Top Secret Recipes…Yeah, right!

Have you ever googled “Red Lobster’s Cheese biscuits” or “Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls” or “Houlihan’s Spinach Artichoke Dip”? Have you ever received the junk mail “Top Secret Recipes from your Favorite Restaurants”? I’ve done this..and I’ve got that email. Let me tell you…most restaurants keep pretty good tabs on their special recipes because those released “top secret” recipes are often crap! Now, I subscribe many cooking magazines and one of the magazine's sections is titled “Almost Famous” and although I haven’t tried many of the tempting ones, I have to wonder if they might be crap, too.

Here’s a perfect example. I really love Cinnabon Cinnamon rolls. I love the stringy yeasty dough, the intense cinnamon flavor, and the cream cheese frosting. Cinnamon rolls are one of my three “weakness foods” (be on lookout for weakness food blog). So, when I received the “Top Secret Restaurant Recipes” email from my friend Marla, I immediately tried the recipe for Cinnabon rolls. I will admit..the ingredients were a little strange. Tonic water in the dough? Bran flakes in the cinnamon filling? This didn’t make sense..but I thought maybe they were the secret ingredients that made Cinnabons special. So, I took some tonic out of the bar and I picked out bran flakes from a box of Raisin Bran and I made the “Cinnabon” cinnamon rolls..and I know I made it correctly. They may have looked right when they came out of the oven, but after the first bite, I knew they were not right. I could taste the tonic water in the dough and that was NOT a good thing. The filling was odd to say the least and overall, it tasted nothing like a Cinnabon cinnamon roll. This was a disaster!

Well, it’s New Year’s Eve tomorrow and today I googled “Melting Pot Fondue recipes” and came up with a few things but…. not exactly what I wanted. Take a guess what we’re having for New Year’s with our friends! I wanted the simple cheese-beer fondue and one of the chocolate fondues, and I wanted them to taste EXACTLY like the Melting Pot’s recipes. Instead of recipes, the first entry to pop up was a bookstore's copy of the Melting Pot’s own recipe book! This was perfect. We’ll have to see how it turns out, but I think fondue is a good choice for New Year’s and I played with the recipes to see how it turned out. Sometimes, it’s nice when restaurants share their “secrets”. Those are the best cookbooks!

For now, here are a few of my favorite “restaurant-style” recipes, including the fondues I am making for tomorrow. Cheers to 2010!!!


Sassy Recipes of the Week:
Tasty Cheddar Biscuits:
Recipe adapted by me

2 c. flour
1 1/2 T baking powder
2 1/2 t sugar
1/4 t salt
1/2 t garlic powder
4 T vegetable shortening
4 T cold butter, cut into pieces
1 1/2 c shredded sharp cheddar cheese (not pre-packaged bagged kind, freshly shredded)
1 c milk
Garlic butter:
3 T butter
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 t parsley

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Grease baking sheet or use pizza stone.

Pulse the first five ingredients in a food processor. Add the shortening and pulse until combined. Add the butter, repeat process. Pour in the milk and pulse just until the mixture is moistened and forms a dough. Mix in cheese. Turn out onto counter and gently knead until it makes dough ball. Knead as little as possible or the biscuits will be tough. Spoon the dough onto the baking sheet and bake until biscuits are lightly brown, 15 to 20 minutes.

While biscuits are baking, make the garlic sauce. Melt the butter with the garlic in a small saucepan for 1 minute, careful not to burn garlic. Remove from heat and stir in the parsley. Brush the biscuits with the garlic butter.


Chocolate Fondue:
Recipe adapted by me

8 ounces Ghiradelli 60% cacao chips
8 ounces of caramel sauce
4 T crunchy peanut butter (or creamy if you do not want pieces of nuts)
1 t rum
Canola oil
Strawberries, bananas, pretzels, dried apricots, marshmallows, cubed poundcake, cubed brownies

Stir first three ingredients in double broiler over medium heat. Mix till smooth and creamy. Carefully mix in teaspoon of rum. **I found this fondue to be very thick so I had to add a little canola oil. Pour into fondue pot and serve with fruits and sweets.

Cheese & Beer Fondue
Recipe adapted by me

2 1/2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese (fresh cheese, not pre-shredded bagged kind, works best
3 cloves of garlic finely chopped
3 T flour
1 cup of light beer
1/2 t dried mustard
Dash of Worcestershire sauce
Dash of hot sauce
Cubed sourdough bread, sliced granny apple, pretzels, tortilla chips, carrots, celery

Prepare double broiler over medium-high heat and spray pan with Pam. Coat cheese with flour. Saute garlic with a little olive oil. Saute for minute. Add half of cheese and beer. Stir constantly till it is smooth and melted. Add sauces and mustard. Stir and add rest of cheese. **You might need to add more beer if sauce is too thick.** Transfer to fondue pot and serve with breads, pretzels, etc.