She's an inspiration to me.
However, I like tweaking her perfection to healthy perfection.
I love using organic ingredients and a bit more of a clean and whole grain approach to food.
Her Cinnamon Roll recipe is amazing. I'm not about to fix what ain't broke but I will "healthify" it by tweaking the flour and using all organic ingredients. It cleans it up a bit. I really need every excuse in the book NOT to eat these!
I've been making her recipe so often that I have it memorized. Is that bad?
Hey, I have a lot of hungry boys to feed in this house. And I made the "mistake" of making these for my nephews so now I'm pretty much required to bake these every time they sleep over.
I often bake with organic Spelt flour which is considered an ancient grain. It's higher in protein and a bit easier to digest, and doesn't give you that whole "wheat" taste that I do not like.
Since I bake these regularly, I've decided to start tweaking the flavors I use. I like to think of it as a seasonal cinnamon bun.
Pictured are Apple Cinnamon and Strawberry Jam.
I have great plans for blueberry and peach season coming up. Stay tuned!
I love "apple-anything" so I thought I'd try putting bit of apple on the dough before I rolled it out.
This recipe makes about 24 large cinnamon rolls.
I was going for 2 flavors.
Strawberry and Cinnamon Apple
I use organic spelt, grapeseed oil, organic sugar, raw organic milk, organic butter, organic apple, organic cinnamon, and homemade strawberry jam.
The Strawberry flavor has become a family favorite.
I actually went strawberry picking twice so I would have enough strawberries to make more jam.
It's the bun's fault.
I just add a bit of strawberry jam to the icing to give it some extra color and flavor.
PW's Cinnamon Roll Tweaked
1 quart organic milk
1 cup grapeseed oil
1 cup organic sugar
In largest cooking.soup pot you have, heat these 3 ingredients, stirring till just about to boil. Turn off and cool for 45 minutes.
Add:
2 packets of yeast (4 1/2 teaspoons)
Stir with spoon or whisk
Add (don't stir till done)
9 cups of organic spelt flour (need more for spelt)
1 Tablespoon sea salt
1 heaping Tablespoon baking powder
1 scant teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional- sometimes I forget)
Mix all together with long wooden spoon. Cover. Leave in warm spot for at least 1-2 hours. I find that if I make the dough in the morning, it rises even more if I don't make the buns till late afternoon or evening.
Add:
1-2 cups organic spelt flour. Knead into a ball, adding flour till pliable.
Sprinkle flour on clean work surface.
Roll out flour in large rectangle (about 30 inches by 18 inches)
Whatever looks good and will also roll up.
For Apple cinnamon:
2-3 Tablespoons soft (not melted) organic butter
Spread on the half of the rectangle
Cinnamon Sugar: Mix 1-2 teaspoons of cinnamon with 1 cup sugar. Sprinkle over the butter evenly.
For Strawberry:
Spread 1/2-3/4 cup of strawberry jam over other half of rectangle. Sprinkle with cinnamon (no sugar)
With a sharp knife, cut down the center of the divide.
Roll up the dough so the long part is the length of your roll. You want a long roll of dough. Pinch the seams shut all around so you don't lose apples when you cut and pick up your rolls.
Grease 4 pans. I use 2 glass 13x9 inch pans and 2 pie dishes. You can use any oven safe pans. Use what you have.
Spray the pans with cooking spray (PW uses melted butter. I have enough butter on my body, thank you.)
Cut each roll in half once. Then each roll in half again. I cut the remaining rolls in 3 (so make 2 slices).
Again, do what you like and what seems to work for you.
I usually put 5-6 in a pie plate and 6-7 in the large pan. The ends of the rolls are usually a bit smaller.
Let the rolls rise in a warm place for a while till they fill out the pan a bit more.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 18-20 minutes or till the top is browned slightly.
Icing:
In a small bowl, add 2 cups organic powdered sugar, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, and enough milk to make the mixture runny (maybe 1/3-1/2 cup?) Use a whisk and add a bit of milk a little at a time.
Drizzle over the buns.
Try not to eat them all at once.
The Lunch Lady