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Cyborg Cinnamon Rolls
The other evening I was really craving a cinnamon roll. And there was a part of me tempted to drive out to my local Cinnabun and get one of their ooey and gooey cinnamon goodnesses. However, my health is important to me so I wanted a less sugary and - ambitiously, protein forward option. I also have a well-stocked pantry and should be using what I already have on hand. So, I used AI to create a “high protein cinnamon roll recipe” listing the ingredients I had available.
The Prompt
The Prompt
"I want to make a cinnamon roll. I have flour, protein powder, greek yogurt, eggs, butter, and I want to make an easy, high-protein variation of the dough. What recommendations can you give me?"
AI doesn't have to be complicated. You can talk to it in natural speech and the more specific you are, the better the output you will get. With this prompt, I focused on a list of ingredients, and the fact that I wanted a fast and easy recipe.
Adjustments
Adjustments
Shortly into reading the resulting recipe, I realized I didn’t have a lot of yogurt on hand and wanted to have some available for my breakfast the following morning. And in trying to add efficiency into my life, I wasn’t planning on having this endeavor involve a trip to the grocery store. So I refined, thinking of the powdered buttermilk I bought for another recipe and am struggling to find enough uses for, I wanted to see if that would be an option to substitute into this endeavor.
For this experiment I was using ChatGPT 4.0 but keep in mind there are a number of models and platforms that would have comparable results for this type of task. Still, the answer was a resounding yes and I was given the following adjusted recipe:
The Process
The Process
Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
½ cup vanilla or unflavored protein powder
1 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp baking soda (for buttermilk reaction)
¼ tsp salt
½ cup buttermilk
1 large egg
1 tbsp melted butter (optional, adds richness)
Cinnamon Filling:
1–2 tbsp butter, softened
2 tbsp brown sugar or sugar substitute
1–2 tsp cinnamon
Pinch of salt
Instructions:
Mix dry ingredients: flour, protein powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
In another bowl, whisk together buttermilk, egg, and melted butter.
Combine wet and dry ingredients and stir until it comes together into a soft dough. Add a little extra flour if it's too wet.
Proceed with rolling, filling, slicing, and baking as in the previous instructions.
To Fill & Roll:
Spread the butter over the dough, sprinkle cinnamon-sugar mixture.
Roll the dough tightly into a log and slice into 1-inch pieces.
Arrange rolls in your greased pan. Bake 15–20 minutes until lightly golden.
ChatGPT did caution me that this change would impact the protein content since that was something I had included as a factor in the original prompt. I decided I could live with that compromise and got to mixing.
The dough required a bit more flour. How much I’m not sure to be honest. Though I tend to be a scientific process driven person, in baking this is admittedly less so. I go by feel, when dough becomes less sticky and more pliable. This was achieved by adding a tablespoon of flour at the time. The consistency was still fairly sticky when I rolled it out, but looked promising.
The recipe made about 4 small sized rolls which took 20 minutes to bake. I set the timer for 15 and when I checked them at that time, added five more minutes to get them just a bit more on that golden brown side of the spectrum.
The Result
The Result
10 out of 10 I would make these again. The were easy and though not the most amazing cinnamon rolls I’ve ever eaten (this is a very high standard and something I actively and repeatedly test), definitely decent. The filling was ooey and gooey and my craving satisfied.
If we’re going to tie this back to productivity gains through AI, there are several value-adds that resulted from this experiment:
Saved money not buying a ready-made product
Increased healthiness of satisfying a craving
Used resources already on hand
Saved time not having to drive somewhere
Enjoyed a fun baking experience
There’s just something wholesome and wonderful about enjoying something fresh baked out of the oven. And I hope that is a little inspiration you might take from this post.
Special Thanks 🌟
Special Thanks 🌟
This post wouldn't have happened without the encouragement of my good friend M. I wasn't sure if this topic was technical enough for the site, but she inspired me to share this experience. I'm now grateful it's documented and hope it brings a smile to someone out there.
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