Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cinnamon Buns with Cereal Milk Icing

When I was a little girl I used to love the Pillsbury cinnamon buns that came in a tube.  I only ever ate them at my Grandparent’s house, but sometimes I would eat two or three with dinner.  I never questioned why we were eating cinnamon rolls with dinner, but I’m pretty sure it was just because I loved them so much.  To be fair, although picky, I was a pretty healthy eater as a kid and would also polish off most of a can of green beans and as much watermelon or grapes as you put in front of me.  Another childhood favorite was cinnamon toast crunch cereal, so when I saw this recipe I knew I had to try it.

These days I tend to think of cinnamon buns as a breakfast food, and one that I only eat very occasionally.  When I do, I want them to be something special – fancy pants, if you will.  Sometimes I go more sophisticated fancy pants (like with these meyer lemon rosemary cinnamon rolls, which are to die for by the way) and sometimes I go for the recipes that bring out the kid in me. This right here is definitely one of the latter.

Three notes about these cinnamon buns:

1. Cinnamon toast crunch cooked in butter and sugar takes on a texture remarkably similar to bacon.
2. Don’t try to split one with a friend.  You will both go back for seconds anyway.
3. That said, I doubt you’ll be able to eat three of these babies (but I dare you to try!)

Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cinnamon Buns with Cereal Milk Icing

Adapted from The Two Bananas

Ingredients:

For the bun dough:

• 2¼ teaspoons of yeast (1 packet)
• 1 cup ¼ cup milk
• 2 cups Cinnamon Toast Crunch
• 3½ cups flour
• ¼ cup sugar
• 6 tablespoons melted butter
• ¼ teaspoon salt

For the filling:

• 1 stick butter (1/2 cup), softened
• ½ cup brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons cinnamon

For the topping:

• 1 (1/2 cup) stick butter
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• ¾ cup brown sugar
• 2 cups Cinnamon Toast Crunch

Instructions:
Steps 1-8 can be made the day before, as can the icing.  Bake them and glaze them immediately before serving.

1. Make the Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal milk: let 1 cup cinnamon toast crunch soak in 1+1/4 cups of milk for a minimum of 30 minutes in the fridge. (I’ll be honest here: this step is entirely unnecessary – you will not taste the difference between the regular milk and the cereal milk in the bun dough – but you need the cereal milk for later anyway.)
2. For the cinnamon bun dough: Add the yeast to the bowl of your stand mixer. Warm the milk in a small sauce pan over low heat so it is just warm, not hot. Add warm milk to yeast and stir for about a minute, until yeast is dissolved. Beat in the the sugar, egg, salt and melted butter (again just warm, not hot), and mix well to combine. Add the flour in batches and mix using the dough hook until a sticky dough forms. Cover the dough with a damp kitchen towel or paper towel and allow it to rise in a warm spot for a least an hour, until the dough has doubled in size.
3. Make cinnamon toast crunch crumbs: Add 3 cups of cinnamon toast crunch (1 cup for rolling out the dough, 2 cups for the cinnamon bun topping) to a large ziplock bag, and crush pieces using a rolling pin or your hands.
4. Turn risen dough out onto a well floured surface. Roll out part of the way – to about a 6in x 9in rectangle. Carefully transfer dough to a cutting board, and then spread 1 cup of cinnamon toast crunch crumbs onto your working surface to form a 12″ x 18″ rectangle. Transfer dough back to your working surface, laying it in the center of your cinnamon toast crumbs rectangle. Continue to roll out dough, pressing it into the cinnamon toast crumbs, until it forms a 12″ x 18″ rectangle.
   
5. Evenly spread 1 stick (1/2 cup) of softened butter onto the dough and sprinkle with ½ cup brown sugar and 3 tablespoons cinnamon, being sure not to miss the edges.
6. Roll up your cinnamon buns! Starting with a longer edge of your rectangle, tightly roll up the dough into a cylinder. Cut the dough cylinder in 12 pieces.
7. Make your topping: In a small sauce pan, melt 1 stick (1/2 cup) of butter with ¾ cup brown sugar and 1 tablespoon cinnamon until sugar is totally dissolved. Add mixture to the bottom of a well greased 9″ x 13″ or similarly sized baking dish (think standard sized lasagna pan). Sprinkle 2 cups cinnamon toast crunch crumbs on top. This mixture will become your topping when you flip the cinnamon buns upside-down out of the ban after baking. Place  buns into the baking dish on top of cinnamon toast crunch crumbs – its okay if there is space between the buns, they are going to continue to rise. 
8. Allow cinnamon buns to rise for about 45 minutes. If you are making this recipe the day before, you can cover the cinnamon buns with plastic wrap and leave them in the fridge overnight. Be sure to take them out at least an hour before baking to allow them come to room temperature.
9. Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes, until the crust has become golden brown. Allow them to cool slightly, and then flip them upside down out of the baking dish by placing a your serving platter on top and turning the baking dish upside-down onto the cutting board – you my need the help of a spatula.  The caramelized cinnamon toast crunch crumbs on the bottom of the baking dish will become the topping for the buns.

For the Cereal Milk Icing:

I had leftover icing in the freezer from this recipe, so I’m guestimating here as to amounts.

• 2 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
• 2 tbsp cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 2-3 tbsp cereal milk (use the leftover cinnamon toast crunch milk you made for the bun dough)

1. Mix together the butter and cream cheese in the bowl of a stand mixer or with an immersion blender, until smooth. Add confectioners’ sugar 1/4 cup at a time, mixing well between each addition and scraping down sides as needed
2. Add Cereal Milk and mix until smooth.  You can add a bit more until you get your desired consistency.
3. Drizzle over warm cinnamon buns immediately before serving!

Makes 12 good sized buns

Johanna