RECIPE: Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients

• Note: This recipe will require 3 hours of total rising time. So plan accordingly.
• DOUGH INGREDIENTS
• 1 packet active dry yeast
• 1/2 tsp. honey
• 1/8 cup warm water (100 – 115 degrees F)
• 1 cup unsweetened almond milk
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 2 tbsp. olive oil + a little extra on reserve
• 1 egg
• 3 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
• FILLING INGREDIENTS
• 1 cup honey
• 1 tbsp. molasses
• 1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 2 tbsp. cinnamon
• TOPPING (optional)
• 1 cup chopped pecans

Directions

(This will all be done in one large mixing bowl)

Step 1 – Pour the yeast into the bowl and mix in the warm water and the 1/2 tsp. honey. Let sit for 5 minutes. 

Now, add the almond milk, 1/4 cup honey, salt olive oil and egg to the yeast mixture.

Whisk gently until combined. 

Using a wooden spoon, stir in the flour. When it’s partially mixed and too thick to mix with the spoon any longer, begin kneading by hand. This will be very sticky at first, but you’ll find that the more you knead, the more the gluten starts to pull everything together. In the end, you’ll have a fairly firm ball of dough. So keep kneading (about 10-15 minutes). 

Coat the ball of dough in a thin layer of olive oil and set back in the bowl. Cover with a towel and let stand for 1 hour to rise. 

Punch down the dough, and cover again. Let it sit for another hour. 

Punch down the dough one last time, cover and let sit for 10 minutes while you prepare the filling. 

In a medium mixing bowl, blend all your filling ingredients together. You should have a nice, thick, molasses-like filling when you are done mixing. 

On a generously floured surface, roll out your dough. Again, be generous with the flour. If you are not, the dough will stick to your counter making the rolling process a real chore. Roll the dough into a rectangle. Cut with a knife if necessary and place the cut offs in the center of the dough to be rolled back in with the rolling pin (no wasting good dough here!) In fact, if you look closely at the photo above, you can see the lines in the dough where I rolled my cut-offs back in.

Pour the honey mixture onto the middle the dough. 

Smear on your filling. Make sure it only touches 3 of the four sides of your rectangle. 

Roll the dough, starting with the side that has the honey mixture up to the edge. 

When you get it rolled almost all the way, use your fingers to “paint” some water onto the edge of the dough that does not have any honey mixture on it. Give the dough one final roll so the dough will be “glued shut” by the water. 

Note: If you get to this point and feel like you should just throw the whole thing in the trash, you’re probably doing it right.

Cut the roll into approximately 1 inch strips, and place each strip in an oiled baking pan or casserole dish. You want the dish to be big enough to give your rolls a little room for rising, but so that they fit tightly after rising. I used a 9X13 pan. But if you have something one size smaller, go with that. If the pan is too big, all the filling will run out. 

Cover the dish with a towel and let the dough rise, one last time, for 1 hour.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F. 

If using the pecans, sprinkle them on now. Place rolls in the oven and bake for 15-18 minutes.

Allow to cool and squeeze some honey over the top of the rolls.