Chocolate Chip Cinnamon Roll

The kids survived the first week of school ( quite happily, I may add) and now we are on to week 2.  Thus far, I have done a pretty good job of making lunches the night before (sans the sandwich or hot food) and my goal for breakfast is to have goodies on hand, in the freezer, ready to bake off before the kids wake up.

I don't always give them something sweet in the a.m.  Once a week Eli requests "eggy sopita" lovingly coined by our nanny when Eli was oh so young.  Eggy sopita is an egg, dropped in boiling water for 4 minutes.  I then take the egg out of the water and crack open it's shell and scoop out the soft, gooey center into a heated ramekin with a tad of melted butter.  The ramekin is then put over the flame for a few minutes to finish cooking.  Add S + P, serve with "toast slices", along with some berries and this is one of those perfectly balanced meals
( when I was growing up, we didn't have a name for it, but the name "eggy sopita" is here to stay).  Isaac likes a BLD - turkey bacon, lettuce, Dijon on toasted sour dough.  And Levi likes a "push down"; a toasted whole wheat English muffin, once out of the toaster, we put a slice of cheese between the two halves and "push it down".  Other than these favorites, it is usually normal stuff like, bagels, fruit, fruit smoothies with protein powder + yogurt and sometimes, a bowl of cereal.

Today, the kids had fruit smoothies and these wonderfully easy chocolate chip cinnamon rolls.  No yeast, therefore no rising.  The wet ingredients included cottage cheese.  Cottage cheese you say!  I said the same thing and this ingredient almost deterred me from making them.  Glad I didn't follow my instincts.  These are light and delicious!

Chocolate Chip Cinnamon Roll
adapted from here
yield: 12 buns

ingredients:
cinnamon rolls
3/4 cups cottage cheese
1/3 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup sugar
4 Tbls. butter, melted
1 tsp. vanilla
9 oz. all-purpose flour
1 Tbls. baking powder

filling
1 1/2 tsp. unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 cup mini bittersweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup toasted pecan, chopped

glaze
1 1/4 cup powdered sugar
2 tsp. milk
drop of vanilla

instructions:
• preheat oven to 350*.  spray a 12 capacity muffin tin.  set aside.
cinnamon rolls
• combine all wet ingredients in the bowl of a food processor.  pulse until smooth, about 10 seconds.  add the dry ingredients and pulse in short bursts until the dough clumps together.
• lightly flour your work surface ( I use a marble slab) and knead dough with the heal of your hand, 4-5 times.
• with a rolling pin, roll the dough into a 12 x 15" rectangle.
filling
• brush the dough with the melted butter, leaving a 1/2 inch border around the edges.
• in a small bowl, combine the rest of the ingredients
• sprinkle the mixture over the buttered area. push the mixture into the dough(I use a piece of wax paper and lay on top of the mixture and press gently to get the goods into the dough).
• starting at the long edge, roll up the dough jelly roll style.  pinch the seams and leave the ends open
• cut 12 equal parts and set each piece in the individual muffin tins.
• bake 22 - 25 minutes or until bubbly and golden brown.
• let cool 5 minutes and remove from the muffin tin.  cool, slightly on wire racks.
• mix ingredients for the glaze and drizzle on top.
• mmm mmm good!

note:  if you want to make these in advance, freeze them in the muffin tins, uncooked.  once frozen, remove from muffing tin and place in a freezer bag and seal tightly.  these will last for a month in the freezer.  when ready to bake, remove from the freezer and let rest in your muffin tin while your oven is preheating.  add 5 minutes or so to the baking time!