A few weeks ago we had a camp out at our house and I made two batches of cinnamon rolls: one normal and one chocolate, exactly as azaalea described. I spread the dough with butter, then sprinkled with white sugar and cocoa powder and I used semi-sweet chips (not chopped or anything). I was worried the chips would be too big but they turned out great and the rolls were well received. I just used regular cream cheese frosting (did not add chocolate there and it was still plenty chocolaty). I've done similar things to make blueberry rolls (using fresh blueberries and some lemon zest with white sugar) and even did some blackberry rolls last summer. Someone here posted the recipe for the dough that is made in the food processor and it is SO easy! Re: the horse cake, I like your idea of the simple sheet cake with horse toys on top. Then you'll have horses to play with after the fact. Sounds like a cute cake! You can use some coconut tinted green for the grass, and brown sugar for sand.

Well, for as tired/sleepy as I am, I had a great giggle over all the comments! Please excuse any typos I might make. Made the mistake of cutting grass at noon. Not a good idea! Lou, thank you for the offer. I may take you up on it. Don't know how soon I'll get to them. We have our BIG family campout/antique gas hit an miss engine/steam show in a couple of weeks. I have the honor of getting two motor homes ready, preping any food in advance that I can, and do most of the cooking while there. Mom and Dad are only able to go if we all do all the work. DB & DSIL may not even be able to go this year, due to starting a new business. It's only about 20 minutes away for all of us, but if DB has classes, he can't close the studio. DD will help as much as she can, so will DS IF he doesn't have to work. Last count, with invited guests/famiy/friends, was 22 I think. Dad & I will move in on Wed. Show starts on Fri. Some prep we will do on Thurs, and have a steak fry that night. Breakfast menu so far is home fries by request, eggs, pancakes (the only thing besides a little meat of choice mom will eat for breakfst), bacon sausage, or ham. Lunch ham sandwiches. Fri night is chili, burgers for those who don't want chili. Sat same for breakfast and lunch. Supper is burgers and dogs. Potato salad for whatever meal anyone wants. Dad wants cauliflower with cheese on Thurs. Raw veggies available anytime. Sunday is leftovers! Any of you who want to sneak in, the WILL be plenty of food. I ALWAYS have food to bring home! Ann, no, wrong side of the family, tho my aunt did make them with that dough. Yummy! Lars, the whatever you called it sauce is cause I also asked for a cheese sauce to put over the cauliflower. Dad is remembering how his mom cooked! By the time I can remember her cooking, she was getting too sick for me to learn from her. Your cinnamon rolls sound fantastic, but I don't have the energy to go to that much work. Now, before I fall asleep at the computer, I'm headed for bed! I'm already wore out before the show even gets here! My fault. But I was trying to beat the rain on radar that ended up only being a few sprinkles. I'll get caught up on sleep and be off and running again. Then I'll sleep in a lot the following week! I'm happy to try to spoil him. We don't know how many more times they will be able to go. I said last year, I was going to do this the easy way this year. Well, the meat for the chili will be cooked and seasoned ahead and frozen. The burger patties will be made and frozen ahead. I'm taking the old roaster and dumping every thing in that for the chili and letting it go most of the day. Ham will go in a crock pot on warm with a bit of water for lunches first thing in the morning and they can eat lunch whenever! Will have to keep watch of Mom. She doesn't always know it's her sugar droppign when she doesn't feel good. Dad knows his. And yes, I know the cinnamon rolls aren't a good idea, but he will compensate for the treat. That's why I spoil him that weekend. Thanks all. Tami

Caution adding cinnamon to yeasted bread dough. Cinnamon contains a chemical compound (cinnamic aldehyde) which can be detrimental to yeast growth if you add too much in the dough. It is suggested to limit cinnamon to amounts below about 1/4-teaspoon per cup of flour in the recipe, or you may find your dough won't raise properly. If you Google - vegan cinnamon roll recipes, or dairy-free cinnamon roll recipes - you should find a lot of recipes that use non-dairy "milks", including soy, rice or nut milks. Use shortening or coconut oil instead of butter. I almost always use coconut oil in yeast breads instead of butter. I find it helps keep the bread fresher longer. Perhaps a dairy free recipe for Hot Cross Buns with some cinnamon added to the dough or cinnamon added to the icing will work for you for a bun-like finished product, rather than the traditional rolled-out type of recipe. See the recipe linked below. -Grainlady Here is a link that might be useful: Dairy Free Hot Cross Buns

Your cinnamon rolls look delicious! We are giving up on them from the bakeries in Northern CA. I swear, everybody wants to make them healthy or something (if you want to be healthy, NO cinnamon/sticky/pecan/caramel bun is going to fit that description, IMHO). My ever-hopeful DH keeps trying despite numerous disappointments. We just got back from a swing through Sonoma County, which is full of really good bakeries and patisseries. We stopped in at an artisanal bakery and I tried their Gouda Bread which was superb, so I bought a loaf. Sort of country-style, mixed grain and hearty, nice tender crumb and a crust that was chewy but not rock-hard as many are. He ordered a sticky bun and they put it in a separate bag. I paid for it, but then when I picked it up I almost dropped it, it was so heavy! We tried it at home and it was really a raisin-walnut bread rolled up, with some tasty glazing on top. The one roll weighed......over a pound! 17 oz, to be precise. A single roll....maybe we can use it as a doorstop, LOL!