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I’ve recently had a pretty major life realization and it came from watching college kids blow through four-way stops.  There seems to be an epidemic in my town that coming to a complete stop and waiting for people is too big of a waste of time.  From there, this extrapolated to seeing other various behaviors that made me realize, everyone seems to be in a a freaking hurry to go everywhere.

And then I realized, this included me.

When I was younger, I would hang out with my cousin who lived out in the country.  For fun, she would go outside, sit, and just listen to enjoy the fresh air and surroundings.  I on the other hand who get annoyed and go find other “entertaining” things to do.  I think that this was the start of my downfall.  From there, things only got worse.  One of M’s big pet peeves about me is that I cut people off.  If I’m walking behind slower people going into a store, I purposely speed up to get ahead of them (which I never realized I did until he graciously pointed it out.)  I could spend hours giving you examples but I think you get the point.

It’s like a light bulb clicked and it only took my dog almost getting hit by a college kid who decided he didn’t want to wait for us to cross the street:  There is really no point in rushing.  Those 10 seconds or 30 seconds you gain by rushing aren’t really that big of a deal and always being in a hurry to stuff isn’t always important.

So Saturday morning I went out hiking with the dog and enjoyed.  When we finished I let  the dog explore and I sat basking in the sunlight, drinking coffee, and enjoying my surroundings.  I haven’t felt this good in a long time.  Sure, there will be times I have to hurry but this new found ability to slow down is amazing.

While out on this grand hike, I also had another idea.  I’ve recently discovered the ability to mix flax seed with water and have the outcome be a gelatinous substance.  The discovery first came while reading Gluten Free Girl and her discovery that you didn’t need xanthan gum when you used flax seed as a binding agent in gluten-free breads.  From there, I began to research all about flax seeds and soon realized they could make for a great egg substitute.

I wanted to try baking something vegan that I have failed at before and cinnamon rolls fit that bill.  Before I made cinnamon rolls with essentially the same recipe I use for pizza dough and honestly- it stunk.  The basis for cinnamon rolls is milk, butter, and eggs to form a soft dough so I changed it to almond milk, sunflower oil, and flax seed.

Seriously, these were amazing.  The filling oozed out and the cinnamon roll itself was amazingly soft-everything worked together perfectly.  Had I left the icing off, these cinnamon rolls could actually be a healthy treat (the icing pushes the excessive sugar line.)

Whole Wheat (vegan) Cinnamon Rolls
 
Prep time

Cook time

Total time

 

Serves: 8 pieces

Ingredients
  • Ingredients
  • ¾ cup almond milk warmed
  • 2¼ teaspoons instant yeast
  • 1 tablespoon natural cane sugar
  • 2 tablespoons sunflower oil
  • 1½ teaspoons salt
  • 1 tablespoon ground flax seed
  • 3 tablespoons water
  • 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour (or regular whole wheat flour)
  • ½-1 cup unbleached all purpose flour
  • Filling
  • 1 tablespoon sunflower oil
  • ⅓ cup sucanat
  • 2 tablespoons cinnamon
  • Icing
  • ½ cup powdered sugar
  • 3-4 tablespoons almond milk
  • 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract

Instructions
  1. In a small bowl combine ground flax seed and water, set aside. Heat almond milk (either in a sauce pan or microwave)- don’t let it get too hot (I zapped mine in the microwave for about a minute.)
  2. In a stand mixer bowl, at milk, yeast, and sugar. Let sit for about five minutes or until yeast activates. Add in oil, flax seed mixture, salt, and the wheat flour. Give a good stir with a spoon and then turn on the mixer with the dough hook. Begin adding the all-purpose flour ¼ cup at a time, letting it mix in before adding more. You want your dough to be soft (but not sticky) and the key to that is adding just enough flour so that it pulls away from the sides of the bowl but may still slightly stick to the bottom and letting it knead for 5-8 minutes.
  3. Once the dough is here, scoop out of the bowl, form into a ball, place back in the bowl, brush it with a oil, and let it sit in a warm, draft free spot for 1- 1½ hours.
  4. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and roll out into a 8 by 12 rectangle. Brush oil over entire surface and sprinkle sucanat and sugar over the entire surface. Begin the the edge closest to you and roll away from you- tucking the dough in as you go (I always think of it as like rolling up a sleeping bag. Once you have the log, squeeze it just a little and mark eight rolls out (I use the cut in half method- Half once, Half each of those, half each of those). Place in a round 8″ cake pan that has been rub with oil. Cover with a warm towel and let rise again for 45 minutes to and hour.
  5. After about a half hour of rising, pre-heat your oven to 350˚. Once rolls have risen and oven is up to temperature, bake for 15-20 minutes. Rolls should be firm to the touch and golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool slightly while you make the icing.
  6. To make the icing, place powdered sugar and vanilla extract in a bowl- add only enough almond milk to get a thick consistency of the icing. If you find you added too much milk, add more powdered sugar. Also, if you want to leave these with a little less sugar, leave the icing out completely- they are delicious even without.

 

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  • http://themartinblog.com/food Stephanie

    You are so right about slowing down. Everyone is always in such a hurry for everything. The pictures from your hike are beautiful…I just love the woods!

    I’m not in a position that calls for gluten free cooking, but it’s always interesting to find ways to make favorites in a way that accommodates are gluten-free freinds.

  • http://www.healthyfoodforliving.com Lauren

    I haven’t been out hiking since the fall, so I’m super excited for the warm weather – and so is our dog! She doesn’t like being cooped up in the apartment any more than I do. In the meantime, I will definitely have to make these cinnamon rolls. I have posted recipes for both sweet potato and blueberry vegan cinnamon rolls, and yours will be the next ones I make!

  • http://muppyat.blogspot.com muppy

    What an awesome idea, these look excellent and so much healthier then their cousins!

    • erin

      Makes me feel less guilty when I eat half the pan :)

  • http://www.the-baking-stone.com Kristina

    Oh. my. gosh. These look amazing, definitely bookmarking to make asap! :)

  • http://aheartfullofdaisies.blogspot.com KateLainey

    I definitely think we all need reminders like that to slow down and enjoy life for what it is…I know I need to sometimes watch myself and not rush rush rush.

    love this recipe…as a vegan flirt I’ve come to loved how flax seed can be used. I use it to make the most amazing corn bread you will ever taste!

    • erin

      I’m falling in love with using flax seed and the cornbread sounds delicious!

  • http://www.yummyrolls.com sweetie

    hiya ella,

    way to go on this recipe!

    if i wanted to convert these into overnight cinnamon rolls, at what step would i refrigerate the dough? would you suggest letting them rise initially, refrigerate overnight, and then take them out 30 minutes before i want to bake them?

    thank you so much for any advice on how to alter these into overnighters!

    • erin

      I think that’s exactly what I would do: Let it rise, form the roll, cover with plastic wrap and I would say take them out an hour before you plan on baking giving them enough time to warm up and rise just a little bit more. Let me know if you try this!

  • http://tenina.com Tenina

    Erin these look fantastic…I get asked about GF and vegan options all the time. Definitely on my DO list!
    Thanks :)

    • erin

      Great! I’m hoping to do more vegan fun things!

  • Andrea

    I am planning on making these and I just want to make sure that it’s supposed to be 2 1/4 TABLEspoons of yeast rather than TEAspoons. Thanks!

    • erin

      No! I clearly need to change this! 21/2 TEASpoons!

  • jocelyn

    Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful recipe, its everything i was looking for and im so glad there was no butter in the batter. use of a stand mixer is SO much easier, i never thought it could do the work of kneading for you and this made it so simple to make a fabulous perfect dough.

    i skipped the second rise and covered it in the fridge overnight, left it out 30min in the morning then baked it. So simple! now we can enjoy these at any occasion :) even the non-vegans devoured them

    • erin

      So glad everyone liked them!!!

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  • http://www.thishomemadelife.com alison

    I love using flax for egg substitutes. They are the perfect consistency of egg yolks. I’m new to your site and loving the wonderful vegetarian/vegan recipes. So glad to have found you!

    • erin

      Thank you!

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  • http://www.pumpkinhoney.com/ Kelley

    I just made these. They turned out absolutely incredible. They were gone in less than an hour. I honestly can’t wait to make them again. Thanks for the wonderful recipe!

    Students at Penn State are the same way. Extremely aggressive drivers who barrel through stop signs. Even when others are in the middle of a crosswalk. And they are aggressive towards bicyclers who try to share the road. Everyone needs to enjoy more hiking! : )

    • naturallyella

      Hooray! Glad everyone love them! (and now I’m craving cinnamon rolls!)

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  • Elle

    Hello, I just have a question. I’m severely allergic to almonds. Would soy or rice milk work in place of the almond milk?

    • naturallyella

      of course! any type of milk would do!

  • Andrea

    I made these cinnamon rolls today and they turned out awesome! I love that they are whole wheat. Thanks for the recipe!

  • sperczil

    Hi – how can I substitute that “suscanat” thing? Should I use regular, unrefined cane sugar, like demerara? Or something closer to melasses maybe? We don’t have suscanat in Poland… not yet :) Would really appreciate your help!

    • naturallyella

      Demerara sugar would work perfectly if you can use that!

      • http://www.facebook.com/sperczil Kaśka Maciąg

        thanks a lot! will try them this weekend for sure. I’m peeling almonds to make my first home-made almond milk for that recipe just now, so wish me luck :) Your blog is really inspiring, I must say!

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  • Steph

    Is that supposed to be 1-1/2 cups of unbleached flour?

    • elalderson

      No, it’s 1/2 cup up to 1 cup- use as much as it takes to pull the dough into a ball.