My copycat Cinnaholic Cinnamon Rolls have the perfect cinnamon roll base and are loaded with your choice of frosting and delicious toppings, specifically designed to be customized the way YOU want. This copy-cat is sure to win any foodie’s affection.
I have been so excited to share this recipe with you, because I loved it so much. This concoction might be one of the best desserts I have ever had, definitely in the top 5-10. I hope you give it a try!
In January, My Cowboy and I were in Las Vegas for a work trip. When we go for a trip outside of the usual Montana, Idaho, Utah territory we frequently cover, we have a food rule. This self imposed food rule states that we aren’t allowed to eat at a restaurant generally in our range of accessibility, at least the majority of our meals. We allow a little tried and true leeway, because let’s be honest, Cafe Rio is good no matter where you go.
My Cowboy and I are total foodies through and through. We love good food, are willing to try most anything, and love most any kind of food. So in keeping with this aforementioned rule and my sweet tooth, I was searching for restaurants and bake shops in Vegas that we don’t have around our neck of the woods. In so doing, I came across Cinnaholic- a cinnamon roll shop where you choose from a large variety of frosting flavors and an even larger variety of delectable toppings. Here you customize you own cinnamon roll, from top to bottom. I also discovered they were featured on Shark Tank where they landed a deal! Who with, I don’t know, because I couldn’t find the final outcome in any of the clips on YouTube, but those Sharks know business and they all loved the cinnamon rolls.
I talked My Cowboy into trying it and it. was. so. good. SO GOOD! I loved it and then I loved it some more. I fashioned my copy-cat version after how I had my cinnamon roll made at Cinnaholic. I chose peanut butter frosting, edible cookie dough, brownie chunks, peanut butter cups, and caramel sauce. It was all a match made in heaven. While searching their website, I also discovered they have one location in ID- about 3 1/2 hours away, which is not an area we travel to very often (sigh). Then came the discovery there is a Cinnaholic shop in Salt Lake City. Score! It’s an hour in a half away, so it’s not exactly close enough to indulge that often, but we do make it down that way fairly regularly. Thank goodness!
Cinnamon roll, peanut butter frosting, cookie dough, brownies, Reese’s, hot fudge, oh my!
How does one say no to that?
So, to wrap it up, I made my ideal Cinnaholic Cinnamon Roll and absolutely loved it (both store and home version), but the possibilities with this idea are endless. To best grasp the vision of Cinnaholic and what you can do to customize cinnamon rolls the way YOU want, I highly recommend checking out Cinnaholic by clicking here and taking a peeksie at their website.
They have more chocolate-y, peanut butter-y, caramel-y rich options like I did here in my recipe, but they also have fruity options galore. Make it how YOU will like it best. I do promise that regardless of what way you top it, my cinnamon roll recipe (courtesy of my Mama) and frosting base are absolutely divine! That edible cookie dough though, I highly recommend topping Cinnaholic Cinnamon Rolls with it!
One last thing! Please don’t be scared away by all of the toppings! I made these on a week, I had leftover brownies and hot fudge on hand. I also had some cookie dough from the week or so before rolled into balls ready to go in the fridge. So I baked and chunked up a few cookies for topping. In the future, I will continue to make them as I plan around what I already have on hand rather than making a fresh batch of everything.
- 2 tablespoons instant yeast
- 6 cups all purpose flour
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup butter, melted
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
- 2 cups warm water
- 1/2 cup butter, soft
- 2 cups brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons cinnamon
- 1/2 cup butter, soft
- 1 8 oz package cream cheese, soft
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/2 cup peanut butter
- 2/3 cup caramel sauce*
- brownie chunks
- edible cookie dough- Recipe here: http://www.butterloveandcowboys.com/ediblechocolatechipcookiedough/
- Reese's peanut butter cups, chopped
- hot fudge sauce
- caramel sauce
- cookie chunks
- Oreo cookies, crumbled
- Mix the instant yeast with 1 cup of flour in a bowl and set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer, with the dough hook attached, place sugar, salt, melted butter, vanilla, warm water, and add the yeast/flour mixture. Add one more cup of flour and mix until combined. Gradually add the remaining flour (4 cups) until a soft dough forms. Cover the dough and let rise in a lightly greased bowl until doubled in size, about 50-60 minutes.
- Before punching down the dough, place butter and brown sugar in a medium sized sauce pan over medium-low heat. Stir while the mixture melts together. I take it off the heat as soon as all the butter is combined and melted, but before it turns to a more liquid state so that the filling better stays in the cinnamon rolls while they bake. Punch down the dough and roll into a rectangle. Spread the filling over the dough and sprinkle with the cinnamon. Roll up the dough and cut into about 22 1-2 inch rounds. Place cinnamon rolls in two greased 9x13 pans OR one greased cookie sheet. Cover and let raise until doubled in size, around 45 minutes. Preheat oven at 350 degrees F and bake 15-20 minutes, or until the rolls begin to turn golden on top.
- Beat the butter and cream cheese until soft and combined for 1-2 minutes. Add the vanilla and mix. Gradually add the powdered sugar until well combined. Once the powdered sugar is all added, I continue to beat the frosting for about 3 minutes, until the texture is ultra light and fluffy, and turns stark white. I do this because it combines the flavors and creates a texture I love! Next, if you want different frosting flavor options, divide the frosting into three different bowls or containers (I just eyeballed this). In one container, stir in the peanut butter until well mixed. In another container stir in the caramel sauce until well mixed. Either leave the third container plain or try a different flavor, maybe even chocolate :).
- Pick your roll, pick your frosting, then pick your toppings! One thing I love about these rolls is you get to make them how YOU want. They are a customized creation by YOU! My personal favorite way to eat this is with peanut butter frosting, followed by chunks of edible cookie dough, topped with brownie chunks, Reese's cups, and hot fudge or caramel.
- *I just melted Kraft caramel bits with some milk. You could do this or use homemade or store bought caramel sauce. Given that these cinnamon rolls take a little work, I recommend the easiest route here :).
- **As far as the additional toppings go, these are the toppings we did (plus a few extra ideas) and they all paired together really well. You can customize the toppings to whatever YOUR preferences are or whatever you have on hand. I happened to have some week old leftover brownies that I thought would go to waste, so I cut them in chunks, we ate them on the cinnamon rolls, and they tasted great!
- I also had hot fudge from the previous week, so we warmed it up and used it! I do highly recommend making a batch of my edible cookie dough! It's fast, easy, and it was my FAVORITE topping. You could also use any candy you have on hand. Just chop it up and pile it on! At the real Cinnaholic, they have all sorts of fruity variations too. Some do regular cream cheese frosting with berries and pie crumble which looks so good. This is your creation so customize it to you!
- ***Please don't be scared away by all of the toppings! I made these on a week, I had old brownies and leftover hot fudge on hand. I also had some cookie dough from the week or so before rolled into balls in the fridge, so I baked it and chunked up the cookies for topping. In the future, I will continue to make them as I plan around what I already have on hand rather than making a fresh batch of everything.