Wholesome Orange Spice Cinnamon Rolls

Steve was hungry for some Cinnamon Rolls, and they sounded good to me too.  So I went ahead and made some.  I often use my Whole Wheat Bread Dough recipe for Cinnamon rolls, but I decided I wanted to try Heavenly Homemaker's Whole Wheat Cinnamon Roll Recipe this time, with my own variation to it.   They came out really yummy.  The recipe is at the bottom.

You might ask "Can Cinnamon Rolls be wholesome?" and my answer would be yes.  If you use whole grains and fresh organic ingredients they are a healthy wholesome treat; and these are moist and gooey and fulfill that "comfort food" longing that you might get... you get that longing don't you?  I know I do.

Wholesome Orange Spice Cinnamon Rolls.

1 cup water

2 Tablespoons yeast

2 teaspoons honey

2 1/2 cups milk

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup honey

4 teaspoons sea salt

8 cups whole wheat flour

For the dough…

In a large bowl, mix 1 cup very warm water, 2 T. yeast and 2 t. honey.  Stir this together and kind of mush the yeast around.  

Let this sit for a few minutes while you do the next step.

Melt a stick of butter in a large saucepan.  Add 1/2 cup honey, 4 t. salt and 2 1/2 cups of milk.  Heat this to 120 degrees.

Pour milk mixture into yeast mixture and stir.  Stir in 8 cups of flour, 2 cups at a time. (add more if you need it)

Knead the dough for 5-10 minutes.  Plop it into a bowl, cover it and let it rise for 1-1 1/2 hours.

After dough is nice and fat, punch it down and knead out all it’s bubbles.  Cut the dough in half, setting one half aside. 

On a well floured surface, roll dough into a nice big rectangle, about 1/4 inch thick.

Use a pastry brush to spread 1/2 of the melted butter all over the rectangle.  Sprinkle 1/2 of the rapadura/cinnamon 

mixture all over the butter; you may add nuts at this point (my addition).

Roll up the dough.  Cut into thin slices, about 1/2 inch thick.   Place rolls side by side on baking pan. Repeat process with 

other 1/2 of dough.  Allow dough to rise about 45  minutes to an hour, depending on the temperature of your home (Laura's 

instructions called for 30 minute raise time... it took mine almost an hour ... I believe the temperature in your kitchen 

makes a big difference.). Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown at 350 degrees.  Allow rolls to cool a bit, then drizzle lots

 and lots of frosting.

Ingredients for the inside of your cinnamon rolls: 

 At this point I changed the recipe by increasing butter and 

cinnamon, and did my own thing for the frosting.   I have written the ingredient variations the way I made them, but feel 

free to use the link above and pop over to her site and do it the way she has it if you prefer.

3/4 - 1  cup butter

3/4 cup rapadura or sucanat (dehydrated cane sugar juice) (you can use white sugar if you want)

4 Tablespoon ground cinnamon 

Melt your butter and set it aside.  Mix together the rapadura and cinnamon in a bowl or sprinkle on separately.  

Orange Spice Frosting

1/2 cup butter

6 Tablespoons milk

1  teaspoon vanilla 

2 teaspoons grated orange rind

2 Tablespoons orange juice

1/2 teaspoon clove

4-5  cups powdered sugar to make the consistency you like

Melt butter.  Remove from heat and stir in vanilla, orange rind, juice, clove, milk and powdered sugar.  

Whisk together until smooth. 

Thanks Laura

Enjoy Everyone