Peanut Butter and Carob Chunk Cinnamon Rolls (WIAW)

Dang it! I was doing so well with balancing school and blogging then it all caught up with me 😦 It’s not exactly that I don’t have the time although that is part of the equation. It is more like I don’t have the brain capacity. Who knew reading about food, workouts and life required an IQ?

Unfortunately I feel as though I have reverted back to burnt marshmallow brain status. Here’s hoping that today’s post will remedy that a little. Please?!!

My mind these days is constantly swirling with horizontal models, orbital periods, blocking variables, and ups-men-throwing-computer-screens (what?!… check the bottom of my post for more on that 😉 ). Oh, and let us not forget the honor beats of Native American Grass Dance songs that haunt my dreams.

Actually, my dream are crammed full of test nightmares, homework scares and the random celebrity sighting… Hmm, as a therapist would say: “What does that say about my life?” That I’m a stressed out college student who spends way too much time on Yahoo! News and Buzzfeed? (for the record, I have determined that reading those articles for the most part does NOT require an IQ).

My plan was to catch up on some sleep, blogging, comments and the works this weekend but then I forgot about a trip that I was taking. And I may have forgotten to mention it on here too however, in my defense it didn’t seem extremely important to mention it since I went on the same trip last year.

Yes! On Saturday and Sunday I went to the Stratford Shakespeare festival again in Canada! Recap coming next week most likely on Monday (or Wednesday if I can find any food shots of other people’s exciting meals on my phone).

If I have no food to share from the trip though I guarantee that I’ll have something fabulous to write about from this coming weekend when I get to go home. And BAKE. And see my family. And BAKE. And go to a wedding. And…

Bake some more. 😉

Priorities people! I have almost run out of my arsenal of recipes because I haven’t been in a kitchen for almost three weeks.

Note that I said almost though and not completely…

Peanut Butter and Carob Chunk Cinnamon Rolls

Grain/Gluten/Wheat-Free, Dairy-Free, Egg-Free/Vegan Option, Nut-Free Option, Paleo/GAPS-Friendly

Makes 9 Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs (or 1/2 cup ground flaxseed + 1/2 cup water)
• 1 ripe banana, mashed
• 2 tbsp honey (or maple syrup to make this vegan)
• 2 tbsp coconut oil, melted
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2/3-1 cup coconut flour*
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 recipe for carob chips
• “Peanut” butter filling: 2-4 tbsp honey + 1/4 cup nut butter*

Carob Chunk Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup carob powder
• 1/2 cup melted coconut oil

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a small bowl mix up the carob chocolate ingredients and then pour half of the mixture into a small pan to freeze. Set the rest aside.
3. Combine the egg (or flaxseed + water), mashed banana, honey, coconut oil, and vanilla until well combined.
4. Then add the 2/3 cup coconut flour and mix well. The dough should be easily formed into a ball but not sticky. Add more coconut flour as necessary to get the proper consistency.
5. Next mix in the sea salt and baking soda.
6. Take the dough and place it on a sheet of parchment paper to roll out. I found that using my hands to mold the dough was best and formed a large rectangle that was about 1/4 inch thin approximately.
7. Mix up the “peanut” butter filling and spread it out evenly over the dough rectangle.
8. By now the carob mixture should be frozen solid in the freezer (takes about 15-20 minutes on average). Remove the carob bar from the freezer and break it into small chunks.
9. Sprinkle the carob chunks over the “peanut” butter filling then carefully roll it up. It may be a little difficult if you used the egg version of the recipe, but once it is rolled up you can just form it together with your hands and piece together any tears or holes.
10. Slice the roll into 9 pieces and place them on a baking sheet covered in parchment paper. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until golden brown (this time is really dependent on if you use eggs vs. flaxseed, how wet your dough is, and the strength of your oven).
11. Then taking the remaining half of the carob mixture and drizzle it over the rolls. (You can make a DIY pastry bag like I did by pouring the mixture into a ziploc bag and slicing off the tip).

*Recipe Notes: I made this recipe with eggs because I have had a few people ask me about replacing the flaxseed mixture in my other two recipes with eggs. I found that this made the a wetter dough so I had to increase the coconut flour and even doing so made the dough much more difficult to handle. Next time I will probably just go back to the tried and true vegan version! The “peanut” butter for this recipe can be replaced with any type of nut butter that fits your dietary needs. I would recommend sunbutter for the most “peanut”-like taste. Almond butter would work as well!

Just in case you missed my past two cinnamon roll recipes, here they are:

Coconut Flour Cinnamon Rolls

Apple Chunk Cinnamon Rolls

Now that it’s almost fall I need to get on making some Pumpkin cinnamon rolls!

***Thanks Jenn for hosting WIAW yet again!!***

I almost forgot! Here is the video that I referenced above about the computer monitor-throwing man:

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Questions for you:

Do you like cinnamon rolls?

What kind would you like to try next?

Is your brain like a burnt marshmallow?

What did you do this past weekend?