If you’ve ever wished you could recreate Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls, Girl Scout Thin Mints, Auntie Anne’s Pretzels, or Starbucks Cranberry Bliss Bars, I have a collection of recipes that will help.
Rather than being dependent on going to mall for my fix, waiting for seasonally-available treats to come along, or over-paying for storebought, I came up with at-home, copycat versions of the real thing.
Included are 25 of my Favorite Copycat and Restaurant Knock-Off Recipes, and some fun DIY recipes, like making vanilla extract or peanut butter, which save money and taste far better than storebought.
1. Overnight Buttermilk Soft and Fluffy Cinnamon Rolls – My ode to Cinnabons, and I prefer these to the real thing
2. Baked Vanilla Donuts with Vanilla Glaze – The baked version of a Krispy Kreme
3. Ritz Cracker-Stuffed Peanut Butter Cups (No-Bake, Vegan) – I like adding crackers for added crunch along with salty-and-sweet, or try this recipe for classic Peanut Butter Cups (No-Bake, Vegan, GF)
5. Cranberry Bliss Bars – Starbucks Copycat Recipe and the reader feedback on these has been extremely positive
6. Old-Fashioned Butter Mints (no-bake, gluten-free)
7. Homemade Little Debbie Star Crunch (no-bake)
8. Soft Buttery One Hour Pretzels (vegan) – Faster and easier than going to the mall for Auntie Anne’s or Wetzels Pretzels
9. Outback Steakhouse Wheat Bread (vegan) – Copycat Recipe for the soft, brown bread many steakhouses like Longhorn and Outback serve. I don’t eat steak but I do love this bread
10. Little Debbie Cosmic Brownies – My favorite homemade brownies, ever
11. Twinkies
12. Butterfinger Bars (No Bake, Vegan & GF options) – Make in less than 5 minutes in the microwave
13. Homemade Baileys Irish Cream – Make in the blender in 1 minute
14. Homemade Cinnamon-Sugar Graham Crackers
15. Samoas Bars (Vegan & GF options) – The flavors of the Girl Scout classic cookies combined in easy-to-make bars rather than fussy, layered, multi-step cookies
16. Homemade Vanilla Extract (vegan, GF) – A truly work-free recipe. Just wait it out
17. Homemade Ginger Ale (vegan, GF)
18. 10-Minute Homemade Hot Fudge (GF)
19. Homemade Peanut Butter (vegan, GF) – Make in minutes in your food processor. Once you try homemade, you’ll never want storebought
20. Homemade Cookie Butter (vegan, GF) – Very similar to Trader Joe’s Cookie Butter or Biscoff spread
21. Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Granola Bars (no-bake, vegan, GF) – Better than Quaker Chewy Granola Bars and ready in minutes
22. Hot Pepper Jelly (vegan, GF) – Like Trader Joe’s Hot Pepper Jelly, which is sometimes only seasonally available
23. Pumpkin Spice Latte (vegan, GF) – Starbucks Copycat Recipe
24. Thin Mints (vegan, no-bake) – Make in minutes and they’re a dead-ringer for the original
25. Orange Push-Up Smoothie (GF, can be kept vegan) – Tastes like an Orange Push-Up, in smoothie form
CopyKat.com’s Dining Out at Home Cookbook: Recipes for the Most Delicious Dishes from America’s Most Popular Restaurants by Stephanie Manly is packed with the most popular recipes from CopyKat.com
This book offers over 200 unauthorized restaurant re-creations that have been tested and re-tested by people just like you. Each delicious dish is guaranteed to taste like the restaurant original so you can:
•Save money while enjoying all your favorite restaurant dishes
•Mix and match items from different restaurants to create the perfect meal
•Satisfy kids with their fast food favorites while making a fancier dinner for the adults
•Modify original re-creations to make them healthier while maintaining the delicious taste
•Find the ideal recipe for any occasion with the book’s quick reference icons, impress-your-guest dishes, quick-and-easy treats, meat-lover fare and vegetarian options
There are recipes for all your favorite entreés, appetizers, soups, salads, desserts and more from Americas best restaurants, including:
•Boston Market®
•Chili’s®
•Cracker Barrel Old Country Store®
•IHOP®
•Jack in the Box®
•Joe’s Crab Shack®
•Mrs. Fields®
•Olive Garden®
•Outback Steakhouse®
•Red Lobster®
•Taco Bell®
•T.G.I. Friday’s®
•The Cheesecake Factory®
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And for any peanut butter lovers, my cookbook, Peanut Butter Comfort, was released last week. Thank you for your support!
I would love to re create the sauce on del taco’s big fat chicken taco.
Cracker Barrel or Hardees biscuits; I can’t ever get my biscuits to be fluffy :(
I’d love to know the Olive Garden soups and salad dressings!
I’d like to create the Minstrone at Olive Garden.
I would love to re-make Galveston’s Steak Fajita’s and the fresh margarita’s.
I would love the salsa recipe from our favorite restaurant La Paz. Yummy!! I can’t wait to make your cookie butter recipe!! Thanks….
I would love to recreate the olive oil dipping “sauce” at Bravo.
This sounds so stupid, but the grilled cheese from Friendly’s is amazing!! I don’t know how they get it so good!
This is gonna sound super weird but I really love Boston Market Creamed Spinach. It is amazing. I can never get mine right!!
I would love to be able to make Cracker Barrels Sour Dough bread and chicken salad! I love their Chicken Salad Sandwiches!
Mmmm – this reminded me how much I love your homemade cookie butter recipe, Averie. I think I need to make another batch of that this weekend….
Oh I didn’t know you tried it – thanks for telling me! Yes, always a good (Weekend) or anytime little project :)
Pasta Pomodoro’s Ravioli De Zucca
I would love to recreate the molten lava cakes from Chili’s.. I love those things!
queso dip from Applebees
Texas Roadhouse has my vote, too. Just “Good Eats” as Alton says :-)
Applebees Chicken Fajita Rollup