Guest Post: Cinnamon Roll Breadsticks by The Cooking Actress

After 6.5 years of grad school, I wrote a 172 page document full of figures and tables, and prepared a 55 slide presentation. It’s now the Friday before I defend my dissertation, which means I will be spending the entire weekend practicing and preparing for this presentation. And probably adding crazy animations and then removing them because they are distracting but gave me something to do other than rehearse. Then baking something to feed my admiring audience/keep them awake with sugar.

Meanwhile, Kayle of The Cooking Actress is here to keep you awake with her own special dose of sugar and spunk. Even though she is not a fan of football season, she and I can definitely agree upon the glory that is peanut butter and chocolate. Especially in edible buckeye form. Besides, with treats like these pretzel chocolate chip peanut butter cookies how could you not love her? Then she took cookie dough truffles to the next level with these salted brown butter chocolate chip cookie dough truffles. She definitely rocks the sweets but don’t miss out on her savory recipes too like her bacon wrapped water chestnuts and roasted garlic, chicken, and herb white pizza.

One year ago: Chicken, Broccoli and White Cheddar Pita Pizzas

Two years ago: Falafel Pizza

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Hey there everybody! I’m Kayle, and I have a lil blog called “The Cooking Actress“. Basically I’m an actress…and I cook (and bake). A lot. I had the wonderful joy of being able to meet the lovely Erin a few months ago when we, and some other awesome food bloggers, met up for brunch in NYC (where I’m based and where she was visiting). Obviously, she’s so charming and cool and smart and awesome, right? Plus her blog’s name is the Spiffy Cookie. And um…I’m obsessed with all things cookies. And, thanks to Erin spending some of her life living in Ohio where I am from, she embraces the beauty of all things chocolate and peanut butter (a la’ the Buckeye). So anyway, soulmates. So, when Erin asked if I would guest post for her while she works on being all smart and P.H.D-y and such, I was like “OF COURSE!”

We all remember cinnamon sticks, right? Whether it’s from a pizza place or an actual cinnamon roll chain-they’re fun and friggin’ delicious. Umm…as you can see…my cinnamon breadsticks aren’t exactly winning any beauty pageants. I apologize, my photos are usually better than this but well…I am not the best at making food look pretty sometimes and these guys paid the price. Now, don’t make my mistakes: make sure to not cut the breadsticks too big and um…I don’t really know how to make the cinnamon sugar mixture look pretty…I tried my best, guys!

Anyway, don’t worry about the appearance, worry about how they TASTE. And they taste phenomenal! They’re wonderfully crisp on the outside from the caramelized cinnamon sugar and just perfectly fluffy on the inside. And of course just the comforting, warm flavors of cinnamon and sugar and the glaze are just…mmmmm.

These are perfect if you have a big family or a ton of people over, a total crowd pleaser!

Cinnamon Roll Breadsticks

Adapted slightly from A Little Bit Crunchy, A Little Bit Rock n’ Roll

Makes 11-12 cinna-sticks

Ingredients:

Breadsticks

• 1 tbsp. (or 1 packet) active dry yeast
• 1 and 1/2 cups warm water
• 3 tbsp. granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 3 and 1/2 to 3 and 3/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 stick butter

Cinnamon Topping

• 3/4 cup packed dark (or light) brown sugar
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• Optional-1/8 tsp. cloves
• 2 tbsp. butter, melted

Icing

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 2 tbsp. buttermilk or regular milk
• 2 tbsp. soft butter or cream cheese
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

Preparation:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
• In a large bowl combine yeast, sugar, and water. Allow to sit for a few minutes until foamy.
• Add salt and flour.
• Then, using a dough hook on a stand mixer or just by hand, knead for 3 minutes (add more flour if needed)-you’ll want it to pull away from the bowl.
• Place dough on a floured surface and let sit for 10 minutes.
• Melt 8 tbsp. of butter in a 15″x10″x1″ pan in the preheating oven. Remove once the butter has melted.
• In a small bowl melt 2 tbsp. butter and combine with the rest of the ingredients for the cinnamon topping, until it is a wet sand consistency.
• Roll dough out to fit the pan. Use a pizza wheel to cut into 1-1 1/2 in. strips (11-12 strips total).
• Dip each strip into the pan of butter, on both sides, and line the sticks next to each other to fill the pan. Cover with the cinnamon mixture.
• Let rise 10-20 minutes in the warm pan.
• Bake 15-20 minutes (place something under it to catch any overflow/drippage!)
• Whisk together the ingredients for the icing (make it thicker with more sugar, thinner with more milk.)
• Remove the cinnamon breadsticks and let cool for 10 minutes before drizzling with frosting.
• Store in an airtight container. Best eaten the day of, but aren’t too bad 1 day after. I do not recommend keeping them longer than that.