The first time I ate a piece of Cinnabon, I was instatntly transported to cinnamon bun heaven! What a delight - soft roll, cinnamon, sugar and the irresistible cream cheese frosting and even though I tried cinnamon buns again in many places, nothing really compares to a Cinnabon. I did not eat Cinnabon for a very long time till we went to Japan in march last yeat and in the cold weather, I took one bite of a cinnabon and it was still amazing!

Except that now I chose a minibon and could not stop counting how many calories and fat rested in that little piece of bread on my plate! Not to mention how processed it was and had really no health benefits except the taste. To be fair, I do not expect a cinnamon bun to be nutritious but I do expect it to not break the calorie bank every time I want to have one. Plus some whole wheat flour and some fiber and less fat would be very nice. I had no plans of drastically reducing the amount of sugar in this recipe - after all it is supposed to be sweet!

To start with the basic recipe, I used my usual recipe for cinnamon rolls. This one was blogged a really long time back and continued to be my go-to recipe for a very long time. And now in my quest for health, I decided to use this as my base recipe while I modified it to be healthy. I do have to state that the quality of the rolls will depend on the quality of the whole wheat flour that you use. I prefer to use a softer texture whole wheat flour. If you think the flour you have is very coarse, then go ahead and mix some all purpose flour with the whole wheat flour. Since the fat in the rolls has been reduced a fair bit, the quality of the flour does make a difference. Keep the dough slightly on the soft side so that it does not dry out while baking. Add more imilk if needed ko keep it moist.

Ingredients:

Bread:

1 1/2 tsp dry yeast

1/2 cup warm milk

2 tablespoons butter

1/2 tsp salt

1 egg

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 tsp white sugar

Filling:

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

11/2 tablespoons cinnamon powder

2 tablespoons butter (softened)

Icing:

2 tablespoons butter (softened)

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/4 cup low fat cream cheese

1/2 tsp Vanilla extract

Method:

1. For the rolls, dissolve the yeast in the warm milk in a large bowl . Add sugar, butter, salt, eggs, and flour, mix well.

2. Knead the dough into a large ball, using your hands dusted lightly with flour. Put in a bowl, cover and let rise in a warm place about 1 hour or until the dough has doubled in size.

3. Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface, until it is approx 10 inches long by 16 inches wide. It should be approx 1/4 inch thick.

4. To make filling, combine the brown sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. Spread the softened butter over the surface of the dough, then sprinkle the brown sugar and cinnamon evenly over the surface . Working carefully, from the long edge, roll the dough down to the bottom edge.

5. Cut the dough into 1 inch slices, and place cut side up in a lightly greased baking pan. Let the rolls rise again and get almost doubled in size. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

6. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.

7. While the rolls are baking combine the icing ingredients. Beat well with an electric mixer until fluffy. When the rolls are done, spread generously with icing.