Maple Apple Walnut Cinnamon Rolls

Somebody please stop me from eating all of these immediately.

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I made these last night, and as of the exact moment I began writing this post (12:32 AM) I had already eaten two of them.

Okay, I had eaten three. But I didn’t eat enough dinner last night. ALSO, I hadn’t yet photographed them, so I had to get rid of all the ugly ones. See? It’s ok. I was doing you a favor… Yeahhh.1

I have been dying to make a healthy version of cinnamon rolls since birth, basically. I LOVE cinnamon rolls. In college, one of my roommates would make those amazingly delicious and crazy easy cinnamon-rolls-in-a-tube for special occasions. You know, the ones with the dough that you have to wear protective eyewear to open because the package is GOING to explode? Yeah, you know. SO good.

Unfortunately, those don’t exactly fit into an unprocessed lifestyle, and my goal is to make everything as delicious as possible while also using “real-food” ingredients. And so, these were born. And they are STILL gooey as all heck. 

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I threw some apples into the mix, because I’m still a li’l bit stuck in autumn and am not loving this weird transition into winter. It has been raining like crazy in NYC for the past few days, but it has been FREEZING. It might as well be snowing. Except that it’s not, so instead of making snowmen in the park and getting days off from school, I’m getting soaked by tsunamis of cold taxi puddle water on my way to class. Do I look amused to you? (Imagine that you can see me, and that I look unamused.) The change in seasons is always a weird time on the East Coast, but cinnamon rolls are for all the time. So, let’s just call these seasonal and be done with it.

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Since I didn’t want to use powdered sugar, these do not have your typical “icing,” but they are soaked with a maple syrup glaze, which I think is probably the next best thing. They’re SO delicious warm, with a piping hot cup of coffee or tea on the side. Also, when I was looking for recipe inspiration, I saw that Chocolate Covered Katie put raspberry jam IN her cinnamon rolls. So, obviously, I put some raspberry jam on a warmed up roll for breakfast, and my life was changed. Like, really forever.

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The fact that I have a pan and a half of these in my kitchen is really dangerous. Anybody want to help take some of them off my hands?

I’m kidding. Don’t. I want all of them. <3

Print
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Maple Apple Walnut Cinnamon Rolls


Ingredients

Scale

Dough

  • 1/2 cup warm water
  • 1 package (1/4 oz.) instant yeast
  • 1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk, almost boiled
  • 1/3 cup coconut oil
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1 egg
  • 2 c. Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
  • 2 c. Whole Wheat Graham Flour (I use Bob’s Red Mill)

Filling

  • 1 Honeycrisp or Gala apple, peeled and chopped
  • 1/3 cup walnuts
  • 1 tbs. cinnamon
  • 2 tbs. coconut sugar
  • 1 tbs. honey
  • 3 tbs. melted coconut oil

Glaze

  • 2 tbs. melted coconut oil
  • 1/4 cup maple syrup

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350˚F.
  2. Dissolve yeast in warm water.
  3. In a saucepan, heat almond milk on medium heat until almost boiling. Reduce heat and add coconut oil and honey, whisking until melted. Remove from heat and transfer contents to a large bowl – let cool until a bit warmer than room temperature (so that the coconut oil is still a liquid)
  4. Once cooled, whisk in yeast slurry, egg, and salt.
  5. In a separate bowl, combine flours.
  6. Slowly add flour to wet ingredients until completely combined and dough can be handled. Extra flour may be added. Knead dough for a few minutes with floured hands.
  7. Let sit in a warm place to double in size, about 1 hour.
  8. Combine filling ingredients in a food processor and pulse until a coarse paste forms.
  9. Once dough has risen, punch it down and roll out on a floured surface until about 1/4 inch thick.
  10. Spread filling evenly over dough.
  11. Roll the long end of the dough inward to create a log.
  12. Using a very sharp knife, cut into 16 even slices.
  13. Arrange slices together into two greased cake pans.
  14. Bake for about 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown.
  15. Whisk together glaze ingredients and drizzle evenly over warm rolls.

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