Orange Currant Cinnamon Rolls

I’ve been thinking of brunch recipes we could have on Christmas morning and I knew I wanted to make some cinnamon rolls. However, you can’t just wing it on the day of – trust me, I’ve tried that and it doesn’t always work. These were actually supposed to be scones but I wasn’t paying attention and following my standard cinnamon roll recipe so once I got in the middle of making the dough I knew I had to commit! Good thing I was spacing because these are great! I’m sure they’d be awesome as a scone too but the cinnamon roll works so great, we may not try the scone! I was missing my "Granny Grunt" this morning and decided to use her plate for my picture. The holidays are hard when loved ones are gone but its little things that make you remember and enjoy their spirit! This makes 12 cinnamon rolls.

Orange Currant Rolls

Dough

1 cup white rice flour

¾ cup amaranth flour

½ cup potato starch

½ cup arrowroot starch

1 Tbsp xanthan gum

1 Tbsp yeast (1 packet)

½ tsp sea salt

1 tsp baking powder

¼ cup stevia

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 egg

¼ cup applesauce

¾ cup almond milk

½ cup water

1 tsp vanilla

Filling

¼ cup coconut oil, melted

½ cup coconut sugar (or brown sugar)

2 tsp cinnamon

½ cup dried currants

Icing

1 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp coconut oil, melted (or butter)

Juice and Zest from one orange

• Mix together dry ingredients in a large bowl. In a small bowl, mix together water, almond milk and yeast for dough and let set for a few minutes. Add in applesauce, coconut oil, egg and vanilla to dry mix and blend well.
•  Pour in milk mixture and blend on medium speed for 2 minutes. 
• This part is key. Put a large rectangle piece of plastic wrap onto your counter or tabletop to roll the dough on. Pour dough onto plastic wrap and spread into a rectangle. Place another sheet of plastic wrap onto dough. Roll out into a thin rectangle. Remove top layer of plastic wrap.
• Spread the coconut oil for filling over the dough. Sprinkle on coconut sugar, cinnamon and currants. Take the long side of the dough and roll over the rest. 
• A trick here is to roll the dough using the edges of the plastic wrap. The dough is sticky and hard to roll if you use your hands. Cut dough log into 1” pieces. 
• In a greased 9x13 pan, place rolls cut side down. Cover and let rise for about 20 minutes. Bake at 350°F for 25-30 minutes or until browned on top. 
• Mix together icing ingredients and spread over warm rolls. 

Cinnamon Orange Pecans

When you make these your house will smell awesome. I wish I could bottle that scent and sell it – I’d make millions! The aroma of the freshly roasted pecans with cinnamon spice and orange zest is just amazing! They taste pretty great too! These make perfect holiday gifts as they are easy to make but still taste wonderful! This makes about 1 lb of candied pecans.

• 2 oranges, zested and cut into slices
• 1 Tbsp almond milk
• 1 cup coconut sugar, or regular sugar, honey, other sweetener
• 1 Tbsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp all spice
• 1 Tbsp coconut oil
• 1 lb pecan halves

In a large pot, combine coconut oil, milk, oranges, cinnamon, all spice and sugar. Bring to a boil and add in pecans. Cook over medium heat for about 15 minutes or until sugar mixture has coated the pecans and is almost absorbed. Spread pecan mixture on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper and let cool and harden for about an hour or two. Break pecans apart and store in a sealed container. 

Orange Cinnamon Roll Coffee Cake

So the story behind this recipe starts with a mistake. I woke up and decided I wanted orange rolls for breakfast. I’d been dying to make these and today was the day! So I gather most of my ingredients and put all of my flours together and opened the fridge. No eggs. Oops – but I remembered I did have some flax seed so I decided to make an egg substitute to go with it. The problem was I had too much liquid but didn’t realize it until I went to grab my “rolls” and place them in a baking dish. They instantly fell apart into mush in the pan. I was pretty disappointed. However, some of you know how expensive gluten-free flours can be and I was NOT going to let it go to waste. So I threw the mush mess in the oven. 25 minutes later I had a perfect coffee cake. So lesson here-don’t quit just because it doesn’t turn out exactly how you’d planned! Also – if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again! We didn’t even have leftovers! So that’s a win for the orange roll mess and it just means I get to try again another day!

Dough

1 cup brown rice flour
½ cup sorghum flour
½ cup tapioca starch
¼ cup coconut flour
1 tsp xanthan gum
1 tsp active yeast
1 tsp baking powder
¼ cup stevia
½ tsp sea salt
¾ cup almond milk
½ cup water
1 Tbsp flax seed
3 Tbsp water
1 tsp vanilla
2 Tbsp coconut oil
¼ cup applesauce
Filling
1 Tbsp cinnamon
¼ cup coconut sugar
2 Tbsp coconut oil
1 Tbsp orange zest
Icing
2 Tbsp dairy-free butter
2 Tbsp orange juice (from zested orange)
½ cup powdered sugar

• In a large mixing bowl, combine dry ingredients and mix well. Slowly add in milk, water, flaxseed, vanilla, coconut oil and applesauce.
• Here’s where it got tricky. Using plastic wrap, I rolled out my cinnamon roll dough, then I spread on my filling ingredients (coconut oil, cinnamon, sugar, then orange zest). And I rolled it up in to a dough log. I then cut it into small rolls and tried to put it in the 9x13 greased baking dish I prepared. However, you could probably cut out this dough log step and just mix in your filling ingredients into your dough.
•  However you do it, put the dough in the baking dish and bake at 350°F for 25 minutes. Let cool for about 10 minutes.
• While cake is baking, mix together the icing ingredients. Add more sugar or orange juice to get desired consistency. Pour icing over cooled cake and serve.

Cranberry Orange Spread

I usually create this spread over Christmas time. I love cranberries during the holidays but I always get too many. They freeze really well but I had some extra leftover that I thought I’d use up. While this spread is great for the holidays (especially to give as gifts), it is also good any time of the year. I love it on a turkey sandwich with lettuce and Dijon mustard. Serve it over cream cheese with crackers or even eat on toast.

1 20oz bag of fresh cranberries

2 whole oranges
¾ cup honey
1 tsp cinnamon

• In a food processor or blender, blend cranberries and oranges until desired consistency. We like ours with a few small chunks so we blended ours quite a bit.
• Pour fruit into a large stock pot or sauce pan over medium heat. Stir in cinnamon and honey.
• Bring to boiling and cook at a slow boil for about 5 more minutes, stirring constantly.
• Ladle spread into prepared glass jars and finish preparing jars as desired.