Apple Chunk Cinnamon Rolls (Grain-Free) WIAW

Gosh, I really should have saved that time meme for today.

Good thing Pinterest supplies me with an endless stream of pictures.

I guess I just underestimated how busy I would be. Last semester I had one roommate. This semester I have FIVE. That’s five times the people to talk to. And three additional people who are always mulling around when you count some of their boyfriends. So really it’s nine times the people who I have compared to before to talk with.

On Sunday night when I should have been sleeping I instead stayed up until 11:00pm (REAL late, I know! 😉 ). And what was I doing you may ask? Living the college dream? Partying it up? Gorging myself on 5 dollar pizzas and special delivery cookies the size of my head? Um, no, no and no.

We played Catch Phrase for about three hours straight.

And that’s what you get when you live with all Honors students. Ha.

With all of that insane “busyness” I haven’t had any time to bake. Actually, being away from home I probably won’t do any baking at college because I’d have no one to eat my grain-free, vegan experiments!

Thankfully I did a whole lot of baking the week before I left though so I have plenty to fill the empty (?) pages of my blog 🙂

Exhibit A: A new take on my Coconut Flour Cinnamon Rolls!

Apple Chunk Cinnamon Rolls

Grain/Gluten/Wheat-Free, Vegan, Nut-Free, No Refined Sugar, GAPS/Paleo-Friendly

Makes six cinnamon rolls

Ingredients:

Roll Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup ground flax seed + 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 1 tbsp honey (or maple syrup to be vegan)
• 1 tbsp coconut oil (butter/ghee works wonderful here too)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2/3 cup coconut flour
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Filling ingredients:

• 1 tbsp honey (or maple syrup)
• 1 tbsp coconut oil
• 1 tbsp cinnamon (enough to cover the entire dough)
• 1 large apple or 2 small apples, peeled and shredded

Topping ingredients:

• 2 tbsp honey (or maple syrup)
• 2 tbsp coconut oil, softened

* You can use any kind of topping here. Greek yogurt + honey would be a good one. As would applesauce, nut butter, just a plain drizzle of honey or maple syrup. More cinnamon? You can never have too much cinnamon 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. Mix the flax seed and water together in a medium-sized bowl and microwave for 1-2 minutes or until thick.
3. Add the remaining liquid ingredients stirring well.
4. Mix in the dry ingredients until well combined. Add more coconut flour if necessary so the dough is not sticky.
5. Spread out another sheet of parchment paper and roll out the dough into a large rectangle (I just used my hands and it worked fine!).
6. Coat the dough with the 1 tbsp coconut oil and 1 tbsp honey for the filling. Next layer with the shredded apple and sprinkle with the cinnamon.
7. Roll up the dough and cut into six equal pieces. Place each piece on the baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.
8. Meanwhile make the topping out of the honey and coconut oil.
9. When the cinnamon rolls are done let cool slightly before topping and enjoying!

Notes: Next time I may use less apple because there may have been just a *little* too much filling. My parents immensely enjoyed the overstuffed rolls though. They just used a fork 🙂

Have you all ever played Catchphrase before? It’s super fun, almost like another popular game but better because you don’t have to dance around and you can play sitting down. It’s like the lazy man’s charades.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

Question for you:

It’s moist, full of a delicious spice, extremely easy to make, and it’s calling your name. What is it? 😉

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

Thank you Jenn for another lovely weekly round-up of the best food this blog world has to offer! Check out Peas and Crayons for this week’s top WIAW posts 🙂