The Best Date Cinnamon Rolls - Whole Wheat and Sugar-Free

**These cinnamon rolls are my favorite of all the sugarless baked goodies I've been making over the past almost 2 years. They are incredibly sweet and perfect.**

As I write this, a sweet fragrance lingers in my kitchen and has visited me in my living room work space. It is the smell of pineapple juice, which my dates have been cooked in and soaking in for the past few hours. Today is a perfect day to make cinnamon rolls. It is rainy and foggy--my usual view of the Capitol is covered in layers of beautiful fog. The leaves are the only colorful thing I see out my window--reds, oranges, yellow and still a lot of green.

I was given this recipe for date cinnamon rolls a while back but have waited for that perfect chunk of time to dawdle in my kitchen, listen to music and leisurely play with yeast dough. As usual, I have tampered with the recipe quite a bit, to try and make my existing ingredients work instead of having to go out to buy new. The original recipe also called for refined sugar and larger amounts of ingredients than I needed to use. I substituted pineapple juice for apple juice and the smell is amazing. As I was taking the pits out of my dates, I looked at the nutritional value and thought it was interesting:

Date Nutrition Information:
Serving Size: 5-6 dates
Calories 120
Potassium 240 mg
Total Carb. 31 g (10% daily recommended value)
Fiber 3 g (14% daily recommended value)
Sugars 29 g
Protein 1 g
Calcium 2% daily recommended value
Iron 2% daily recommended value


Here is my recipe:

Date Walnut Cinnamon Rolls

Dough:
1/2 C. pineapple juice
2 packets active dry yeast
2 tablespoons honey
2 eggs, beaten
3 C. white whole wheat flour
1/2 C. butter, melted
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. vanilla
2 tsps. cinnamon

Filling:
1 C. pitted dates
2 C. pineapple juice
1 C. raisins
2/3 C. chopped walnuts/pecans

Icing:
1/2 C. sour cream
2 tablespoons honey
1 tsp. vanilla

Step 1: Warm pineapple juice in a small pan. Transfer to large mixing bowl and add one packet of yeast and honey. Stir and set aside for 5 minutes. Add eggs and enough flour to form a thin batter (about 1 cup). Beat until smooth. Clean down sides of bowl, cover with a damp cloth and let dough rise in a warm spot until doubled, about 30 minutes. In another bowl, add yeast packet, 1 tablespoon flour and about 1/8 C. tepid water. Cover and let rise about 30 minutes.





Step 2: While dough is rising, make filling. Place dates in small pan and cover with pineapple juice. Heat to a simmer, cover and cook until liquid is absorbed, about 20-30 minutes. Let cool. Puree in blender and set aside.


Step 3: Place raisins in a bowl and cover with hot water. Soaking them will plump them.

Step 4: Return to dough. Add small bowl of dough to large. Beat in butter, salt, vanilla and cinnamon. Begin adding flour to yeast mixture. When it is too hard to stir, place on a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth. Clean and oil bowl. Place dough in it, cover with plastic wrap, then a towel, and let dough rise in a warm place until doubled, about 45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. On a lightly floured surface, roll out half the dough into a rectangle. Spread half the date puree, strained raisins and nuts on the dough. Sprinkle with cinnamon. Roll up from the side like a jelly roll. Cut into 1-inch slices and place cut-side-up on an oiled cookie sheet or in muffin tins. Repeat with other half of the ingredients. Bake for 15 minutes.






While rolls are baking, place all ingredients for icing in small bowl and whisk together well. When rolls have baked 15 minutes, spoon some of the icing on top of each roll and bake another 10-15 minutes.

ENJOY!

Funny, I forgot to puree the dates, but it didn't really seem to matter at all. I don't think it's necessary now that I've forgotten, especially since this would save one messy step. I also forgot to sprinkle cinnamon on the dough before rolling them up, but it didn't thwart things at all. I didn't realize I missed this step until I began to type out the recipe.

I froze half the batch, so I'll see how those turn out when I have guests over or I can't wait any longer for more for myself. I've had three for lunch today with lots of added icing. They are absolutely heavenly. I can't wait to try them out with my morning mug of joe tomorrow.


-Original recipe courtesy of: www.feedingfamily.com