Apologies for the recent hiatus – summertime is generally a weird mix of busy and relaxed, so when I’m not running myself ragged, I’m a lump in a chair with a book. I’ve not really had the motivation to cook lately, though I’ve created a few interesting things that I will share here over the next week or two.
Lately I’ve been dabbling in raw food as I’ve had a ton of weird health issues over the past few years and I’m looking to increase my healthy food intake and limit my junk food obsession. Raw food allows you to eat a lot of the things that you would normally try to stay away from by making them out of healthy ingredients such as nuts, honey, fruit, etc. I’ve had some awesome pies over the past few weeks that would count as three of your daily servings of fruit. Not bad!
My latest endeavor was raw cinnamon rolls. I know it sounds weird, but they were so fabulous that they tempted many of my omnivorous and anti-vegetation friends at a recent campout. They are quite rich though, so one will probably do it for breakfast – and the protein contained within these little babies will keep you going for hours!
Raw Cinnamon Rolls
1 1/4 cups almond meal
1 1/4 cups ground flaxseed
1 dash cayenne pepper
1 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon
1 pinch sea salt
1 cup soft pitted dates
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/8 cup olive oil
1/8 cup agave nectar
1/4 cup raisins, plus a little extra
1/4 cup chopped nuts
Combine the almond meal, ground flaxseed, dash of cayenne pepper, 1/2 Tbsp. cinnamon and pinch sea salt in a bowl and set aside.
In a food processor or blender, process dates, water and vanilla into a paste. Remove half of the date paste and add it to the dry ingredients, along with the olive oil and agave. Mix these ingredients with your hands until it forms a dough. You may need to add a little water and/or agave if it is too dry, but be careful not to add too much.
Spread the dough out on a piece of parchment paper, and flatten/shape it into a 1/4-inch thick square.
Add 1/4 cup raisins and 1 Tbsp. of cinnamon to the rest of the date paste left in your food processor or blender. Process until smooth. Then, spread a thin layer of the paste onto the dough square, making sure to cover the whole surface, and top with a sprinkle of extra raisins and the chopped walnuts.
Using the parchment paper to help hold everything together, carefully/tightly roll the square into a log. Chill in the refrigerator, and then slice into about 1-inch thick rounds. I usually make about 8 cinnamon rolls out of this recipe.
Rolled, chilled, and ready to slice:
These cinnamon rolls can be eaten right out of the refrigerator or warmed on a dehydrator. Here are mine on the tray – I dehydrated them at 108 degrees F for 12 hours:
The frosting recipe I took from here:
Cashew Cream Frosting
1 cup raw cashews or pine nuts soaked 4 or more hours
1/8 cup water
6 Tbs honey or dates
juice of 1 small tangerine and the entire peel
1 tsp vanilla
Blend until smooth and creamy. Add a little extra water if you want it thinner. Drizzle on top of dehydrated cinnamon rolls.
Frosting in the food processor:
Keep them in the freezer until you’re ready to dehydrate them. After they’ve been dried, you can keep them in an airtight container in a dark place for a few days.
And the finished product!
Edited to add: Elle over at Elle’s Kitchen recently made this recipe and posted it on her blog. Her photos are beautiful, so with her permission I’ve posted them here for you to enjoy. Thank you so much, Elle!
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
We’re going to try your recipe this morning.. let you know how we do! We made fresh almond milk and were looking for something to use the almond meal with.. perfect!
Please do report back! I’d love to hear how it went.
I am making this tonight to warm for breakfast – can’t wait! I will report back. Thanks for sharing!
WOW – my vegetarian husband, vegan 6th grader, and raw vegan self are loving these for breakfast!!!!!!!!! The recipes executed perfectly. Thank you for sharing. Are you on Facebook? There is a Raw Vegan group with a breakfast chat that would benefit from your work. Have a great day!
Yay! I’m so glad you liked them.
I’d love the link to the raw group – I searched on FB and couldn’t find it.
Hi Steph, search for Raw Food vegans, click on discussion board in the upper right under the picture of the food, then search for the Breakfast discussion thread. Here is the link in case it works for you:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/topic.php?uid=2204780217&topic=3261
I appreciate your willingness to share this – it was perfect!!!
Thank you!!
I am going to make these today for christmas morning! I am going to make them and put them in the dehydrator over night so they will be ready to eat in the morning. If I make the frosting tonight, will it be okay if i just put it in a bowl on the counter and then frost them in the morning. Or would you suggest putting the frosting in the refrigerator over night. Or just making the frosting in the morning?
Let me know!
Ooooh, that’s a fabulous idea. Sorry for not answering this sooner – I was out of town and computer time was at a minimum. How did it go?
I’d say that you’d probably want to keep the frosting cold, and then reheat it the next day over a double boiler, just until it’s thinned out a bit. Maybe to 95 degrees or so.
Do these have to be dehydrated? I can’t wait to try them. it will be a first attempt at raw sweet treats…mmmm
This is the first raw dessert I have really enjoyed!! I didn’t dehydrate, just ate them right out of the fridge. I linked your site from my post on it if that’s okay!