Wake up Christmas morning to warm, gooey and delightfully healthy Cinnamon Rolls

Due to all the refined sugar (aka…slider foods), traditional cinnamon rolls are out of the question for gastric bypass and gastric sleeve patients. While this recipe isn’t Cinnabon Cinnamon rolls, with “ZERO” (yes, I said Zero as in NO) refined sugars, this recipe is an absolute must come Christmas morning.

Cinnamon rolls packed with protein, almond flour and pecans

Most cinnamon roll recipes use a grain based flour loaded with inflammatory properties.  This recipe uses anti-inflammatory almond flour which is packed with good quality protein.

Plus, the pecans (as discussed in this blog post) are a high quality source of additional protein and fiber.

Cinnamon Rolls so good your family will be begging for more

Once you pull these bad boys from the oven. The warm gooey mess will leave your family thanking you for cooking something healthy.

Enjoy 😉

INGREDIENTS

The Dough

1 cup Almond Flour

3/4 cup Arrow-root starch

1/2 cup Ground flax seed

3 Tablespoons Ghee*

1/2 cup water

1 egg

The Filling

8 Medjool Dates, pitted

1/2 cup pecans

2 Tablespoons cinnamon

3 Tablespoons Ghee

The Glaze

8 Tablespoons coconut cream(I used full-fat unsweetened coconut milk and just scooped out the cream)

4 teaspoons maple syrup

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

*Ghee is clarified butter that essentially takes out the whey and casein making it tolerable for the dairy intolerant .  You can purchase Ghee at most health food stores or you can make it by baking unsalted sticks of butter(preferably grass-fed butter like Kerry Gold) at 200 degrees for 60 minutes.  Then strain it through a cheese cloth on top of a fine mesh strainer.  You will end up with what looks like liquid gold.  So delicious and if you use a Grass-fed Butter you will actually get vitamin D, vitamin K2, &  Omega 3 fatty acids.

Each Roll has 4.5 grams Protein and 4.8 grams Fiber

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 400 degrees, grease 1-2 round pie pans with coconut oil.  For the dough melt the butter in a sauce pan over low to medium heat and mix in the arrowroot starch.  Stir until well mixed.  Add mix to a food processor, then add almond flour, ground flax seed, egg and water and blend well.  The mixture will be a sticky wet dough.  Dust a 2 foot long piece of plastic wrap with arrowroot starch.  Place the dough on the plastic wrap and smooth out with a spatula.  Dust arrowroot starch on top and place another piece of plastic wrap on top.  Using a rolling pin, roll the dough to approximately 3/8″ thick in the shape of a rectangle.  Transfer to a cookie sheet and freeze for 20-30 minutes.  Then prepare the filling while the dough is freezing.  Add all filling ingredients in a food processor and blend until well combined.   Remove the dough from freezer, it should be completely frozen.  Remove the top piece of plastic wrap and brush melted butter over the frozen dough.  Then dump the blended filling ingredients on the dough and smooth over the frozen dough with a spatula.  If the dough is still to frozen to work with, wait 5-10 minutes before starting to roll.  Start rolling from the short side of the dough using the bottom piece of plastic wrap to help roll it into a tight log.  Cut the log into 1 inch pieces and lay flat in the pie pan.(depending on how big your dough was rolled out it may require 2 greased pie pans).  Bake for 30-35 minutes.  Mix together icing ingredients with a hand mixer and drizzle over cinnamon rolls once slightly cooled.  Serve warm.