Browned Butter Cinnamon Bun Breadsticks

 

I should really call this particular post A Tale of 2 Breadsticks.

I found THIS RECIPE on Pinterest and thought holy heck that's the most amazing thing EVER.

I knew I had to try them.

I wasn't sure of the recipe over at A Little Bit Crunchy A Little Bit Rock n' Roll as it doesn't specify which yeast to use (regular or quick acting) and other than a brief 20 minute period, there is no rise time. But, I overlooked my concerns and decided to give it a go anyway.

Let's just say try number one wasn't that successful.

I'm 100% positive it was something I did as the original recipe at A Little Bit Crunchy looked amazing in their photos.

Here are the photos from my first attempt:

 

 

Started off okay....had my butter (which I browned because it is ever so much more tasty!) ready to go and everything. The original recipe said to melt the butter directly on the cookie sheet and then put the dough strips into the butter on the cookie sheet. I didn't want to bake directly on my cookie sheet, I always use parchment paper. So I did veer off from the original directions.

 

I dipped the strips in the browned butter and placed them on the cookie sheet.

So far..so good...

 

 

Here is where I ran into my first bit of trouble. I tried to evenly sprinkle/spread the cinnamon mixture over the butter dipped dough but it just was not happening.

It looked so lumpy and uneven.

It made me sad.

 

But then...when it baked the topping spread out and looked very lovely. I drizzled with a bit of the icing sugar/milk glaze. Cinnamony breadsticks in about an hour. Not too shabby.

The only problem?

They didn't rise at all.

Nada...zip....zero...zilch...

They were flat and chewy. Like...CHEWY chewy.

Sue loved the texture. So did her company that was down for dinner.

Me...not so much...mom and dad were not fans.

I have no idea why these didn't rise. I used regular yeast...maybe I was supposed to use quick rise.

Anyway...I knew this had some serious potential so I went to work using my recipe and changing the method.  

Here is try #2 with my recipe!

 

Browned Butter Cinnamon Bun Breadsticks

 

Ingredients

Dough

2 pkgs active dry yeast (4 1/2 tsp)

1/4 cup very warm water (110 - 120 degrees)

1 cup very warm milk (Scalded, then cooled a bit)

1 cup sugar

1 tsp salt

3 eggs

1/2 cup browned butter, softened (Click HERE for how to)

3 - 6 cups of flour

1 tbsp oil

 

Topping

3/4 cup browned butter (Click HERE for how-to)

1 cup brown sugar

1 Tbsp cinnamon

 

Glaze

1/4 cup light cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup icing sugar

milk to thin, if needed

 

Directions

Dissolve yeast in warm water in a large bowl. Stir in milk, sugar, salt, eggs, butter, and 3 cups of flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to make a soft dough. Turn dough onto floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic (about 5 minutes).

Grease a large bowl with the Tbsp of oil.

Put dough into the bowl and turn over to coat with oil. Let rise, covered, in warm area, until doubled, about 2 hours.

Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper. (My cookie sheet is a giant! You could use 2 regular sized cookie sheets as an alternative.) Set aside.

Roll out dough to the size of the cookie sheet (or half dough and roll out to fit 2 smaller cookie sheets). Transfer dough to cookie sheet.

 

 

Using a pastry or basting brush, evenly brush with melted, browned butter. (Do use all the butter! It's so tasty!) 

 

 

Sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon. Feel free to use more or less brown sugar and/or cinnamon - as your particular tastes call for.

 

 

Using a pizza cutter or kitchen scraper cut dough in half down the length of the pan. Then cut strips about an inch wide down either side.

 

 

Cover with plastic wrap, place somewhere warm, and let rise for about an hour.

Preheat oven to 350. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes, until bread is lightly brown.

Let cool on pan for about 10 minutes. While the bread is cooling, mix together your glaze. I found when I beat together the cream cheese and icing sugar I didn't need to add any extra milk. If yours is too thick though, add milk - a Tbsp at a time - until you get a thick consistency that you are still able to drizzle with a spoon. Drizzle over the breadsticks.

 

 

Gently pull apart the sticks and serve warm, or let cool on wire cooling racks until completely cooled.

 

 

These were so much more light and fluffy and exactly what I had pictured in my head when I first saw these on Pinterest.

If you have tried A Little Bit Crunchy's version then please let me know what I might have done wrong. That version is ready in under an hour. My version (which is my Portuguese Sweet Bread recipe) takes just over 3 1/2 hours with all the rise time. Booooo to having to wait so long!

These are amazing!

Like eating the soft and gooey middle of the cinnamon bun...you know...the best part!

And...if I do say so myself...the addition of browned butter instead of just regular butter makes me a super genius.

 

Check out Adorned From Above, The Rustic Pig, Kitchen Fun With My 3 Sons, and Ms. enPlace for some great links!