Roasted Banana Cinnamon Buns with Maple Glaze

I was recently very honored to be asked by my dear friend Jenni of The Gingered Whisk if I'd like to provide a guest-post on her blog, as she was moving, and wanted to continue to provide new content to her readers, even while in transition between homes and, thus, kitchens.

I automatically said yes - I mean, who wouldn't want to be a part of her awesome blog??

But then I panicked a little.

Her blog is beautiful, and full of amazingly delicious recipes.  I needed to come up with something special for her. 

And that is when I came up with these.  Overnight cinnamon rolls had been intriguing me for quite some time, and I had even found a recipe for sweet dough that looked fantastic. And then to add the sweet deliciousness of roasted bananas to them, and a maple glaze on top... I knew I had something special enough for my guest post.

And I wanted to share them here, too, in case you hadn't seen them yet.

In case you missed their original posting over on The Gingered Whisk, you can check that out here. And be sure to check out all of the other amazing recipes she has while you're there!



Roasted Banana Cinnamon Buns with Maple Glaze

For the Dough:
(from allrecipes)

1 cup milk
1/3 cup white sugar
1/3 cup butter
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2 tablespoons vegetable oil

In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the milk, sugar and butter. Heat until slightly warm to the touch then remove from heat and stir in the yeast. I found that I had to let the milk mixture cool a bit before adding the yeast, as the milk got pretty hot in order to dissolve the sugar. Once the yeast has been added, let stand until foamy, about 10 minutes.
In a large bowl, stir together the flour and salt. Mix in the eggs, oil and the yeast mixture. Mix until dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and continue to knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. Grease a large bowl with 1 tablespoon of oil. Place the dough into the bowl and turn once to coat. Cover and let stand in a warm place until double in size, about 1 hour.


Roasted Bananas:

3 bananas, cut into 1/2" - 1" chunks
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 1/2 tbsp butter, cut into small pieces

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Spread the banana chunks into a 1 1/2-2 quart baking dish. Sprinkle with the brown sugar and dot the top with the butter pieces.
Roast the bananas at 400 degrees for 40 minutes, stirring after about 20 minutes.
When the bananas have cooled a bit, mash them with a fork.


For the Filling:
(based on Picky Palate)

1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 tbsp cinnamon sugar
All of the mashed roasted bananas

Mix together all filling ingredients until well combined.


To prepare the buns:

Risen dough
Prepared filling
4 tablespoons butter, room temperature (almost melty is great)

Once the dough has risen, gently deflate it.
Roll the dough into a big rectangle.
Spread the butter over the dough.
Spread the banana/brown sugar mixture over the butter. It will most likely mix right in with the butter, and that is totally okay.
Starting with one long end, roll the dough into a log.
Cut the log into 12 pieces, and place each piece, cut side up, into a 9" x 13" pan.
Cover the pan with plastic wrap and place it into the refrigerator overnight. (Or, let it rest for about 30 minutes and proceed to the baking directions.)
In the morning, take the tray out of the refrigerator and allow it to come up to temperature for at least 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Bake the cinnamon buns for 25-30 minutes.


For the glaze:
(based on Joy the Baker)

1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 tablespoon maple syrup
2-6 tablespoons milk (I needed more than I expected!)

Measure the confectioners' sugar into a medium bowl. Whisk in the maple syrup and enough milk (adding it a little at a time) to make a good, easily pourable consistency.

Drizzle glaze over finished cinnamon buns.

Enjoy!