like monkey bread, whereby Chunks of dough are tossed in cinnamon/sugar and then baked in a deep cake pan. The difference with this clone of McDonald's version is that the filling is mixed with margarine and spooned onto the dough chunks in layers. And you bake this recipe in much smaller, single serving portions, so that it looks like the real thing. As it turns out, a Texas sized muffin tin, which has cups that are about twice the size of a standard muffin tin, is the perfect pan for this. You could also track down some disposable aluminum potpie pans at your market. Now, since this recipe makes a dozen servings, dig this: When you need a quick breakfast pastry or late night dessert, simply remove a melt from the pan, microwave for 35 seconds, or until hot (this is how McDonald's heats it too), and you're instantly teleported to cinnamon heaven
List of Ingredients
Dough
1 Package active dry yeast (1/4 oz)
1/2 cup warm water (105 to 110 degrees F)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup whole milk
1/3 cup margarine, melted
2 eggs
1 tsp salt
4 cups all purpose flour
Filling
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
2 Tbsp ground cinnamon
2/3 cup margarine, melted
Icing
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) margarine, softened
1/4 cup (2 oz) cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 Tbsp whole milk
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
Recipe
Dissolve yeast in the warm water in a small bowl or measuring cup and let it sit for 5 minutes.
Use an electric mixer to combine sugar with milk and melted margarine in a large bowl. Mix in eggs and salt. Mix in 1 cup of flour. When the flour is combined, mix in 1 more cup of flour. Mix in the yeast solution, and then stir in remaining 2 cups of flour with a wooden spoon. Use your hands to form the dough into a ball, and then put the dough back into the bowl, cover it, and store it in a warm place for about 1 1/2 hours.
Mix the filling ingredients together in a medium bowl, and then cover it until needed.
Roll the dough out on a floured surface until about 1/2 inch thick. Use a pizza slicer to slice the dough into approximately 1/2 inch wide strips and then slice those strips into 3/4 inch to 1 inch long chunks of dough.
Use softened margarine to grease the cups of a large (Texas sized) muffin tin. Drop 6 chunks of dough into the bottomn of each cup. Spoon 1 to 1 1/2 tsp of cinnamon filling over the dough. Drop 7 more pieces of dough oonto the filling in each cup, and then spoon 2 tsp of filling over the top of the dough. Cover the muffin tin with plastic wrap and let the dough sit in a warm spot for 30 minutes so that it rises a little more.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Bake cinnamon melts for 17 to 20 minutes or until the dough turns light brown.
As the cinnamon melts cool, make icing by mixing margarine and cream cheese together with an electric mixer on high speed. Add the powdered sugar and mix slowly until all of the powdered sugar is incorporated. Add the milk and vanilla, then mix again on high speed until smooth and fluffy.
Spoon about 1 Tbsp of icing over the top of each cinnamon melt. Serve right away, or cover melts with plastic and freeze. To serve a frozen melt, remove one from the pan and microwave it on high for 35 to 45 seconds or until warm.
Makes 1 dozen .................................
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