Guest Blogger: The Veggie Nook – Raw Cinnamon Rolls with Hazelnut Pulp

Please welcome back Gabby, author of the The Veggie Nook, a plant based focus on whole foods. Gabby believes healthy living and eating should be enjoyable and fun and therefore she strives to ensure her food is delicious and at times indulgent.

Gabby’s intention with this post was initially for Easter breakfast, but these would be lovely on any weekend morning that calls for a little something special! Follow Gabby on Twitter. Please enjoy.

Before I get into today’s recipe, I would just like to thank all of you who read my blog! It’s been about a month and a half since I started and the positive response and support I’ve received from fellow bloggers and readers has been amazing. I really can’t thank you all enough! Now onto the recipe for today, one that I think would be a welcome addition to any Easter breakfast table. Whether eaten alone or accompanied by something more traditional, these raw cinnamon rolls have a special feel that is perfect for the first holiday of spring! Breakfast is a meal of the day where on an average weekday or even weekend, it is often rushed, uninspired, eaten while running out the door or not eaten at all. I’ve never understood how people don’t eat breakfast, but that’s just me. Holidays mean special breakfasts. Like pancakes, homemade muffins, breakfast casseroles, scrambles and waffles. Extra time yields delicious results, but this extra time is just that. Extra time! Taking time needed to whip up something special means cutting out on enjoying the holidays with your family. One thing that is so great about these cinnamon rolls is that they are special AND can be made completely in advance! Just roll them up and store them in the refrigerator overnight or for a couple days until you’re ready to serve them. They might be a little different than the traditional breakfast foods, but they are delicious, spicy and sweet and just as special as their baked relative. If you like warm breakfast foods? No problem! Just slip them in your oven at the lowest temperature setting for half an hour to heat them up (or if you are super lucky and have a dehydrator, use that). Don’t mind eating them cold? Perfect, they are delicious as is 🙂 What I love about these is that instead on relying on refined flours and sugar to achieve the warm comforting pastry, these utilize hazelnut pulp, dates and flax seed to form the bulk of the roll which are loaded with fibre, omega 3s and healthy sugars, raisins and pecans for the filling and raw cashews to form the icing which are a great sources of antioxidants, vitamins, minerals and monounsaturated fats. I was inspired to make this based on Rawdorable’s recipe which uses almond pulp, but I had hazelnut pulp lying around from making my spiced hazelnut milk and thought the subtle sweetness of hazelnuts would play nicely into the cinnamon and raisins. You get juicy pops from the raisins, and crunch from the pecans and lots of cinnamon flavour. The icing is a recipe of my own making and it is very reminiscent of traditional cinnamon roll icing- sweet but not too sweet. Serve 2 of these with a cup of coffee for a special Easter morning treat 🙂

Raw Cinnamon Rolls (Vegan, Gluten-Free, Refined Sugar-Free, Raw) Makes 8 rolls. Rolls: Adapted from these at Rawdorable

• 1 1/4 cup hazelnut pulp
• 1 1/4 cup flax meal (ground flax seeds)
• 2 1/2 tbsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• pinch sea salt
• 1 cup soft dates (get them soft by soaking if not already)
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 tbsp hemp seed oil
• 2 tbsp agave nectar
• 1/4 cup raisins
• 1/4 cup chopped pecans

Icing:

• 1/2 cup cashews, soaked
• 1/4 cup date soaking water (I used water from soaking dates for the rolls. You could also just use water then adjust the agave to desired sweetness)
• dash vanilla
• 1/2 tbsp agave
• 1 tbsp coconut butter

First combine the hazelnut pulp, flax meal, 1 tbsp cinnamon, nutmeg and sea salt in a bowl and set aside. Then in a blender or food processor, blend the dates, water and vanilla until a paste forms. Remove half of it from the blender and add it to the pulp mixture. Add to this the hemp oil and agave and mix until a dough forms. Can add more water or agave if it’s too dry. Take this dough and spread it out on a piece of parchment paper and flatten it into a 1/4 inch square. To do this I covered it with plastic wrap and used a rolling pin, to get it nice and evenly flat and then just shaped it with my hands. Next, add the 1/4 cup raisins and 1 tbsp cinnamon to the reserved date paste in the blender and blend. The recipe I adapted this from says to do it until smooth, but I felt a few chunks of raisins for burst of sweetness in the rolls. Do whichever you prefer! Then take this mixture and spread it onto the dough, covering the whole surface. Sprinkle with the chopped pecans. Now, carefully and using the parchment paper to help hold it all together, roll the square into a log. Carefully transfer it to the fridge and chill for at least an hour.  To do this I rolled it in the parchment paper and twisted the ends like a candy wrapper. When ready to eat, take out the log and cut it into segments about 1-inch thick. I got 8 rolls. To make the icing just blend all the frosting ingredients except the coconut butter until smooth. Heat the coconut oil gently so it’s soft then blend into the rest of the icing. Top each roll with generous amounts of frosting. I highly recommend this because, while tasty, the rolls themselves are slightly dry (due to the pulp) so the icing helps combat that. This icing recipe makes more than enough be generous! A wonderfully nutritious way to indulge on this Easter holiday. I am posting this recipe on: Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays, Allergy-Free Wednesdays, Allergy Friendly Lunchbox Love, Allergy Free-Fridays and Wellness Weekends 🙂