Fine Cooking Make it Mini Challenge - Mini Fastest Cinnamon Buns with Rum Raisins

I've been racking my brain for a few more Make it Mini creations and the cold, gloomy weather inspired me to play in the kitchen this morning. Warm and gooey cinnamon buns...definitely an indulgence and perfect for a lazy Sunday morning. I knew Fine Cooking would have a recipe and I was able to find the Fastest Cinnamon Buns recipe. I made a few substitutions, based on available ingredients in the house, and a few modifications to make these Minis.

In the dough, I substituted ricotta cheese for the cottage cheese. In the filling, I substituted rum raisins for the pecans (John had some leftover rum raisins from making our St. Patrick's Day Irish Soda Bread - raisins marinated in dark rum). I divided the dough and filling in half so I could make two, smaller and longer jelly rolls. I was able to cut 12 rounds from each jelly roll and and then used a 24-muffin tin to bake the buns. The cinnamon buns puffed up nicely, but retained their mini shapes within the muffin tins. I also added a little dark rum to the glaze. These two-bite cinnamon buns were delicious. Before I was tempted to eat more than two, I passed most of them out to my neighbors and made John eat the remaining six!