Clean, Whole Wheat Cinnamon Rolls

I grew up eating my Mom's absolutely delicious and completely sinful Cinnamon Rolls. For several months I've been dying to try and make some clean cinnamon rolls. However, cinnamon rolls take some time to make and I didn't want to waste my time if they weren't going to turn out very good.

This last week I bit the bullet and decided to make them. I had considered looking up a recipe online, but I haven't really liked any of the clean eating wheat bread recipes I've found. (Except for the pizza dough - which is very good.) I also wanted them to taste similar to my Mom's. Since I had great success converting my Mom's crescent rolls and french bread I figured it just might work. Well they turned out delicious! They were very similar to the sinful ones I used to make and were gone in less then 24 hours! (I did give some away to the neighbors.) 

After all of the success I have had turning my white flour recipes into whole wheat flour, I can't figure out who decided to process, refine and take all the good stuff out of our grains in the first place. Maybe it's because I haven't had any white flour in 9 months, but everything wheat tastes just as good to me as the white stuff. Seriously, if you haven't tried switching to whole grains, you really should give it a try, the food is still really delicious and is so much better for you!

Clean, Whole Wheat Cinnamon Rolls

Dough

7 C Whole Wheat Flour (finely ground white wheat or whole wheat pastry flour)

2 Tbsp Yeast

1/2 C Warm Water

1 1/2 C Warm Milk (Skim, Almond, Rice or Soy)

1/4 + 1/8 C Coconut Oil

3/4 C Honey

2 tsp Sea Salt

1/8 tsp Baking Soda

2 Eggs

Center

1/2 C Coconut Oil

1/2 C Honey

Cinnamon to taste

Glaze

Honey

Milk

Coconut oil

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand undisturbed for 10 min. Meanwhile in a separate bowl combine warm milk and 3 Cups of Whole Wheat Flour. Stir with a wooden spoon. Combine both bowls. Beat and add in a new bowl (or a Kitchen Aide) Coconut oil, honey, sea salt & eggs. Combine both bowls. Mix in 4 Cups of flour and baking soda. Knead for about 5 min. Let rise covered in a kitchen towel until doubled in size. Punch down and let rise again until doubled in size. Roll dough into a long rectangle. Melt the 1/2 coconut oil and spread on the rectangle. Next spread the honey over the rectangle. Last cover the rectangle with Cinnamon. I give it a good solid coat of cinnamon. Roll the rectangle into a long log. Take a piece of thread (about 12 inches) and slide it under the log about 1 to 1 1/2 inches in on one side. Hold the thread with both hands on each end. Lift the thread up and over the log and then cross hands and bring it back down to the counter. This slices your rolls without squishing the entire log. (Here's a tutorial) Then place your roll onto a baking pan. Continue until the entire log is sliced. Bake at 350 degrees for at least 15 minutes. Start checking the rolls from there. You want the center rolls to not look doughy. I would pull the pan out and press into the middle section and see if it would spring back instead of just sink in. While they bake beat some honey with some milk. I didn't measure at all. Basically you want a little creamy sweetness to pour on top of your cooked rolls. Pour on top immediately after your rolls exit the oven. Then enjoy your clean and 100 % whole wheat cinnamon rolls!

I hope you like these as much as we did!