Friday, September 8, 2017

CINNAMON FLOP

I don't mean to be disrespectful, but I have no idea why this is called Cinnamon Flop. Another crazy thing is with all of the Amish cookbooks I have, I have never seen a recipe for it in any of them. Then over the last two weeks I have gotten five or six "new" Amish cookbooks and guess what? Recipes for it were in two of them, From the Rolling Hills of Holmes County Down Home Cookin' by Abe & Edna Miller and my autographed copy of Dutch Cookbook Volume II by Edna Eby Heller. In the latter cookbook, Mrs. Heller commented "This is sometimes called Moravian Coffee Cake in Lebanon county but is not to be confused with Moravian Sugar Cake which is made with a raised dough."

From the title I thought it was going to be something I would bake and then flip it out of the pan or even worst - it was going to flop, mess up. Probably the craziest thing about the recipe is I almost didn't make it. (What a loss that would have been!) I was writing down names of recipes with the page number on a piece of paper as I was going through the recent cookbooks of recipes I wanted to try. You guessed it - I had not written the name down in either book. (If anyone knows the meaning of the name, I would love to hear it.) Anyway, reading both recipes I saw that I wasn't going to be flipping it out of the pan. 

(My friend Kevin over at Amish365.com said "Flops" have deep roots in the Pennsylvania Dutch and is found primarily in Pennsylvania. His website is a great place to go if you want to read about the Amish and find other delicious Amish recipes.)

While the recipes were very similar, they were also quite different. I decided to use the one from Mrs. Miller mainly because she used about half the amount of sugar as Mrs. Heller's recipe. Mrs. Miller didn't say how much butter to use to brush over the batter, but Mrs. Heller said to "dot with 4 tablespoons of butter" so I decided to use the other half of the stick of butter I used in the "cake". It turned out perfect. I like the way Mrs. Miller used the butter with the brown sugar/cinnamon mixture. I'm not sure it would have looked the same if I had made Mrs. Heller's recipe.

Words just seem to escape me when I try to express to you how fabulous this Cinnamon Flop is. My husband and I ate a piece of it while it was still warm and all we could do was swoon. My husband said it was right up there with Roxanne's cinnamon roll. (Roxanne's is a local cafe where we go every Sunday for lunch after church and Sunday school. Their cinnamon rolls are big enough to feed four and are out of this world.) Then he said, "It might taste better." He was also disappointed when he realized I wasn't keeping any more pieces at home for us. (Most of the time I do if the dessert is really good.) I offered to keep him one but he said he wanted me to, but patting his stomach, he said he didn't want me to. I admit it was hard not to leave us another piece.

When I got to Hillcrest Thrift Shop, as I was signing in, I told the men that I hated to stop their working, but I wanted them to know that I had left a treat for them that was similar to, but probably better than a cinnamon roll and they were still warm. Volunteers Roger and Terry just about knocked me down, making their way to the community room. I took fourteen pieces and they were all gone way before lunch.

This Cinnamon Flop has to be one of the best things I have ever made and I know I will be making it again - but when I have friends to help us eat it. It is very sweet - I can't even imagine having twice as much sugar in it (as Mrs. Heller's recipe called for). I might even consider reducing the sugar in the cake batter to half a cup and I don't think you would miss it at all.




CINNAMON FLOP

2        cups flour
2-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4    cup white sugar
1/2     teaspoon salt
1/2     cup (1 stick) margarine (I use unsalted butter.), divided
1         egg
1         cup milk (I use skim milk.)
3/4    cup brown sugar
1         teaspoon cinnamon

powdered sugar
vanilla
hot water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9 x 9 - inch square baking pan.


Sift together the flour, baking powder, white sugar, and salt.


Cut in 1/4 cup margarine/butter until mixture is in fine crumbs.
(I always thinly slice the butter and
then break it in the flour mixture with my fingers. While I try to break up all of the butter, I don't worry if some of it isn't fine crumbs. You can see the pieces of butter in my pictures.)


Beat together the milk and egg and
then gradually add to dry ingredients. (Because I was trying to get a picture, I poured it all at once.)


Stir to combine.


Pour into pan.


Melt the other 1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) of butter and
brush it on the batter.
(This was easier to do than I thought and I was able to make a thin layer of the melted butter on top of the batter.)


Mix the brown sugar and cinnamon together and
sprinkle over the top of the butter.


Bake for 25 to 30 minutes. (I did bake mine for the full 30 minutes.)

Cool on wire rack.


I made a thin glaze with some sifted powdered sugar, a little vanilla, and a little hot water and
drizzled it over the cake as it cooled.







Because it was still hot, I made a little more (without the vanilla) after it cooled a little bit and drizzled again.
This time it didn't soak into the cake.



I cut it into 16 servings.




 

37 comments:

  1. can't wait to try this...I absolutely LOVE anything Cinnamon. Thank you for sharing:)

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    1. I don't think you will be disappointed, Shirley. If you can, make it and eat it still warm. It just about melts in your mouth. Thanks for commenting. Patricia

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  2. I wholeheartedly agree with Shirley. Anything cinnamon catches my attention! This sounds fantastic and I think my family will be in for a treat.

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  3. I wholeheartedly agree with Shirley. Anything cinnamon catches my attention! This sounds fantastic and I think my family will be in for a treat.

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    1. I think it is one of the best recipes I have ever made Marjorie. Thanks. Patricia

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    2. This is my go to recipe when I need a tasty treat and feel like baking!

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  4. Question: Is it really just enough for a 9 x 9 pan? If so, you cut it into 16 pieces? Seems they would be rather small pieces. If true, do you think I can just double the recipe and put it in a 10 X 15 pan? Some recipes double well and some don't. Thank you for your clarifications.

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    1. Hi Elaine, yes I really did use a 9 x 9 -inch pan. My first thought with using a 10 x 15 - inch pan is that they are usually just an inch deep. I would suggest just making it twice and use two 9 inch square pans. It is very sweet so the small pieces were enough. You could cut it into 9 pieces and serve 18 if you wanted bigger pieces. Thanks for your question. Good luck. Patricia

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  5. Do you think I could add some chopped apples under brown sugar.

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    1. Since it doesn't bake very long, I would chop the apples very small. It's worth a try. Can't hurt it. You could also fry some chopped apples with butter and brown sugar and serve over each serving. That way the apples would be cooked. Let me know how it turns out. Yhanks for your question. Patricia

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  6. This looks like the recipe I have called "cinnamon roll cake".

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  7. I made this today and omgosh it was simple and oh so Delicious. The extra drizzle glaze I used fresh Meyer lemon juice. Thankyou...🧈🍋

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    1. So happy to hear. Thanks for letting me know. Patricia

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  8. Omg! As I read along I began to notice names I recognized. Roxanne's..... surely not the same.....then I read the part about Hillcrest!! Good golly this is Platte City!! I saved the recipe. I live around the corner from Hillcrest! Small world!!......

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    1. Yes it is. Glad you found my post. I have a Facebook page you can follow to find other more recent posts. My Patchwork Quilt. Patricia

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  9. How did you get the craters to develop?

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    1. Sorry I just now saw your comment. I didn't do anything special. You can see from my pictures what it looked like when i put it in the oven and then what it looked like when I removed it. Did you make it and it didn't look like that? Patricia

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  10. I was curious about that as well. Jan Henkel.

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    1. I had not seen the earlier comment until you left your comment. I didn't do anything special as you can see in my pictures. Patricia


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  11. Omgosh looks incredible..I’m going to try that soon but my question is that the pics look to be a 9x12 pan not a square 9x9 please advise ..

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    1. I think it might be because I took the pictures so close. I did use a 9 x 9 - inch pan. I said I cut it in 16 pieces or 4 x 4. Good luck. Patricia

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  12. This cake went to the favorite bake list with my family. It was so easy and quick to make. Thank you!

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    1. Thanks Sue for sharing. Glad you hear. Patricia

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  13. Can you use apple pie filling with this recipe I read the whole recipe and I want to make it but I want to know if you can add a can of apple pie filling to this recipe. Thank you so much Christine frontino

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    1. Hi Christine. Thanks for your question. If you want to try adding some apple pie filling to the recipe, I would only add a little bit. Definitely not the whole can. If you chop up the apples in the pie filling, they will be more distributed in the dish. Stir them up in the mixture before spreading in the pan. Adjust the baking time, too. I justvmay have to try this tomorrow when my grandkids are spending the day with us. Please let me know how it turns out. Patricia

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  14. how well do you think it do if i sent as a gift to some one in mail n what about freezing it?

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    1. I have a lot of success with freezing baked goods. I honestly have no idea about mailing it to someone. I have shipped cookies but nothing else. Fruitcakes are shipped but then their makeup is different. I really can't say anything about shipping it. It would definitely have to be in a sealed container if you decide to give it a try. Let me know if you did. Thanks, Patricia

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  15. I saw this recipe, had all ingredients on hand. It’s in the oven and I’m excited to taste it.

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  16. Going to try this tomorrow Patricia! Thanks for the recipe! I love all Amish recipes!

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  17. Sounds delish, I will try it both ways , one recipe with milk and one with orange juice and later with the apple idea. Thanks Patricia.

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    1. Great! Let me know how they turn out. Enjoy. Patricia

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  18. Ok, so I’m not sure if we’re speaking English on here anymore, but here goes: I made this today and it turned out so good! Mine got a lot darker than yours, probably because I used Allulose in it, trying to make it more keto-friendly. It is delicious and the best part was the crunchy sides, where the (keto) brown sugar, cinnamon and butter cooked together. It was amazing - like eating candy! I will definitely be making this again - thanks for the recipe!

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    1. Sorry about the posts. I'm so glad it worked for you. Thanks for sharing your tweaks. Patricia

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  19. Can you use milk instead of water with the powder sugar?

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    1. Is there a reason you don't want to use the hot water? To be honest I didn't give it a second thought when I made it. I think the icing will be thinner using the hot water but if you want to use milk, I would say just try it. Let me know how it turns out. Patricia

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