I have to tell you, I didn’t think I could do this. The truth is, I try a lot of things for the first time in the interest of bringing you all a new recipe. As a result, I have plenty of “experiments” that end up in the trash (Good thing I don’t blog about those, it’s not pretty!)
So when I set out to try this recipe for the first time, you guessed it, most of it went in the trash. I have never before in my life made cinnamon rolls and I just couldn’t fathom trying to bake and eat the disaster that lay before me on the counter.
But being the brave soul that I am, I cut off a small portion and put it in the oven just to see how it would turn out, and you’ll never guess what happened. The timer went off, I opened the oven, and I had a very small batch of nearly perfect cinnamon rolls before me (Yes, I cursed myself for throwing out so much of the recipe).
So taking note of a few things that I thought should change, I decided I’d give it another shot.
Well, little changes can make a HUGE difference in baking. And while I still had an absolute mess in my kitchen by the time I was done (see photos below), I ended up with the most fabulous cinnamon rolls I’ve ever had!
So if you decide to try this recipe, I’m not saying it will be the most tidy experience you’ve ever had in the kitchen, but I am saying it will definitely be worth it!
I should also just mention that this is a recipe redo from WheatFoods.org.
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Clean Eating Cinnamon Rolls
(Makes approximately 15 rolls)
Note: This recipe will require 3 hours of total rising time. So plan accordingly.
Cinnamon Roll Ingredients:
- 1 packet active dry yeast
- 1/2 teaspoon honey
- 1/8 cup warm water (100 – 115 degrees F)
- 1 cup unsweetened almond milk
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoon olive oil + a little extra on reserve
- 1 egg
- 3 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
Cinnamon Filling Ingredients:
- 1 cup honey
- 1 tablespoon molasses
- 1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
- 2 tablespoon cinnamon
Topping Ingredients (optional):
- 1 cup chopped pecans
Directions:
- (This will all be done in one large mixing bowl)
- Pour the yeast into the bowl and mix in the warm water and the 1/2 teaspoon honey. Let sit for 5 minutes.
- Now, add the almond milk, 1/4 cup honey, salt olive oil and eggs 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 of your rolled 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. Did I mention this recipe is messy?
- 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 too big for all your rolls as they will still need room for rising and baking. But don’t go overboard, or your filling will seep out during baking. Better to have them fit snuggly after they have risen than still have too much room. Gauge accordingly.
- 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.
Do you think I could use soy milk or skim milk instead of almond milk? My boyfriend is a cinnamon roll lover but he is allergic to all tree nuts! 🙁
Abby – Definitely!
Being of Pennsylvania Deutch heritage I have eaten my share of cinnamon buns (aka sticky buns). I’d suggest using the white whole wheat flour-more gluten (wheat protein) than pastry flour, which you want with a yeast dough to trap the gasses as the dough rises. Also the pecans and/or raisins are usually sprinkled on the filling before you roll them up and into the pan along with the honey, etc. When they are finished you invert the pan onto a platter or baking sheet and the caramelized honey (ok, it usually was brown sugar). The gooey stuff then runs down the outside of the buns. Mmmmm. They are wonderful warm.
My mother uses the same dough recipe she uses for stollen at Christmas time. I used to use a recipe from a PA Dutch cookbook that starts the night before and gets finished in the morning. It has water from boiling potatoes in it-an old fashioned preservative that helps them keep longer. It is really a fastnacht recipe, but I used it for sticky buns, too. It makes a ton! I guess big farm families had big appetites.
Jodi – Thanks! Great insight! I’ll try that the next time I make them.
They aren’t pretty, but they sure do look SUPER YUMMY! I will be trying this for our Thanksgiving breakfast, for sure. Thank you for working so hard on this recipe!
Mandie – Cinnamon rolls are ALWAYS pretty, no matter how ugly they are. lol
Isn’t funny how sometimes what we think is a mistake turns out to be awesome! Those really did turn out looking good but oh what a mess it made!
Thanks for stopping by my blog and for you kind words! I will be back. I have many of your recipes selected to try!
Tami – Fantastic! Let me know which ones you like best! And yes, I LOVE it when a mistake turns out to be yummy! lol
Making these right now and I have to say that making them gives a whole new meaning to “sticky” buns!! Can’t wait to bake ’em and eat ’em!
Shawna – LOL. Yes, they are a bit sticky. But well worth the mess!
Wowzers!!!! These were delicious! I can’t believe how easy, clean and delicious they are.. I did sub soy for Almond milk, and used whole wheat flour- No complaints. Definately a must keep recipe. Thank you so much for sharing!!!
Jenny – Yay!!! I’m so excited you enjoyed them! I ended up making two batches, and both were gone before I could blink. They really are tasty! So glad you found a ‘must keep’!
Yum, yum, yum! I think this has “Thanksgiving morning” written all over it.:) My husband will be ecstatic!
Sarah – You betcha!!
I just tried this and I used whole wheat flour instead of the pastry flour and they were very yummy. My kids ate 2 each and my husband is eating them and he usually does not eat my whole wheat creations.
Thank you for the recipe
Charlotte – You’re welcome! I just love it when husbands like my recipes! lol
They look soooo good. I can’t wait to try this recipe! I’d love to do this on Thanksgiving morning, but I don’t think I’ll have the time or energy to do much more than pop them in the oven. Do you think it could be modified to be an overnight recipe, maybe by popping them in the fridge after step 13? I don’t know much about baking, so I’ll bow to your wisdom on this. 🙂
L – I’ve never tried. I imagine you could do everything (including letting them rise the last time in the baking dish) and then cover and put in fridge overnight. But I can’t guarantee the results. I have no idea if it would work. You could also just make these the night before and have them ready in the morning.
If you try it, please let me know! I’d love to know that myself!
I’m reporting back from the other side of Thanksgiving! I made the rolls up through step 13 on Wednesday night and put them in the fridge overnight. On Thursday morning, I took them out about an hour before baking (they had risen in the fridge) and picked up the baking instructions. My family and I thought they turned out great! It was my first time with the recipe, so I can’t guarantee they were exactly the same, but they were sooooo good.
L – That’s fantastic! Thanks for letting me know! So happy you enjoyed them!
These sound wonderful. Any nutritional information for them? Thanks! If you can post it, that would be great, if not, where should I look?
Kat
Kat – Just added them.
Made these for Christmas morning. They got an Awesome rating from the kids!!
Also prepped them the night before like L did and they turned out just fine!
Lynn – That’s so wonderful! I’m so happy you all enjoyed them! Happy New Year!
oh yummmmmm! with a cup of coffee for a sunday morning treat- thanks you so much Tiffany
Trude – Oh yes! Definitely a cup o’ joe!
Hi!
These came out great the first time I made them. I’m going for another go this time too.
If you lay parchment paper down on your counter-top it helps keep the mess down & the dough comes up very easily.
Samantha – Fantastic! Good to know, thank you. I’m so happy you enjoyed them! In fact, I may have to make another batch here very soon…
Made the rolls this morning. Can’t believe how great they are. I was worried because mine were not messy at all. Maybe because I used white whole wheat flour – could not find pastry flour. I didn’t have any molasses and added raisins. So Yummyyyyyy!!!!!
Thank you!
Anna – Cooking/baking is all about adaptation! Great job!
I finally made these today. I have to say when I got to the kneading part I never thought it would never get less sticky. But, sure enough after about 15 mins it did! I thought these were very tasty. I expected them to be more ooey, gooey once baked but they absorbed quite a bit of the filling. So, next time I might try doubling the filling. But overall…YUM!
Jen – Fabulous!! I’m so happy you enjoyed them. Doubling the filling would be yummy for sure!
Do you think you could put the ingredients into a bread machine and run the “dough” cycle and then continue the recipe?
Shel – I’m not sure, since I don’t have a bread machine. But if all it’s doing is kneading, then it should be okay, I would think.
I did it and they came out perfect, I’m lazy!!!!
Navywife – Fabulous! Thanks for the input!
EliseMM – Yes! Floss works amazingly well!
Can you make and freeze the extras for later?
Talisha – If you package them tightly in plastic and then in a ziplock bag with the air pressed out, yes.
Navywife – Thanks for the tips!
Amanda – That sounds crazy good!!!
You are AMAZING!! Thank you for sharing all of your WONDERFUL recipes!!! 🙂
MommyOf2Boys – You’re welcome! I hope you enjoy these!
RhiAnnon – Any milk you normally use will be fine.
Stacey – I’m sorry, but I know nothing about gluten free cooking/baking. Try Elana’s Pantry. She’s great with that kind of thing.
Jessica – I highly recommend it. But WHITE whole wheat flour may work as well.
Hahaha!!! Ya, they are pretty messy to make. I hope you enjoy them though!
Oh no!!!!!! I’m so sorry!
Sounds like a plan! And yes, a change in flour will affect how sticky the dough is. Glad you enjoyed them!
You can try, but you may have to make a slight adjustment to the liquid content. Whole wheat flour soaks up a lot more liquid than white flour.
Awesome! So glad you enjoyed them!
You can’t make regular whole wheat flour into whole wheat pastry flour. They are two different types of wheat and have different gluten levels. The pastry variety is also a finer “grind”. If you can’t find it, the next best thing is WHITE whole wheat flour.
Just leave the molasses out if you don’t want to use it. No subs.
can you make the rolls and refrigerate overnight before baking? I would like to make them and have them ready to bake for breakfast in the morning.
You could try it. I haven’t tried it myself, but it should work.
They look wonderful, but do you know that your printer friendly version prints all the photos? That’s a lot of ink and a lot of wasted paper.
Not if you click on the photos. Anything you click on after clicking the print butter will delete so you don’t have to print it. 🙂
Yum! I have to try these soon! Can you freeze the leftovers?? (if there are any left… 😉
Sure!
Has anyone tried using the bread machine for this recipe? I have a cinnamon roll recipe that you use the bread machine for the first rise. So curious if it would work for this one too! That would be awesome!
I want to try these and I’m going to try them in my bread machine. I make non-clean ones and use the bread machine. My idea is to sub one cup of white whole wheat and do the rest whole wheat pastry. The white whole wheat should add a good amount of gluten. I’ll have to try these soon. I’ve got to buy some honey though, as my honey is raw and I hate to use raw honey in a recipe that’s cooked. Seems like a waste.
I made these- so yummy! Thank you!
I did make some alterations though! To make this more like the recipe my mom makes I wanted to use a sweetener closer to brown sugar. For my filling I used coconut oil mixed with coconut palm sugar and cinnamon. I smeared it on the dough and proceeded with the recipe. Much less messy as there was no liquid pouring out of my dough!
I also mixed maple syrup with greek yogurt as a glaze for my buns (got the idea from your pop tart recipe)!
Meagan – That’s awesome! So glad you enjoyed them. 🙂
Can you let these rise longer (overnight?) or is that too long? I want to make them for breakfast, but am afraid of the 3 hour wait period. Thoughts?? Love your website! Thank you for all your hard work!
Lydia – I have had people put them in the fridge AFTER they let them rise, and they said it turned out okay. I don’t know for sure though as I’ve never done it myself. I believe there is some info in comments below.
I wanted to try these tonight as a trial for Christmas. I tried another clean recipe and they turned out crunchy and hard. Are these fluffy or hard?
Heidi – These are more bready. Not hard or fluffy.
I can’t wait to try these! My husband is trying to do the clean eating thing so I think these will be a hit!
Oh and another thing…i have that same spatula! 🙂
Tina – Haha! Awesome! Let me know how he likes them!
I made these for Christmas and was pleasantly surpised! They were just perfect and such a treat. My buns looked nothing like yours, not sure what I did differently but they were fluffier for some reason.
Heidi – If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it! LOL!
My mom and I just made these last night! Wow! They are gooey, chewy and delicious! Try making a little extra filling to pour on top…I think it will add a little “sticky bun” texture to it. Thanks Gracious Pantry for this recipe!
Hannah – My pleasure! 😀
Oh Wow…I’m so making these this week!
Monica – I hope you enjoy them!
I made them today, ended up with 15 of them. Froze half of them. We couldn’t wait for breakfast so we split one for dessert tonight! 🙂 I used parchment paper to roll out the dough on. When I rolled the dough up into a giant roll, it was much easier than wax paper, which everything sticks to. I used the extra filling that seeped out to pour back onto the rolls as well. The only other thing we may try, when re-heating to moisten them up, we may put a little extra milk on them or some earth balance butter.
Monica – Wonderful! Glad you enjoyed them! 🙂
I must say–I am IN LOVE with your recipes! Whenever I see your thumbnails on Pinterest I always save them for later.
I did try these are they are amazing! Thank you for the recipe! 🙂
Baylee – Thanks so much! I’m so happy you enjoyed them! 😀
Made these for today and they were good but sooo sweet. Can I reduce the honey?
Nikki – Absolutely!! In fact, you could try using maple syrup as it usually doesn’t have that sweet, sweet flavor. But yes, you can reduce it.
Hello, is there anything else that I can use isntead of Molasses? It’s just that it’s a bit hard to find :/
Emilia – You can leave it out. I just added it for more of a “brown sugar” flavor. But it’s not necessary.
Hi!
I’m very excited to try this recipe although I was wondering if I could use a different type of flour like gluten-free baking flour or whole wheat flour?!
Thank you!!
Becky – You need gluten for this recipe. Whole wheat flour will work just fine, but the end result will be rolls that are more coarse or “bready”.