Do you have a favorite breakfast food? For me, cinnamon rolls tops the list. (Unless I’m in France—then it’s a pain au chocolat…but I don’t find myself in France very often!)
Warm and gooey on the inside, with icing drizzled down the edges. It’s morning perfection with some fruit and a steaming mug on the side.
But cinnamon rolls only make their appearance on my breakfast plate when I’m in a restaurant. I’ve never been brave enough to wake hours early to make a homemade batch. (2 hours of baking, or 2 hours or sleep? I choose sleep!)
One afternoon I decided to try my hand at homemade cinnamon rolls from scratch, and planned a breakfast-for-dinner meal.
I compiled the hot water and yeast with honey and oil, then ground white wheat flour in my Vitamix Dry Grains container. I kneaded all of that together and let it rise while I went about the rest of my busy afternoon.
I came back later to a ball of dough that had more than doubled in size! It was simple to roll out into a giant sheet, top with softened butter plus generous portions of cinnamon and sugar. The fun part was rolling up the log and gently slicing it. The result was the kind of spirals you anticipate in a cinnamon roll!
I allowed those to rise again for an additional half hour. I wasn’t sure if they would do much after I had rolled, filled, rolled again, and cut the dough. But yeast never fails. They puffed up as expected.
After a quick bake, these warm and gooey cinnamon rolls were inviting a bite. A quick bowl of milk plus powdered sugar and a dash of vanilla yields a simple icing to drizzle on top.
While I may not wake up 2 hours early to prepare these whole wheat cinnamon rolls from scratch, I will definitely bake them again for dinner!
Whole Wheat Cinnamon Rolls From Scratch (in less than 2 hours!)
Warm, gooey, decadent cinnamon rolls from scratch. In less than 2 hours. With whole wheat flour. What’s not to love!
Ingredients
For the dough
- 1⅓ cup water (110°F)
- ⅓ cup grapeseed oil
- ¼ cup honey
- ¾ Tbsp yeast
- 1¼ tsp salt
- 4 cups white wheat flour (ground from hard white wheat berries)
For the filling
- ¼ cup butter, softened
- 2-3 Tbsp cup cinnamon
- ½ cup sugar
For the icing
- ¼ cup milk
- ¼ cup powdered sugar
- ⅛ tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Combine the warm water, oil, honey, and yeast together in a mixing bowl. Let sit for 5-10 minutes, until bubbly.
- Using the Vitamix Dry Grains container, grind approximately 3 cups of hard white wheat berries into approximately 4 cups of whole wheat flour. (You will need to do this in 2 batches because the Dry Grains container cannot hold more than 2 cups of wheat berries at a time.)
- Add the salt to the flour and incorporate.
- Add a few cups of the flour to the mixing bowl of the yeast mixture. Mix, and gradually add more flour until a ball forms.
- Knead until smooth, approximately 10 minutes.
- Place the dough in an oiled bowl and allow it to rise until doubled in size, approximately 30 minutes to an hour.
- Punch down the dough and roll it (on a floured surface) into one long rectangle, at least 2 feet long and 8 inches tall.
- Smear the softened butter all over the dough.
- Combine the cinnamon and sugar, then sprinkle it evenly over the buttered dough.
- Starting at one of the short ends, roll the dough tightly.
- Cut the log into 8-12 pieces using a sharp knife or a piece of thread.
- Place the cinnamon rolls in a greased pan and allow to rise for an additional 30 minutes. (Preheat oven to 350°F while the dough rises.)
- Bake for 20-30 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 190°F.
- Top with a simple powdered sugar icing. (Combine powdered sugar and milk until thickened.)
Notes
Makes approximately 10 cinnamon rolls
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 5 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 758Total Fat: 25gSaturated Fat: 8gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 16gCholesterol: 25mgSodium: 668mgCarbohydrates: 125gFiber: 8gSugar: 40gProtein: 12g
