Snickerdoodle Cheesecake Bars

Scott signed me up for the Bake-Off at work, and my randomly assigned category was cheesecake! Oh no... break my heart... ha, ha! But I need to make a cheesecake that can easily be made into 35 servings with a generic enough flavor to appeal to most people without being boring, yet special enough to hopefully win the contest. So I stumbled upon a recipe for Snickerdoodle Cheesecake Bars and have been adapting it to try and make it perfect. Let me tell you... no one is complaining!

I am going to include the recipe for the bars, along with a recipe for a full round cheesecake made in a 9-inch springform pan.

Snickerdoodle Cheesecake Bars

Ingredients:

Cinnamon Sugar: (double this if not using the optional cinnamon sauce recipe)

• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon

Cookie Crust:

• ⅔ cup (150gm) unsalted butter, room temperature
• ⅔ cup granulated sugar
• 1 ½ tbsp light brown sugar
• 1 large egg, room temperature
• 1 large egg yolk, room temperature
• 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups + 2 tbsp all-purpose flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
• 2 tsp corn starch
• 1 ½ tsp cream of tartar
• ½ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon

Cheesecake Filling:

• 2 lb (4 bricks) full-fat cream cheese, room temperature
• 1½ cup granulated sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
• 4 large eggs, room temperature
• 1½ cup full-fat sour cream

Crumb Topping:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• ½ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
• ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 8 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

Directions:

Cinnamon Sugar:

1. In a bowl, combine the sugar with the cinnamon until blended together.
2. Set aside until needed.

Cookie Crust:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Thoroughly grease a 10x15 glass baking pan with non-stick baking spray, or line the pan with baking paper so that the paper hangs over the edges.
• Note: This pan size is just one size larger than a 9x13.
2. In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar for 5 minutes, scraping the bowl several times, until light and fluffy.
3. Add the egg, egg yolk and vanilla, and mix on low to combine. The mixture will look lumpy.
4. Separately, whisk together the flour, corn starch, cream of tartar, salt and cinnamon. Add the dry ingredients to the wet, and mix just until everything comes together into a dough.
5. Press the snickerdoodle cookie dough against the bottom of the prepared pan. Poke all over with a fork or dough docker. If not using the optional cinnamon sauce, sprinkle half of your cinnamon sugar mixture over the crust before baking.
6. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven, and turn the oven down to 325F.
7. While the crust is baking, you should be getting the filling and topping ready. If using the optional cinnamon sauce, also prepare this now.

Cheesecake Filling:

1. In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or paddle, beat the cream cheese with the sugar for 5 minutes, until smooth and fluffy.
2. Add the vanilla bean paste and the eggs, mixing on low (or whisking by hand) until combined. Whisk in the sour cream.
3. Spread the filling over the hot crust.
• If using the optional cinnamon sauce, spread this in an even layer over the crust before topping with the cheesecake filling.
• The cinnamon sauce can move and smoosh up the sides of the pan when adding the cheesecake filling, so I would spread the cinnamon sauce near to, but not quite up to, the edge of the crust and then dollop the cheesecake filling around (maybe with a cookie scoop) especially near the edges to help spread things out without moving the cinnamon sauce layer too much.

Crumb Topping:

1. In a bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon. Drizzle with the melted butter, and stir together until moist and crumbly.
2. Sprinkle the topping over the cheesecake filling. Everyone likes a different amount of crumb topping, so use as much or as little as you like.

Bake:

1. Bake the cheesecake for about 35 minutes (be sure the oven is set to 325). The topping should be golden brown, and the cheesecake should still have a wobble to it and will set up more as it cools. Center should be 150 degrees. I highly recommend using a kitchen thermometer to test for this.
2. Turn off the oven, prop open the door about an inch or two and leave the bars to finish a slow cook for about 30 minutes.
3. Remove from oven. Cool at room temperature for 2 hours, then refrigerate for at least 4-6 hours, or overnight, until well chilled and set.
4. Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar mixture on top of the cheesecake, and cut into squares. 

• Tips: Because of the crumb topping, it is nice to serve the squares in cupcake liners to contain the mess. You can get about 35 servings by cutting in a 4-slice by 9-slice grid. For clean, professional looking slices, run a large knife under hot water, dry the blade, and then make one slice straight down and back up. Do not drag the knife through the cheesecake to complete a longer cut. Clean and reheat the blade between each cut.

Marsha's Notes:

For more cinnamon flavor, you can also add a cinnamon sauce to your recipe. Either swirl it into the cheesecake filling or spread it over your crust after it has had it's initial 10 minute bake. A single batch of sauce should probably be suitable for a 9-inch cheesecake, but you will want to double the recipe for a large pan of bars. To make the sauce:

Cinnamon Sauce (single batch... Double if making a large pan of bars):

• ¼ cup butter
• ¾ cup dark brown sugar
• 3 Tbl. half and half
• 1 Tbl. ground cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 1/8 tsp. ground cloves
• 1 Tbl. flour

Directions:

1. Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add brown sugar, 2 Tbl. half and half, cinnamon, salt, and cloves and cook while stirring constantly until mixture comes to a simmer. Immediately remove from heat, add remaining table spoon half and half and stir in flour. 

Here is the recipe for a traditional 9-inch springform pan.

Snickerdoodle Cheesecake

Ingredients:

Cinnamon Sugar:

• ¼ cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon

Cookie Crust:

• 1/3 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 tbsp light brown sugar
• 1 large egg, room temperature
• 3/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cups + 1 tbsp all-purpose flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
• 1 tsp corn starch
• 3/4 tsp cream of tartar
• 1/4 tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

Cheesecake Filling:

• 2 lb (4 bricks) full-fat cream cheese, room temperature
• 1½ cup granulated sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
• 4 large eggs, room temperature
• 1½ cup full-fat sour cream

Crumb Topping:

• 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
• ½ cup light brown sugar
• ¼ cup granulated sugar
• ½ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
• ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
• ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
• 6 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

Directions:

Cinnamon Sugar:

1. In a bowl, combine the sugar with the cinnamon until blended together.
2. Set aside until needed.

Cookie Crust:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Thoroughly grease a 9-inch springform baking pan with non-stick baking spray. If desired, cut a circle of parchment paper to fit in the bottom of your pan before spraying.
2. In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar for 5 minutes, scraping the bowl several times, until light and fluffy.
3. Add the egg and vanilla, and mix on low to combine. The mixture will look lumpy.
4. Separately, whisk together the flour, corn starch, cream of tartar, salt and cinnamon. Add the dry ingredients to the wet, and mix just until everything comes together into a dough.
5. Press the snickerdoodle cookie dough against the bottom of the prepared pan. Poke all over with a fork. Sprinkle the dough with about half of the cinnamon sugar mixture.
• If using the optional cinnamon sauce, you can omit sprinkling the top of the crust with the cinnamon sugar mixture and instead save some or all of it for the topping at the end.
6. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven, and turn the oven down to 325F.
7. While the crust is baking, you should be getting the filling and topping ready.

Cheesecake Filling:

1. In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or paddle, beat the cream cheese with the sugar for 5 minutes, until smooth and fluffy.
2. Add the vanilla bean paste and the eggs, mixing on low (or whisking by hand) until combined. Whisk in the sour cream.
3. Spread the filling over the hot crust.

• If using the optional cinnamon sauce, spread this in an even layer over the crust before topping with the cheesecake filling.
• The cinnamon sauce can move and smoosh up the sides of the pan when adding the cheesecake filling, so I would spread the cinnamon sauce near to, but not quite up to, the edge of the crust and then dollop the cheesecake filling around (maybe with a cookie scoop) especially near the edges to help spread things out without moving the cinnamon sauce layer too much.

Crumb Topping:

1. In a bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon. Drizzle with the melted butter, and stir together until moist and crumbly.
2. Sprinkle the topping over the cheesecake filling.

Bake:

1. To bake the cheesecake in a water bath: Wrap the bottom and sides of the springform pan in a large piece of tin foil to prevent water from leaking into the cheesecake.
• I like to use the extra-long tin foil rolls for this so I can cover the entire bottom and sides of the pan with a single sheet. Using two smaller pieces to cover often leads to leaks.
2. Then place the spring form pan into an oven-safe dish large enough to hold the cheesecake pan and enough hot water poured around the foil-wrapped cheesecake pan to come about 2 inches up the sides (or halfway up the pan). Place in the center of the oven.
• It can be helpful to wait to pour the water in until after the cheesecake and oven-safe dish have been placed in the oven.
3. Bake the cheesecake for about 60-75 minutes (be sure the oven is set to 325). The topping should be golden brown, and the cheesecake should still have a slight wobble to it. Center should be 150 degrees but no hotter than 160 degrees. If your cheesecake has not yet reached 150 degrees, continuing cooking at 325 until it has.
4. Turn off the oven, prop open the door about an inch or two and leave cheesecake to finish a slow cook for about 30-60 minutes to completely set the middle.
5. Remove from oven. Cool at room temperature for 2 hours, then refrigerate for at least 4-6 hours, or overnight, until well chilled and set.
6. Sprinkle the remaining cinnamon sugar mixture on top of the cheesecake.
• If you did the optional cinnamon sauce on the top of the crust and didn't sprinkle any of your cinnamon sugar mixture over the crust, you may have more than you would like for sprinkling over the top of the crumb, so just use as much as you think is appropriate.

Marsha's Notes:

For more cinnamon flavor, you can also add a cinnamon sauce to your recipe. Either swirl it into the cheesecake filling or spread it over your crust after it has had it's initial 10 minute bake. A single batch of sauce should probably be suitable for a 9-inch cheesecake, but you will want to double the recipe for a large pan of bars. To make the sauce:

Cinnamon Sauce:

• ¼ cup butter
• ¾ cup dark brown sugar
• 3 Tbl. half and half
• 1 Tbl. ground cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 1/8 tsp. ground cloves
• 1 Tbl. flour

Directions:

1. Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add brown sugar, 2 Tbl. half and half, cinnamon, salt, and cloves and cook while stirring constantly until mixture comes to a simmer. Immediately remove from heat, add remaining table spoon half and half and stir in flour. 

Cinnamon Sauce

Cinna-burst Bread

One of my favorite breads to get at bread shops is the sweet cinnamon chip loaves. So, when we saw these cinnamon chips at our local Amish store, I had to try to recreate my own version... and it turned out FANTASTIC! Enjoy.

I think it helps to store your chips in the freezer so they are as cold as possible when added to your dough for mixing. That way they don't melt and disappear, since you use warm water to make the dough.

Cinna-Burst Bread

Ingredients:

• 1 cup plus 2 Tbl warm water
• 1 Tbl butter, softened
• 2 1/2 Tbl sugar
• 1 Tbl dry milk powder
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 cups flour
• 2 1/2 tsp. bread machine yeast
• 1/2 cup (or more) cinnamon chips, frozen

Directions:

1. Put everything in the mixing bowl of a stand mixer. Attach the paddle attachment and mix on low speed for a few seconds to about a minute, or just until the dough starts to come together. Then, remove and clean off the paddle and swap it for the dough hook attachment.
2. Knead the dough with the dough hook for about 5 minutes on low speed (about speed 2 on a KitchenAid), or until the pulls away from the sides of the bowl, looks smooth, and feels just slightly tacky. Gently poke the dough with your finger and it should bounce back without sticking to you.
3. Once you are done kneading the dough, remove the dough hook, form into a ball, leave in the bowl of the stand mixer covered with a dish towel and let rise until double in size (30-60 minutes depending on the yeast and temperature of your kitchen).
• Just leave the dough on the counter, because if you put it some place too warm (like proofing in a warm oven), the chips will soften and melt and then potentially disappear when you work the dough later to form it into a loaf.
4. Once the dough is doubled, remove it from the bowl, form into a loaf shape and place into your bread pan. Cover again and let rise until the dough is doming above the lip of your pan.
• It can help to place the loaf in a cool oven with the light on, or you can gently warm the oven with a "Proof" or "Warm" setting. Now that you won't be working the dough anymore, it is safe to let it rise faster some place warm.
• Proof setting typically is 80-100 degrees, with the oven keeping the temperature consistent.
• Warm setting typically is 170-200 degrees, so if you use this, don't let it come all the way up to temp and then turn it off. Most yeast doesn't like to proof higher than 95-100 degrees.
• With the oven light turned on only, you are looking at between 75-110 degrees depending on the bulb. Unlike the proof setting, the oven will don't control how cool or hot the oven gets using just the bulb.
5. Preheat your oven while the dough rises in the loaf pan (unless you are using the oven for proofing, then be sure to remove the loaf from the oven about ten or fifteen minutes before you think it will be done rising and let it finish rising on the counter while your oven preheats). When the loaf is ready, place in a 350 degree oven for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown on top.
• Mine was perfect in our convection oven at 20 minutes.
6. Let the loaf rest in the pan for no longer than ten minutes before removing from pan to finish cooling covered with a towel on a wire rack. If you leave it in the pan, the loaf will sweat as it cools and your crust will get soggy.

Marsha's Notes:

I tried to make this in my bread machine, but the chips melted and disappeared in the dough because the bread machine used too much heat during the initial proofing process so when the dough was kneaded again, the chips melted away. This time, I made the bread using my stand mixer and just let the dough rise in the bowl with the heat of the kitchen and the chips stayed perfect.

I also tried to put a few extra chips on the top of the loaf for it's last rise, trying to make the loaf pretty and have plenty of visible chips on the top crust, but most of those chips just fell off during baking/slicing so it wasn't worth it.

Here are the cinnamon chips that I used.

Using the dough hook.

Speed 2 on my KitchenAid

Done and ready to rise.

After the first rise, here it is shaped in the pan and ready to rise again.

Here it is risen and ready to bake.

Fresh out of the oven.

One Giant Cinnamon Roll

Did you know that you can take canned cinnamon roll dough, and instead of making individual rolls, you can combine the dough together and get one giant cinnamon roll?!!! I had to try it out. My only regret is that I thought it needed more frosting, which could be easily remedied with some canned frosting if you don't want to make your own.

This gives me ideas to resurrect the JB's 3-center cinnamon roll from my youth!!!

There are really no special instructions for this, other than take the smaller rolls apart to form one big roll, and then bake until done. I think it was like 350 for 20-25 minutes or so.

Before the oven.

Cinnamon Swirl Bread Machine Loaf

This recipe is for making your bread dough with a bread machine and then hand-forming the prepared dough into a single swirl loaf. Pretty quick and easy, everyone really enjoyed this a lot.

Cinnamon Swirl Bread Machine Loaf

Ingredients:

• 1 cup water
• ½ cup milk or buttermilk
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 3 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
• 2 ¼ teaspoons instant yeast or bread machine yeast
• 2 ¼ teaspoons fine salt sea salt or kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 large egg
• ½ cup brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions:

1. Place the water, milk, honey, flour, yeast, and salt in your bread machine.  Select the dough function, and process according to the manufacturer’s directions.
2. Grease a 9 x 5 x 3 bread loaf pan.
3. Dust a pastry mat with flour, and add the dough.  Dust with more flour.
4. Roll the bread dough into an 8 x 16 inch rectangle.
5. Beat the egg and water in a small dish and brush the dough with the egg wash using a pastry brush.
6. Mix together the sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle over the dough.
7. Start from the short side and roll the dough up.  Pinch the ends together and then tuck the ends under.
8. Transfer the loaf to the prepared pan.
9. Allow to rise for 45 minutes.
10. Preheat your oven to 350°F. Brush the top of the dough with the remaining egg wash if desired.
11. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes.
12. Cool in the pan for about 5 minutes, and then transfer to a wire rack.  Allow to cool before slicing.

Marsha's Notes:

The original recipe called for an "egg wash" in the middle of the loaf along with your cinnamon sugar mixture, and I had never heard of using that when making traditional cinnamon rolls. So instead, I opted to use softened/melted butter like I was familiar with, and as you can see in the cut cross-section, the swirl in the bread is a little loose with some air pockets. In hindsight, I think that perhaps the egg wash might be helpful in keeping the swirl of the loaf connected and closed, so I will try that next time and report if it made a difference.

Rolled out

Spread with butter. Next time I will use the egg wash.

Poured out the cinnamon mixture.

Spread out and then rolled up. I tried to make the dough as wide as my loaf pan (on the short end of the dough). Then I rolled it up starting on the short end.

Rolled and in the pan.

After rising for 45 minutes.

Baked! I topped the loaf with melted butter since I didn't use an egg wash.

Upgraded Canned Cinnamon Rolls

There is this hack going around right now where you can use canned cinnamon rolls and take them to the next level. I LOVE cinnamon rolls, so I just had to try it! While not as good as my homemade, these are still way better than just the canned ones by themselves, especially if you like an ooey-gooey cinnamon roll. Enjoy!

Upgraded Canned Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients:

• 2 cans Pillsbury Grands cinnamon rolls, ~17 oz. each, 10 rolls total
• ~1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 3/4 cups brown sugar
• 1/2 Tbl cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt

Directions:

1. Grease a 9x13 baking dish. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. Place your rolls into your baking dish in an evenly spaced, single layer. Reserve the frosting that comes with the rolls for later.
3. Pour your heavy cream around (not on top of) the rolls until it comes about halfway up the cinnamon rolls.
4. Mix together your melted butter, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt. Pour this mixture evenly over the rolls.
5. Bake for 40 minutes, or until the cream is absorbed, your rolls have enlarged and are puffy and starting to brown.
6. Let cool, then top with the frosting from the cans.

Marsha's Notes:

You can also top these rolls with nuts, if desired.

Chai Apple Crumb Cake

Made this cake yesterday and I thought it turned out pretty good but could use some tweaks. I might want to make it again some day, so I thought I would record the recipe here with my suggestions. Enjoy!

Chai Apple Crumb Cake

Ingredients:

Chai Apples

• 3 small apples peeled & thinly sliced (I used green Granny Smith)
• 40 g light brown sugar (3 tbsp.)
• 1 tbsp. chai spice (recipe below)

Chai Streusel

• 60 g unsalted butter (¼ c.)
• 90 g light brown sugar (⅓ c. + 1 tbsp.)
• 120 g all purpose flour (1 c.)
• 1 ½ tsp. chai spice

Butter Cake

• 210 g all purpose flour (1 ¾ c.)
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• ½ tsp. salt
• 125 g unsalted butter (½ c. + 1 tbsp.) room temperature
• 175 g granulated sugar (¾ c. + 2 tbsp.)
• 2 eggs room temperature
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 135 g whole milk room temperature (½ c. + 2 tbsp.)
• 75 g sour cream room temperature (5 tbsp.)
• 180 g apple butter (⅔ c.) optional

Chai Glaze (optional)

• 90 g powdered sugar
• 1-2 tbsp. macerated chai apple juice

Chai Spice Blend

• 2 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. each of the following: ground allspice, ground cardamom, ground cloves, ground ginger

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F / 175°C. 
• I found that it took too long for the cake to cook at this temperature in my convection oven so the bottom was getting overdone while the middle was still doughy. I would drop the temp to 325 next time and see if I get better results cooking it lower and slower.)
2. Generously butter a 9" cake pan. Crumple up some parchment paper, then un-crumple it and place it into the buttered cake pan, making sure it sticks to the bottom and sides. Set aside.
• Instead of using crumpled parchment, I had a 9" silicone mat that I put in the bottom of my 9" springform pan, and that worked perfectly.

Chai Apples

1. Wash, peel, and thinly slice the apples. 
• I found that "sliced" apples made it difficult to get a cake-tester through the top layer to check and see if the batter was all cooked through beneath, so next time, I would dice my apples instead of slicing.
2. Mix the apples with the brown sugar and chai spice well, making sure the mixture is evenly dispersed throughout each apple slice. Set aside.

Chai Streusel

1. In a medium sized bowl, melt the butter. 
2. To the butter, add the sugar, flour, and chai spice. 
3. Use a fork to mix the ingredients together until you have formed clumps of dough. Set aside.

Butter Cake

1. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or with a hand mixer, in a large bowl) beat together the butter and sugar for 3-4 minutes, until light and fluffy.
3. Use a rubber spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add in both eggs and the vanilla. Beat until well combined (~1 min.)
4. Add in half of the flour mixture, and mix by hand just until the flour is incorporated. Add in all of the sour cream and milk and mix until combined. Add in the rest of the flour, and lightly fold the mixture together just until all of the flour is incorporated.
5. Pour half of the cake batter into the prepared cake pan and smooth out the top. Place dollops of the apple butter on top of the cake, then carefully smooth it into an even layer.
• Instead of apple butter, this would also be delicious with a butter, brown sugar, cinnamon mixture, more like a cinnamon roll.
6. Pour the remaining cake batter into the pan and smooth it out into an even layer. 
7. Place the apples on top of the batter, making sure to leave out the juice from the apples. (Be sure to keep the leftover juice for the glaze!)
8. Top the apples with the streusel. Bake for 40-50 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean or with only a few moist crumbs.
• The first time I made this, even at 50 minutes at 350 degrees my cake tester was coming out with raw batter on it, but when I cooked it for more like 60-70 minutes, the cake was finally done but the bottom and sides were a touch overcooked and the streusel topping had gotten really crunchy and hard. Next time, I think I will drop the temperature to cook it lower and slower so the middle has a chance to get done before the outside is over cooked and see how it goes. You can also use "baking strips" that wrap around the outside of your pan to help insulate the sides from the heat to give the middle a better chance to cook evenly.
9. Let the cake cool in the pan until no longer too hot to touch, then use the parchment to lift the cake out of the pan.
• Because I used a springform and my silicone mat instead, and because my cake seemed a touch overdone on the edges, I removed it immediately from the springform to prevent further baking. First, I ran a small spatula around the edge of the pan to make sure the cake wasn't sticking to the sides before removing the collar of the springform. Then I used my biggest oversized pancake turner to get the cake off from the bottom of the pan, then off from the silicone mat.

Chai Glaze (optional)

1. In a small bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar and leftover juice from the apples. If the mixture is too thick, add some more juice, or milk if none is left. If the mixture is too thin, add more powdered sugar.
2. Once the cake has cooled to room temperature, drizzle the glaze over the top. Serve and enjoy! This is also delicious topped with whipped cream or caramel sauce.

Two Ingredient Dessert

This recipe couldn't be simpler, and you can change up the flavors with whatever pie filling you are in the mood for. Enjoy!

Two Ingredient Dessert

Ingredients:

• 1 tube jumbo cinnamon rolls
• 1 can pie filling

Directions:

1. Spray your baking dish with non-stick spray and then add your pie filling in an even layer to the bottom.
2. Open your tube of cinnamon rolls and cut them into bite-sized pieces and place over the top of the pie filling. Do not stir.
3. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until the cinnamon roll bits are browning. 
4. Once cooled, if your cinnamon rolls came with frosting, drizzle the frosting over the top of the cinnamon rolls.

Cinnamon Streusel Quick Bread

I found this recipe years ago and am now copying it here from our family cookbook binder. Enjoy!

Cinnamon Streusel Quick Bread

Ingredients:

• 1 box cinnamon streusel muffin mix
• 1/3 cup flour
• ½ cup water
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 2 eggs

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees.  
2. Grease bottom of 9x5 loaf pan.  
3. In medium bowl, stir muffin mix (Betty Crocker), ½ of the streusel packet, flour, water, oil and eggs just until blended (batter may be lumpy).  
4. Spread batter in pan.  Sprinkle with remaining streusel mix.  
5. Bake 38-43 minutes, or until top is golden brown and springs back when lightly touched.  Cool 15 minutes. Run knife around edges of pan before removing; remove from pan.  Cool completely before slicing, about 45 minutes.  A toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean pretty easily, so I suggest baking for at least 35 minutes to make sure the middle is done.

Cinnamon Cake

I found this recipe years ago and am now copying it here from our family cookbook binder. Enjoy!

Cinnamon Cake

Ingredients:

• 3 cups flour  
• ¾ cup sugar 
• ¼ tsp. salt 
• 4 tsp. baking powder 
• 1 ½ cups milk  
• ½ cup melted butter 
• 2 eggs 
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 Tbl flour
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 2 Tbl milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla

Directions:

1. Mix 3 cups flour, sugar, salt and baking powder.  
2. Add 1 ½ cups milk, ½ cup melted butter, eggs and 2 tsp. vanilla.  
3. Beat until smooth.  
4. Pour batter onto a cookie sheet (one with sides).  
5. In a separate bowl mix ½ cup melted butter, brown sugar, 2 Tbl. flour and cinnamon.  
6. Swirl the cinnamon mixture into the batter on the cookie sheet.  
7. Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes or until cooked through.  
8. For glaze, mix together powdered sugar, 2 Tbl. milk and ½ tsp. vanilla until smooth and drizzle over top of cooled cake.

Marsha's Cinnamon Roll Drink

This is a super sweet, delicious cocktail that tastes like eating the center of a cinnamon roll. YUM!

Marsha's Cinnamon Roll Drink

Calories: 112 per shot of whisky

Ingredients:

• 1 can cream soda
• 1/2-1 shot Porter's Fire Cinnamon Vanilla Whisky
• Ice

Directions:

1. You can either pour your cream soda of your choice over ice, add the whisky and give it a quick stir, or you can take a bottle of cream soda, drink a bit to make room, then add the whisky right to the bottle. 
2. I've also seen people garnish this drink with some whipped cream sprinkled with cinnamon sugar for an icing effect.

Cinnamon Roll French Bread Bake

Marsha's Cinnamon Roll French Bread Bake

Ingredients:

• 1 loaf french bread (depending on the size and shape from your bakery... ours are HUGE!)
• 10 eggs
• 1 1/2 cup whole milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons nutmeg
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1 cup cream cheese frosting (melted) {you could use any frosting... we are just big fans of cream cheese}

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Slice the French bread into ½-1/3 inch slices and place them in rows in a greased 9x13 pan. The thinner you slice the bread, the more layers you will have in your bake and the more delicate it becomes. I like mine thin!
3. In a bowl, combine the cracked eggs, whole milk, vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg until well combined. (Adjust egg mixture for the amount of bread you have as needed.)
4. Pour the liquid mixture over the slices of bread. Make sure each slices gets coated. You may have to push the bread down into the milk and egg mixture to get every slice dipped. Let rest so the milk and egg mixture can evenly absorb into the bread. Times will vary depending on how well you originally coat each piece of bread.
5. Sprinkle the french toast with brown sugar and cinnamon and place in oven.
6. Bake at 350 for 15-25 minutes, or until all the mixture is absorbed and baked into the bread.
7. Remove from oven and let cool for about 5 minutes before pouring the melted cream cheese frosting over it.
8. Serve warm and enjoy!

Marsha's Notes:

I really loved how the cinnamon sugar topping got all crispy and crunchy on the top of the bake, and I liked the texture and appearance when the bread was sliced really thin. The leftovers were also tasty, but the topping is no longer crunchy when you microwave things. To help with the even absorption of the milk and eggs, you maybe could even dip each slice into the mixture, then place the slices in the pan and pour the remaining mixture over top. It would be messier, but might eliminate the need to let things sit.

If using the longer, skinnier loaf of Kent's French bread, use less egg mixture (8 eggs to 1 cup milk, maybe) and be sure to bake for at least 20 minutes. Test to see if it's reached 160 degrees internally.

I saw this post go through my feed on Facebook, and the picture alone was enough to make me want to try it out. So, I hopped over to Six Sister's Stuff and looked at their recipe. It seemed simple enough, and unlike other French toast bakes, this one did not require you to let everything sit overnight, which, for someone who doesn't always plan her meals THAT much in advance, was perfect!

During the preparation process though, I discovered pretty quickly that I was going to need to tweak things. So the recipe that follows is going to be VERY similar to the base recipe I used from Six Sister's Stuff, but not quite the same, and here's why... every bakery makes their French bread just a little bit different (smaller, larger, longer, fatter...) and so my hometown French bread required LOTS more milk and egg mixture (and just a touch more topping).

I also found that letting the French toast sit for just a few minutes before baking (one of the reasons I was excited about this recipe) was simply not enough time for all the milk and egg mixture to evenly absorb into the bread. (Now I know why most of these kinds of recipes tell you to let things sit overnight or for at least 8 hours... but I think even sitting for 10-30 minutes might have been enough.) To help coat the bread, I even kind of smooshed the bread down into the pan to try to get all of the pieces evenly coated in the milk and egg, which I worried might ruin the bread or make it turn into some kind of heavy lump, but it didn't. Even with all of that, after baking, I had several spots in my French toast bake where the bread was still dry and had no milk or egg on it at all.

However, it was still pretty good when it was done, and I think next time, knowing what I know now and using the recipe I am going to post below, it will be perfect the next time I make it. So, here's my version of the Six Sister's Stuff Cinnamon Roll French Bread Bake.

Marsha's/Pillsbury's Pumpkin Pie Breakfast Bake

I saw this recipe back in the fall and I really wanted to try it out. Our local small grocery stores didn't have the Pillsbury Grands pumpkin spice rolls, but I found some out of town at Wal-Mart. They are a seasonal roll, so you will have to probably wait until next fall for more to come out. However, I think you could make this same recipe with the regular canned cinnamon rolls and have everything turn out equally as well. You could maybe just bump up the "fall flavor" with some pumpkin pie spice.

I tweaked the recipe just a bit by combining this recipe with my Marsha's Kneader's Chunky Cinnamon Bread Pudding recipe, but here is a link to the original Pillsbury recipe if you want it.

http://www.pillsbury.com/recipes/pumpkin-pie-breakfast-bake/301e33a0-e480-467b-9ec8-6c626954d715

I actually don't really care for the taste of canned cinnamon rolls... I mean, they are all right, but not great. So I wonder if this dish would be even better with some Rhode's frozen cinnamon rolls... just food for thought. Or you could use any pre-baked cinnamon roll that you like, but you will need to let the dish sit for awhile/overnight for the cooked rolls to absorb the egg mixture and possibly bump up the milk by 1/2 cup.

Marsha's Pumpkin Pie Breakfast Bake

Ingredients:

• 2 cans Pillsbury Grands pumpkin spice rolls with icing
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup canned pumpkin
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• dash salt
• 1 cup milk
• 2/3 cup coarsely chopped pecans
• brown sugar

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Separate dough from both cans into rolls and cut each roll into 8 pieces. Place in greased 13x9 or 3 qt. baking dish. If the dough doesn't separate into nice rolls, that is okay. Just chop up the dough into bite-sized pieces.
3. In a medium bowl, beat eggs, pumpkin, cinnamon, sugar, salt, and milk until well blended. Pour evenly over dough. Sprinkle with pecans and brown sugar. If you have time, you can let this sit for a bit to let things absorb better, but you don't have to.
4. Bake uncovered for about 20 minutes. Check. If things are starting to brown too much, cover top with foil. Continue checking and baking for another 10-20 minutes until top is brown and center is set. Cool until dish is just slightly warm, then top with icing from the cinnamon roll package. Serve warm with whipped cream.

Marsha's Kneader's Chunky Cinnamon Bread Pudding

So, a family friend gave us a Kneader's bread basket for Christmas. It happened to be right when we had tons of food in the house (of course! It was Christmas!) and so I had to put some of the bread in the freezer. Because it was our garage deep freeze, it got forgotten about. So, I finally remembered and pulled out the once beautiful loaf of Chunky Cinnamon Bread. (I don't know why it's call chunky because there were no chunks in it...)

I am sure the bread was AMAZING fresh, but now it was dry and stiff, and no amount of help was going to bring it back from the land of frost that it had been living in for 2 months. So... what to do... I just couldn't bring myself to toss it out, and not I am so glad that I didn't! Introducing, Marsha's Kneader's Chunky Cinnamon Bread Pudding! It was pretty amazing.

Marsha's Kneader's Chunky Cinnamon Bread Pudding

Ingredients:

• 2/3 loaf of Kneader's Chunky Cinnamon Bread
• 3 eggs
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• dash of salt
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• brown sugar

Directions:

1. Grease a square baking dish (9x9x2 or so). 
2. Cube bread into approximately one inch chunks and evenly fill the baking dish. 
3. In a medium bowl, beat eggs, 1/3 cup granulated sugar, cinnamon, salt and milk. 
4. Pour over bread. 
5. Sprinkle top with brown sugar (2 Tbl or so). 
6. Cover tightly and refrigerate at least 2 hours or up to 24 hours. 
7. Heat oven to 350 degrees. 
8. Bake uncovered 50-60 minutes or until golden brown and cook through. 
9. Serve warm, topped with powdered sugar, whipped cream and/or maple syrup. (I used all three and it was sinfully good!)

Marsha's Oat-Streusel-Filled Cinnamon Roll Muffins

I saw the picture for this recipe and thought it looked amazing! Pillsbury Persian Date-Filled Cinnamon Roll Muffins. Dates are not my favorite, so I tweaked things and made my own Oat-Streusel-Filled Cinnamon Roll Muffins!  Now, that was something I could get excited about.  So, using the Pillsbury recipe as my base, here is the VERY YUMMY version of what I came up with. (To see the original recipe, click here.)

Marsha's Oat-Streusel-Filled Cinnamon Roll Muffins

Ingredients:

• 1 cup quick-cooking oats
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. ground cardamom
• 1 can (17.5 oz.) Pillsbury Grands! refrigerated cinnamon rolls with icing (5 rolls)
• 2 Tbl. packed brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 2 Tbl. honey

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 375°F. Generously spray 5 jumbo muffin cups or 5 (6-oz) custard cups with Crisco® Original No-Stick Cooking Spray.
2. In medium bowl, mix oats, butter, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/2 tsp. cinnamon and cardamom until crumbly. Add enough additional butter, or sugar or oats until you get a nice streusel consistency.
3. Separate cinnamon rolls; reserve icing. Using serrated knife, cut each roll horizontally in half. Place bottom of each roll, cut side up, in each muffin cup. Divide oat mixture evenly among rolls in muffin cups. Add tops of rolls, cinnamon topping sides up.
4. Spray bottom of large drinking glass with cooking spray; press firmly onto rolls so tops are even with tops of cups. In small bowl, mix 2 Tbl. brown sugar and 1/2 tsp. cinnamon. Sprinkle cinnamon-sugar mixture over tops of rolls; lightly press into dough.
5. Bake 18 to 21 minutes or until tops are golden brown. Meanwhile, in small bowl, mix reserved icing and honey. Place waxed paper under cooling rack. Cool muffins in pan 10 minutes; carefully remove from pan to cooling rack. Drizzle honey icing over muffins. Serve warm.

Pillsbury's Orange-Kissed Breakfast Bread Pudding

I love orange rolls, so when I saw this recipe for bread pudding made out of orange rolls, I was pretty excited to try it.  Sweet, delicious and pretty easy, I think this is a fun way to have breakfast if you like bread pudding.  The original recipe is on the Pillsbury website (click here).

Pillsbury's Orange-Kissed Breakfast Bread Pudding

Ingredients:

• 2 cans (13.9 oz each) Pillsbury® refrigerated orange flavor sweet rolls with icing (16 rolls)
• 2 cups half-and-half
• 2 LAND O LAKES® Whole Eggs
• 2 LAND O LAKES® Egg Yolks
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup Fisher® Chef’s Naturals® Walnut Halves and Pieces, coarsely chopped
• 1/4 cup half-and-half
• 1/4 cup LAND O LAKES® Butter
• 1 teaspoon McCormick® Pure Vanilla Extract

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 400°F. Spray large cookie sheet with Crisco® Original No-Stick Cooking Spray. On cookie sheet, place rolls 1 inch apart. Reserve icing. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from cookie sheet to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 10 minutes.
2. Reduce oven temperature to 350°F. Spray 8-inch square pan with cooking spray. Using serrated knife, cut rolls into 1/2- to 1-inch pieces; set aside.
3. In large bowl, mix 2 cups half-and-half, whole eggs, egg yolks, sugar and walnuts until well blended. Gently stir in roll pieces. Spread in pan.
4. Bake at 350°F 50 to 55 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes clean and top is deep golden brown. Cool 30 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, in 1-quart saucepan, heat icing (from both containers), 1/4 cup half-and-half and butter over low heat, stirring occasionally, until butter is melted. Stir in vanilla.
6. Cut warm bread pudding into 9 servings. Drizzle with sauce.

Top Secret Recipes' "IHOP" Cinn-A-Stacks

This copy-cat recipe is outstanding!  Very rich, though, so beware of the inevitable sugar high.  The picture came from the IHOP website, but the recipe came in my inbox when I subscribed to the free mailing list from Top Secret Recipes.  The recipes are only free for a little while, so you have to snatch them up quick.

"IHOP" Cinn-A-Stacks

Ingredients:

Cinnamon Sauce:

• ¼ cup butter
• ¾ cup dark brown sugar
• 3 Tbl. half and half
• 1 Tbl. ground cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 1/8 tsp. ground cloves
• 1 Tbl. flour

Cream Cheese Icing:

• 4 oz. cream cheese
• 1 ¼ cups powdered sugar
• 1 tsp. lemon juice
• ¼ tsp. vanilla extract
• Garnish: Whipped Cream

Directions:

1. Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add brown sugar, 2 Tbl. half and half, cinnamon, salt, and cloves and cook while stirring constantly until mixture comes to a simmer. Immediately remove from heat, add remaining table spoon half and half and stir in flour. 
2. Combine ingredients for cream cheese icing in a medium bowl. Beat on low speed with an electric mixer until smooth. Spoon icing into a squirt bottle. To assemble your dish, make either pancakes or French toast how you like. Then spread about a Tbl. of cinnamon sauce on top of each piece as you stack them. A typical serving is two pancakes or two pieces of toast. Drizzle with cream cheese icing over the top and finish with a dollop of whipped cream. These are very sweet!

Cinnamon Sauce

All Recipes' Layered Cinnamon Crescent Roll Recipe

I got this recipe from my friend Kellie (it's on her blog too!) and I think it's great!  Definitely not something if you are looking for a healthy dessert... I mean, it's got cream cheese and 1/2 cup of butter! But if you want something easy that's yummy, here you go. 

Layered Cinnamon Crescent Roll Recipe

Ingredients:

• 2 pkgs of refrigerated crescent roll dough
• 8 oz. cream cheese
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 Tbsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon

Directions:

1. Spread one pkg of refrigerated crescent roll dough in the bottom of a greased 9x13" pan (pinch dough together at seams or roll with a small roller).
2. Mix cream cheese, sugar and vanilla.
3. Spread mixture onto roll layer.
4. Top mixture with another package of crescent roll dough (pinched together at seams).
5. Mix melted butter, sugar and cinnamon.
6. Pour on top of the dough.  
7. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

Marsha's Notes:

• You can buy crescent dough sheets instead of the perforated kind that makes individual crescents to make life just a touch easier.

• Here is what it looked like before baking, after baking, and when topped with an optional icing glaze.

I wasn't expecting the molten puddles of cinnamon sauce, so it will be interesting to see if that is how it always is.

Because it looked bald, I did about 1 cup of powdered sugar mixed with a little bit of milk (couple Tbl... maybe but probably less than 1/4 cup...?).

• I haven't made this recipe in years, and this time using the "dough sheets" it turned out cakier than I was expecting (no layers of flaky crescent). I can't remember what the texture was like when I originally made this recipe, so I don't know if the texture this time was because of how how the dough sheets I bought were stored, that batch I got, or if it's always that way, so I would be interested to document in the future the difference between another batch with dough sheets and a batch with perforated dough. That said, it was still delicious.