The secret ingredient to this heroic breakfast recipe: Cottage cheese.

Let me preface, I have never had cottage cheese in my life. In fact, this was my first time having it. The thought of eating chunky curds of cheese makes my tongue recoil to the back of my throat and my jaw snap down like a bear trap.

But mix it into this dough and you have yourself an ingredient that produces a perfect dough with a tender body and a flakiness that is weighted enough to keep it from immediately disappearing on your the tongue like a snowflake.

As I have previously mentioned, I have a house of picky eaters. Cooking for them is like going before the firing squad. The repetoire of what they like is small, so their tongues are usually  aimed and ready to fire off every excuse why they can’t eat my cooking when I present something new. Luckily, not only am I stubborn, but my Teflon suit has a double armor of coating for any ego breaking bullets.

With three previous cinnamon roll versions declined after one bite, this recipe with its vanilla glaze came out a winner. My boys loved the lightness of the glaze—no smothering of white goo, no glaze made of buttermilk or cream cheese just a little bit of powder sugar, vanilla powder and milk.

A few notes:
•  The recipe I have assembled has a spice flavoring. If you don’t like that, simply omit the allspice, nutmeg and cloves.
•  I don’t recommend making this in advance. Reheating this in the oven will dry it out and reheating it in the microwave will either make it mushy or rubbery.
•  To keep the glaze form being overly tinted I used vanilla powder.  If you do not have vanilla powder, vanilla extract will work fine.

Low Fat Cinnamon Rolls with a Vanilla Glaze

Makes 12 buns
{Printer Version}

Heat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease 9 inch springform pan with cooking spray.

Ingredients:

Dough:
¾ cups cottage cheese
1/3 cup buttermilk
¼ sugar
4tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
9 oz unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon baking soda

Filling:
1 ½ tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 ½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ ground allspice
¼ ground cloves
1/8 ground nutmeg
1 cup pecans (optional)

Glaze:
½ cup powder sugar
5 tablespoon whole milk
¼ teaspoon vanilla powder or vanilla extract

Instructions:

Dough:

1. Combine cottage cheese, buttermilk, sugar, melted butter and vanilla. Process until smooth, approximately 10 seconds. (See picture panel 1)
2. Add the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda and pulse in short bursts just until the dough clumps together. (See picture panel 2 and 3)
3. Lightly flour your surface and place dough on top. Knead with the heel of your hand 4-5 times. With a rolling pin, roll the dough into 12×15 inch rectangle.

Filling:
1. Brush the dough with the melted butter, leaving ½ inch border unbuttered around the edges.
2. In a bowl combine all filling ingredients.
3.  Sprinkle the mixture over the buttered area. Pat flat and sprinkle nuts on top. (See picture panel 4)
4.  Starting at a long edge roll up the dough jelly roll style. Pinch the seams and leave the ends open.
5. Cut 12 equal pieces. Set pieces cut side up, in the prepared pan. Don’t worry about the small gaps. (See picture panel 5 and 6)
6. Bake for 20-28 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool for 5 minutes.

Glaze:
1. In a bowl whisk all ingredients until smooth and pouring consistency.
2. Drizzle over rolls and serve.