Healthier Sweet Potato Cinnamon Rolls

mikaela | wyldflour

6 cinnamon rolls

Healthier Sweet Potato Cinnamon Rolls

3 hrPrep Time

20 minCook Time

3 hr, 20 Total Time

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Ingredients

For the Cinnamon Roll Dough:
• 1/2 cup sweet potato puree (1 large or 2 medium sweet potatoes)
• 1 egg
• 1/2 Tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
• 1/4 cup milk (skim or whole)
• 1 teaspoon active dry yeast
• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
For the Cinnamon Pecan Filling:
• 4 dried medjool dates, pitted
• 3 Tablespoons sweet potato puree
• 1 Tablespoon + 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 Tablespoon almond butter
• 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 1/4 cup chopped pecans
Unrefined Cream Cheese Frosting:
• 2 oz cream cheese (full fat) at room temperature
• 3 Tablespoons honey
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 Tablespoon coconut flour

Instructions

1. Roast the Sweet Potato. Prick the sweet potato(es) all over with a fork and wrap them in tin foil. Bake the potatoes at 425 degrees Fahrenheit for 45-60 minutes, until a knife can be easily inserted through the potato. Remove the potatoes from the oven and allow them to cool completely. Scoop the cooked sweet potato out of the skins and measure out what you need. (You can freeze what you don't need!)
2. Preheat the oven to the lowest temperature it will allow. (Mine is 175 degrees Fahrenheit.) Once that temperature is reached, turn off the oven and leave the oven door open slightly. (You'll be letting your dough rise in the oven, but you don't want the temperature over 120 degrees, or it might kill the yeast.) Meanwhile . . . make the dough.
3. Make the Dough. Whisk the sweet potato puree, egg, melted butter, and milk. Whisk yeast into the potato mixture. Then stir in flour and salt until a sticky dough forms. Knead 6-8 minutes, adding only as much flour as needed to keep the dough from sticking to your hands. Grease a bowl with oil and dump the cinnamon roll dough into the bowl. Place the bowl into the still warm oven and let rise until double. (About an hour.)
4. Make the filling. Soak the medjool dates in boiling water for 5 minutes. Drain the dates, add them to the blender with the sweet potato puree, cinnamon, almond butter, and melted butter. Blend/puree and set aside.
5. Roll out Dough. Once the dough is risen, use a floured rolling pin to roll the dough out to about 9" by 11". Smear the cinnamon filling all over the dough. Roll the dough up loosely from the short end. If the log got longer as you were rolling, you can pat the ends of the log to shrink it up to 9 inches. Slice into six 1 1/2" rolls. Grease a 9-inch cake pan and arrange rolls in the pan. Cover with a clean towel and let rise 30 minutes in the still warm oven or until the rolls have puffed slightly. (They will continue to rise during the cooking process, so don't worry if they didn't puff up as much as you like.) Remove the rolls from the oven if you were warming them there and set aside.
6. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Bake cinnamon rolls for 18-20 minutes until the edges are starting to brown and the middles are no longer doughy. In the last five minutes of cooking, whip up the frosting.
7. Whip up the frosting. Use a hand mixer to mix cream cheese, honey, vanilla, and coconut flour until smooth. Spread liberally over the cinnamon rolls while they are still warm and serve immediately.

Notes