Cinnamon Rolls [Whole Wheat, Low Sugar]

Drizzling maple syrup over the roll in stead of icing adds sweetness while keeping it natural.

 I've shared before how frustrating it is that Jackson doesn't like chocolate. Chocolate cupcakes, brownies, cookies, all that is so much easier to cook without eggs, but he just doesn't like it. He does love cinnamon, though, and I've capitalized on the power of that spice. It adds flavor and masks the 'health' of many things. For instance, my quickie go-to when we were doing the gluten free, casein free thing was to make cinnamon toast using a honey and cinnamon spread concoction with the gluten/egg free nearly tasteless bread available in the health food section of our local grocery store. He loved it, and I think it was the cinnamon. I still make him cinnamon toast, but I use wheat bread and butter now.

Something he considers a big treat is cinnamon rolls. Since I make these from scratch with yeast, they're more labor and time intensive than say muffins or pancakes. That's why he considers them a treat, they don't happen very often. I love how easy it was to healthen up the recipe and provide him something he loves that's good for him, too. Someday, when I get him over his texture issues with nuts, I'll add them to the filling for protein and crunch.

Here's the recipe:

Dough:
 2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast (or one yeast packet)
1/2 cup warm water (between 90 and 105 degrees F)
1/2 cup scalded milk (it is very important that you scald the milk)
1/4 cup natural sugar (I use Florida Crystals organic cane sugar most of the time)
6 Tbsp organic butter, melted
1 tsp salt
1 egg (I use my mom's free-range, corn-free eggs)
3 to 4 cups flour (I usually mix whole wheat pastry flour and all-purpose flour in a 60/40 mixture. I've found that the more whole wheat flour I use, the more dense and less sweet the roll tastes, but obviously the more healthy it is. You could go more or less on the mixture depending on your purpose for the rolls.)

Filling:
My current go-to filling is homemade apple butter sweetened with honey. I've found that Cracker Barrel has a natural unsweetened apple butter with good flavor to use in a pinch. You could use a pumpkin or banana filling, too. If you're not using sugar and butter (like the usual cinnamon roll filling), though, you need some kind of fruit to make it work.

Apple Butter
 3 cups apple cider
2 lbs apples, peeled, cored and chopped
1/2 cup honey
1 tsp ground cinnamon

In a large saucepan over medium heat, bring the cider to a boil. Stir in the apples and reduce the heat to low. Cover and simmer, stirring frequently for about 1 hour or until the apples are tender. Remove the apples from the heat and mash. Stir in the honey and cinnamon. Return to heat and cook uncovered on low until thick, stirring often. Allow to cool before spreading onto rolls. You won't use all of this recipe on the rolls, so have a container ready to put the leftovers up in the fridge. I'm not a canner. So, I'm not sure this recipe is safe for canning.

Pumpkin Filling, combine ingredients and mix well.
1 15oz can pumpkin (not the pie filling, just the pumpkin)
1/2 cup honey
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger

Directions:
Have filling prepared and cooled. Scald the milk and melt the butter (in separate containers).

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water and set aside. In a large bowl mix milk, sugar, melted butter, salt and egg. Add 2 cups of the flour and mix until smooth. Add yeast. Mix in remaining flour 1 cup at a time until dough is easy to handle. On a well floured work surface, knead the dough for about 5-10 minutes. Place in a well-greased bowl, cover and let it rise until it's doubled in size, usually 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

After the dough has doubled, punch it down and roll it out on a floured surface. You're going for a roughly 9x15 inch rectangle. Spread the filling over the dough. You want to get enough on there, but not so much that it all squeezes out when you roll up the dough. Jackson likes cinnamon, so I will often sprinkle more over the filling after I'm done spreading. Beginning with the long side, roll up the dough into a log and cut 10-12 slices.

Grease and flour a round 9 inch cake pan like you would for baking a cake. Place the cinnamon roll slices close together and bake for about 30 minutes or until nicely browned. If you want to, you can use a bigger pan or a square or rectangular pan, place the slices close together and let it rise one more time (about 45 minutes) before baking. I'm always so tired of waiting by this point, I just put it in the oven.

Yummy!

For the 'icing' I just warm some maple syrup and pour it over the top. Jackson will eat it without the syrup or icing, too, especially if we're running late for school, and I like not having the stickiness in my car. The pumpkin filling is from my homemade pop tarts, and you could use the same icing recipe on these. You would probably have to double or triple it, though, to make enough for a dozen rolls.

Now, I'm going to have to make these while we're still on break.