Tuesday, December 23, 2008

My favorite copycat recipes

I enjoy going out to eat as much as anyone else, but it is a lot healthier and cheaper to cook at home. Which is where the internet comes in. If there is a certain dish you like from a certain restaurant, you can search for a recipe of it on google and are almost guaranteed to find something.

There is only one recipe I have never been able to find online yet, and that is for the bread that they serve as a starter at Stuart Anderson's Black Angus. My guess is that it is some sort of oat bread with lots of molasses. If you have a recipe for it, I would LOVE to get it!

Here are my other favorites:

Lemon Loaf like Starbucks


This recipe is great, and tastes just like the real thing if you manage to wait long enough for the cake to cool and the frosting to set. In our house, that has only happened once. Warm it doesn't taste exactly the same, though still absolutely delicious. Substituting whole wheat pastry flour for the all-purpose flour works great in this recipe because the oil retains the cake's moistness. Or, you could substitute part of the flour.

Chicken Enchilada Soup like Chili's

There are several different popular versions of this recipe. This is the one I liked best and thought tasted most like the real thing. I found that if you add the amount of masa that the recipe calls for, the soup will be very thick the next day if you have leftovers. I simply added some more broth and spices until it was the right consistency again. Also, I used shredded Jack and Cheddar cheese instead of the velveeta. It was a little stringy when the cheese first stared melting, but after 10 minutes of careful heating and frequent stirring, the cheese was completely dissolved and not stringy at all.

Fajitas like Chili's

A long-time staple in our house. I serve them with the flour tortillas that can be found uncooked in the cold section at the grocery store and have to be fried before serving. Sam's Club and Costco have great deals on those.

Cinnamon Rolls like Cinnabon


This recipe was not advertised to taste like Cinnabon, but I think these are THE BEST cinnamon rolls I have ever eaten. Seriously. You HAVE to try them. The only change I made was in the frosting: I left out the maple flavoring and coffee and instead added more milk. Plus, in addition to the powdered sugar frosting, I also put cream cheese frosting on these puppies. Simply beat a stick of softened butter, an 8 oz pack of room-temperature cream cheese, some vanilla and enough powdered sugar to get the right consistency and sweetness and spread on liberally. This recipe makes enough to fill about 6 or 7 disposable round baking pans, so you can spread some serious joy with this recipe if you are so inclined. Or make a half batch and eat it all yourself, but don't blame me if the scale won't be kind the next day. But then, these are SO worth it. I am getting hungry just writing this.

Now please get off the computer and bake a batch of these. Right now.

4 comments:

  1. ha ha~no cinnamon buns here today:)but we'll be plenty busy with everything else! good tip about the internet search! i'll have to remember that!

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  2. Hi Zsuzsa, I just went to look for the recipe for the cinnamon rolls but the link wasn't working :( Do you know if the same one is elsewhere online? They sounded so good! I took too long to print it out!

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  3. you dont have to post this or you can. You can test it out and tweek till you get it to what you like.
    hope you enjoy and thanks for all the great recipes--
    closest I have gotten with the black angus recipe is--
    4 cups boiling water
    2 cups old-fashioned oats
    1 cup molasses
    1/4 cup sugar
    3 Tbsp canola oi
    3 tsp salt
    1 package (1/4 oz) active dry yeas
    9-10 cups all purpose flour

    in a large bowl pour water over oats. add molasses suger oil and salt let stand until mixture cools to about 110-115 degees stiring occasionally. stir in yeast. add 8 cups flour beat until smooth. add enough remaining to form soft dough.
    turn onto a floured surface-knead until smooth and elastic about 6-8 min. place in greased bowl turning once to grease top. cover let rise warm place until doubled-about 1-1/2 hrs.
    puch dough down divide into thirds- shape into loaves. place in 3 greased 9 in x 5 in pans cover and let rise until doubled-about 1 hr. bake 350 for 45-50 min or golden brown. remove from pans and cool on wire rack. yields 3 loaves (12 slices each.)

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  4. Hello. I'm getting a 'not found' on your link for the Cinnabon cinnamon rolls.

    Regards,
    Art Shapiro

    ReplyDelete

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