When Mother’s Day rolls around this weekend, get prepared for serving mom a breakfast treat she’ll never forget (and you’ll get to try some too, if she shares!). Recipe & ingredients below, but make sure to visit Healthy Food for Living to get the chef’s expert notes & ingredient suggestions. Happy Mother’s Day!
Carrot Cake Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Glaze
Recipe from Healthy Food for Living
makes 8 rolls
Ingredients for Dough:
- 1 cup milk, heated in the microwave for 1 minute or until it reaches around 100°F
- 2 1/4 tsp (or 1 – 0.25 oz packet) active dry yeast, at room temperature
- 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1 cup finely grated carrots, about 2 large carrots
- 1 1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
- 1 1/4 cup unbleached all purpose flour (plus up to 1/4 cup for kneading and rolling)
- 1 Tbsp baking powder
- *2-6 Tbsp evaporated cane juice or granulated sugar
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
Ingredients for Filling:
- 1/2 packed cup brown sugar or Sucanat
- 1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
- 2 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
- 1/2 cup golden raisins
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Ingredients for Cream Cheese Glaze:
- 4 oz neufchatel (1/3-less-fat) cream cheese, at room temperature
- 3 Tbsp 1% milk
- 2 Tbsp powdered evaporated cane juice or powdered sugar, sifted
- 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
Directions:
- Lightly grease a 9-inch round cake pan. Set aside.
- Scatter yeast over warmed milk and allow to activate for about 10-15 minutes, or until frothy.
- Meanwhile, whisk together both kinds of flour, baking powder, evaporated cane juice, spices, and salt in a large bowl.
- In a small bowl, stir together the brown sugar, 1 Tbsp cinnamon, and melted butter. Set aside.
- When yeast and milk mixture is bubbly, stir in the applesauce and grated carrots. Add wet ingredients into the dry and mix just until incorporated. Transfer dough onto a clean lightly floured surface and knead until soft and smooth, adding enough extra all-purpose flour (up to 3 Tbsp) to keep dough from sticking, about 2 minutes. Let rest for 5 minutes.
- Lightly flour work surface again and roll dough out to about 1/4-inch thickness, about a 12-inch x 9-inch rectangle.
- Sprinkle brown sugar, cinnamon, and butter mixture evenly over the rolled-out dough, leaving about a 1-inch border around the perimeter.
- Scatter raisins & nuts evenly over the top and gently push into dough.
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Starting at a short end, carefully & tightly roll the dough jelly roll-style, making sure the filling doesn’t come out at the sides. Gently pinch seam closed. Cut the roll into 8 even pieces and place in prepared pan. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let rise in a warm place (I like to place it on top of the preheating oven) until doubled in size, about 1 hour. Either refrigerate, covered, overnight or proceed immediately to step 11.
- Remove the towel and brush the 1/2 Tbsp melted butter over the tops of the rolls. Bake rolls at 350°degrees for about 20 minutes, or until lightly golden on top.
- While cinnamon rolls are baking, prepare the cream cheese glaze. In a medium mixing bowl, beat all glaze ingredients together with an electric mixer until well-combined and smooth.
- Remove rolls from the oven and transfer to a wire rack. The easiest way to do this is to run a knife around the outside of the rolls, place a large place over top, and invert the cake pan so that the rolls fall out into the plate. Place the rack on top of the rolls and invert the plate so that the rolls are right side up on the rack.
- **Drizzle with glaze and serve warm.
