Cinnamon Rolls!!!! (gluten-free, vegan, refined sugar-free)

Wow. Today has been very special and very full. I will not lie to you and tell you it was easy, but it sure was worth it! What were we so busy and joy-filled doing? Making cinnamon rolls, of course!!!!!!

I've been wanting to make gluten-free, vegan cinnamon rolls for a few weeks now, and the time finally came! They turned out amazing, but I will say, they are not your typical huge, fluffy and chewy cinnamon roll. These are small, cute, pillows of warm, sweet, maple-filled goodness! And my FAVORITE part? There's no refined sugar in these sweet peas! YUM! Needless to say, jimmy & I shared 3... Or maybe 4 ;)

Without further ado, please meet my new best friends. And make sure you take this adventure when you are not in a hurry. They do take a few hours. But my oh my they are so worth the wait!!

P.S. the following recipe is exactly how I made it, but please substitute if you do not have or do not want to buy a certain ingredient (aka, coconut sugar or soy milk) or if you don't want them to be vegan or sugar-free. 

For the rolls:

1/2 c. warm water

2 tbsp. honey

3 tsp. yeast 

2 tbsp. flax meal (optional)

1.5 c. Bobs red mill all-purpose flour

1/2 c. almond flour

1 c. brown rice flour

1 tsp. Celtic sea salt

1 tsp. baking powder

1.5 tsp. xanthan gum 

1/2 c. soy milk (or your choice)

4 tbsp. coconut oil 

4 tbsp. coconut sugar 

1/4-1/2 c. GF oat flour (add this once you've combined the dry & wet ingredients for the rolls and only add if the dough is too sticky to roll out - it was for me, so I just kept adding a little at a time)

For inside the rolls:

4 tbsp. coconut oil 

2/3 c. maple sugar (I used combo of maple & coconut sugar)

4 tbsp. cinnamon 

For the icing:

1/2 c. maple sugar 

2 tsp. coconut oil

2 tsp. soy milk

2 tsp. maple syrup 

In a large bowl, mix together warm water, honey, yeast & flax meal. Let sit 5 min. Then in a separate bowl, mix together all-purpose flour, almond flour, brown rice flour, sea salt and baking powder. Add the flour mixture to the yeast mixture and add the soy milk, oil & sugar. Then begin to add more oat flour, as needed. You want the dough to be dry enough to hold & form into a ball, but still have some stickiness. 

Let the dough sit while you mix together the filling ingredients.

Liberally flour a work surface & your hands, split dough in half & roll it out to about 1/8 in. Spread filling mixture across the dough covering it. 

Roll up that bad boy and pinch together the ends so you don't lose the cinnamon mixture!

Then slice into about 1 in. pieces. Put the pieces into a well greased 8 in. cake pan with just enough room for them to expand (this whole batch should fit into 2 pans). Repeat for the second ball of dough.

Sprinkle the rolls with a little water, cover with a clean dish towel, then let the two little cake pans filled with yumminess sit for 1 hour! I know, so hard to do!

While you're waiting ever so patiently, mix together the icing ingredients.

Bake @375 for 20 min! 

Slather them in icing - mmmmm!!!

They should keep on counter without icing for 2 days, but good luck - they'll probably disappear before that!

Let me know what you think!

Millet patties - a protein packed vegan entree!

In our home, we love eating millet patties! Sometimes we call them millet croquettes 😉 whatever you call them, they taste amazing! Its always hard for us to stop eating...lol. These could even be used as a veggie burger patty if you make them big enough. 

Millet is high in protein, fiber, iron, B vitamins, manganese, phosphorus, and magnesium. It is also highly alkaline, making it easy to digest and brings balance to our already acidic diets. Most of us can use some alkaline!

The fun thing about this recipe is its very versatile and pretty simple. Just depends what you're in the mood for. 

Abbie's irresistible millet patties - vegan, gluten-free

1 cup millet

3 cups water

1 medium yam, peeled & diced small

1/2 cup brown rice flour

1/4 cup cornmeal

1/4 cup total sunflower & sesame seeds

1/2 cup sweet onion (or scallion), minced

1 cup frozen corn

1/2 small zucchini, grated

1 carrot, grated 

Celtic sea salt

Safflower oil (for frying)

Rinse the millet well. In a sauce pan combine millet & water, with a pinch of sea salt & the diced yam. Cover & bring to a boil, then cook on low for 30 min or until water is absorbed. The millet will be almost mushy with the yam & that's a good thing! I like to mash the yam into the millet.

Then pour millet & yam mixture into a large mixing bowl. Add in the brown rice flour, cornmeal, sunflower & sesame seeds, onion, corn, zucchini, and carrot.

Add some more salt. 

Then preheat a cast iron skillet over medium heat with enough safflower oil to cover the bottom. Form the millet mixture into patties as small or large as you like! The mixture should be thick enough to hold and form patties but not too soft that you can't get them off your hands, add more flour if you need it a little drier, but moist is good!

Cook on each side about 5 min depending on the size and flip when they're getting golden brown on each side.

Put the cooked patties onto a paper towel lined plate and keep frying the rest.

Then serve with sauce of your choice!

Our favorites are:

Daikon & shoyu - grate daikon and add a few dashes of shoyu

Or take some vegenaise (or real mayo) & add sriracha to make spicy mayo  

PS my apologies for the Instagram photo of my dinner but I already deleted the original photo!