Raw Cinnamon Buns
I have come across a couple of raw cinnamon bun recipes on the web but none seemed close enough to traditional cinnamon buns. What a great challenge. Almond flour, flaked spelt (yup, you heard me right) and ground flax were the perfect medium for these. A bit of time in the dehydrator provided the perfect consistency. Wanting to get away from only using cashews for cream fillings, I also added almonds and raisins. The crowning glory is the maple cashew icing! I wouldn’t suggest having these for breakfast every morning, but for a Sunday brunch, or a weekend treat, they are perfect.
Spelt is a grain that is related to wheat but contains much more protein and less carbohydrates than wheat. It is high in B vitamins, iron and potassium. I got this raw, flaked spelt from Sunrise Flour Mills. You can read more about them here. You can replace it with raw, flaked oats if you wish. But you know me, I like to mix it up a bit!
Raw Cinnamon Buns
MAKES 12
Buns
- 5 dates
- 1/4 cup Water
- 1 cup Ground Flax
- 1 1/4 cups Almond Flour
- 1 cup Spelt Flakes
- 1 cup Chopped Pecans (chopped fine)
- 2 teaspoon Cinnamon
- 3 tablespoons Olive Oil
- 1/4 cup Agave
- 1 cup Water
- Soak dates. Blend with 1/4 cup water to make a smooth date paste. Set aside.
- Combine flax, almond flour (I use the dehydrated almond pulp left over from making almond milk), finely chopped pecans, and Spelt flakes.
- In a separate bowl, combine date paste, olive oil, 1/4 cup agave and 1 cup water. Mix wet ingredients into dry.
- Spread in a rectangle on a non-stick dehydrator sheet. You want this to be a little less than 1/2 inch thick. Dehydrate at 145 for 30 minutes. Flip onto screen, peel off dehydrator sheet and dehydrate at 115 for another 20 minutes. While the bun is dehydrating, you will want to prepare the filling.
Filling
- 1 Young Thai Coconut (the white part)
- 1 cup Cashews
- 1/2 cup Almonds
- 1/4 cup Raw Agave
- 1 tablespoon Vanilla (not raw)
- 1/2 cup raisins
- Soak Almonds and Cashews for at least 3 hours to soften.
- Place in food processor with remaining ingredients except raisins, process until smooth. Stir in raisins.
Icing
- 1 cup Raw Cashew Butter
- 3 tablespoons Maple Syrup (not raw)
- 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
- 3-4 tablespoons Water
- Mix all ingredients except water.
- Add water 1 tablespoon at a time to desired consistency.
Assembly
- Place “bun” on parchment paper.
- Spread filling on bun. You can spread to the edges on the long sides but leave an inch or two on the short sides.
- Gently roll up the roll.
- Slice and top with icing.
Melissa wrote on February 9, 2010
Those look absolutely awesome!! I haven’t had a cinnamon bun in a long, long time. Can’t wait to try these!
Michal wrote on February 9, 2010
Oh wow! This looks insanley good, the photos are gorgeous. I just cant stop staring…
A-K wrote on February 9, 2010
Oh. My. Goodness. Yum! One day when I’m feeling fancy, I am TOTALLY making these 🙂
Maurie Kirschner wrote on February 9, 2010
I was just recently starting to feel sorry for myself about not being able to have any yeasted goodies. It came on when I saw pictures of cinnamon rolls. And then you came to my rescue. Thank you Thank you Thank you!
Elena wrote on February 9, 2010
Look amazing! Will have to make these.
pure2raw twins wrote on February 9, 2010
Amazing! The cashew cream looks so good 🙂
veggie wedgie wrote on February 9, 2010
These look so cool!! I made baked cinnamon buns using whole spelt just the other day! But the raw version seems just as good-if not better 🙂
Heathy wrote on February 9, 2010
Amazing Susan! Would love to sink my teeth into one of those 🙂
Dawn Hutchins wrote on February 9, 2010
Wow this looks incredible. I don’t do a lot of raw recipes yet as I’m in a learning phase. I am debating on whether to get a dehydrator. I am also not sure where I would get a young thai coconut this time of year.
Susan wrote on February 9, 2010
I get my coconuts at whole foods. There is an article on the site about coconuts that also has a mail order source that is reasonable. You can find that here: http://www.rawmazing.com/articles/raw-food-all-about-young-coconuts/.