Butternut Squash + Ginger Syrup Sweet Rolls

It's been a long time since I've published a Sweet Rolls that Rock recipe because I've been trying to eat more healthy and I've been trying to follow the Primal Blueprint - which is kind of like similar to the Paleo diet.

And in case you are wondering why it didn't last - it's because it's a fad diet - not for everyone - but for me it was. The thing that bothered me was all the meat and you often hear people say I get to eat bacon, so niener niener niener, you know. But let me tell, I love bacon, but everyday - it gets boring pretty quick. 

And then I watched a couple documentaries - like Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead and also Forks over Knives... and that got me thinking - you know, I'm a Mormon and we have this document called the Word of Wisdom. It's basically a revelation from our loving Heavenly Father and he promises us that if we live according to it we will have health. Some basic do's and don't's of the Word of Wisdom are to eat meat sparingly - and at that only in times of famine and winter. He tells us to eat grains and He says to avoid other harmful substances like alcohol, coffee and tea. 

I think in regards to the coffee and tea - it's caffeine that he means because just steaming the leaves of certain plants is pretty healthy - but caffeine is a big no-no. I mean, it's incredibly addictive. Had the Word of Wisdom been revealed right now with all those popular fizzy drinks - those would probably be included too - but that's just something I've come to learn for myself.

Any way, I haven't been doing the Primal Blueprint - although I do really enjoy some grain-free treats - like I have this one good recipe for grain free zucchini cake that is just super duper good... but nothing and I mean nothing can replace the deliciousness of yeasted breads!

So, if you have some kind of gluten intolerance - and you have been baking for a while and know what to do - do what you gotta do to alter this recipe... otherwise, here is my version... oh yeah, and because of the documentary Forks over Knives - we are eating and drinking less cow's milk so I use coconut milk in this recipe.

And just one more thing - I am really trying to bake less - because for anyone that is trying to lose weight - no matter which diet you are following - what it all comes down to is that you have to take in fewer calories than your body needs and I noticed that when I bake yummy stuff - I can't eat just one... that's just me, though - so I recommend only baking for a purpose - like you are bringing a treat to share with another family, etc. etc. etc.

Butternut Squash + Ginger Syrup Sweet Rolls

For the Dough, combine and let rise 2 tablespoons warm milk (coconut milk), 1/2 teaspoon sugar and 1 teaspoon instant yeast. After 5 minutes or until it's bubbly, add 1/2 cup room temperature, luke warm milk (coconut), 2 tablespoons honey, 1/4 cup melted coconut oil (ghee) and 1/4 cup butternut squash (roasted and pureed). Mix well. Then add in 2 cups sifted flour plus 1/2 teaspoon salt. Stir together till mixture forms into dough. Let rest a few minutes then knead another 5 - 10 minutes. Turn into large oiled bowl and cover with wet towel. Then let it rise 60-90 minutes in a warm place (oven).

Dust counter top with flour and roll out dough into rectangular form and spread with filling (see below). Roll up and cut into 8 equal slices. Place on prepared baking sheet (I use parchment paper and I usually bake 8 in a pie tin) and let rise again in warm place (oven at 50-C degrees) for 30-45 minutes. Adjust oven temperature for baking (175-C degrees) and bake for 10 minutes. Then adjust temperature down to 150-C degrees and continue to bake for another 10 minutes or until the dough springs back easily when lightly touched.

Remove from oven and drizzle with Ginger Syrup topping (below). Serve warm or cold.

Filling:
1 tablespoon ghee + 1/4 cup butternut squash + 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie/ginger bread spice mix + 1/4 cup raw sugar = blend together till smooth. Spread onto dough. Sprinkle with handful chopped walnuts or pecans (optional).

Ginger Syrup:
Finely dice 1/2- 1 tablespoon fresh peeled ginger. Fry in a little ghee till caramelized. Add in 2 tablespoon raw sugar and cook till sugar is syrupy. Pour in 1/4 cup water and a squeeze of lemon juice and simmer 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in another 1/2 cup sifted powdered sugar. Drizzle to taste over hot rolls. Reserve any remaining syrup for other uses - such as over ice cream, to sweeten tea or stir into tomato soup.

Creepy Green Halloween Sweet Rolls

These are definitely creepy for the kids - because not only are they green - but the ingredient list is also green - it's not food dye - it's vegetables! This is sort of a mix between trick or treat! Literally - it's a treat because it's sweet - but it's a trick because you are gonna try and trick people into eating things like spinach, avocado and wheat grass! Yes, that's right!


These are my - good for you - good for your body - excuse to eat one more - sweet rolls :)


Okay, here's what I've done... I've used fresh ground whole wheat, freshly juiced apples, fresh ingredients - and to my surprise - it's kind of good. 

without the green stuff...

But the kids can't be fooled... my picky eaters, took one look and said, no thanks Mom... and "if you don't tell me what's in it, I'm not going to eat it" - what a wimpy Dad. ;) ha ha


So - to make 8 creepy beastly-goblin-ogre-monster-whatever ya theme sweet rolls do this:


Mix together 1.5 teaspoons active dry yeast and 3/4 cup warm apple juice (cored and juiced). I say to core the apples (I used 3 small to get approximately 3/4 cup of juice), because we are gonna use the leftover pulp in the filling!

Steam a couple handfuls of fresh spinach greens till slightly wilted. Then puree with handheld blender. Measure out 3/8 cup (6 tablespoons) of spinach puree and add to the yeast mixture. Use any remaining spinach puree in the filling.


Add 2 tablespoons melted coconut oil or butter to the yeast mixture. Blend in 2 cups freshly ground whole wheat flour to the mix. Now add in 1/2 teaspoon salt. Mix around with a good spoon. And then add up to 1 cup more of the whole wheat flour - turn out onto floured surface and knead till you have a good elastic textured dough.


Butter a large glass bowl. Turn dough into bowl and turn around in bowl to cover dough with butter. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let rest in warm place till doubled in size (about 90 minutes).

...with just a sprinkling of cinnamon...

To prepare filling, combine juiced apple pulp, any remaining spinach puree and another half to 1 small apple, cored and finely diced. Stir in 1/4 cup honey and 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon. 


When dough has doubled, turn out onto lightly floured surface and roll out into rectangle. Spread filling mixture evenly over dough. Roll up jelly roll style and slice into 8 equal pieces. Arrange pieces in buttered pie plate or casserole dish. Let rise second time in warm place - another 45 minutes. Bake in oven heated to 190-C degrees for 15-20 minutes - until when you poke lightly with your finger, the dough bounces back.


Prepare topping: with handheld mixer, or food processor fitted with whip attachment, whip together till smooth half avocado and 1 heaping tablespoonful of honey. If desired - totally optional here - blend in 1/2 teaspoon powdered wheat grass or spirulina (kids really might not like the flavor though - so watch out). To thicken it a bit - blend in 1 tablespoon sifted cornstarch. Then refrigerate until ready to use.

Optional honey chocolate glaze - I have some in the freezer and I just defrosted it for this recipe, and then it went back into the freezer for later use - but here it is: 3/4 cup Dutch-processed Cocoa powder, mixed with 2/3 cup honey and 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream - blend together and heat in small sauce pan until all the cocoa lumps are well blended - lightly bring to boil then remove from heat. Set aside to cool and use as an awesome topping for all kinds of desserts.


After the rolls are out of the oven and have cooled off a bit, scoop a tablespoonful of the avocado-honey frosting onto each roll and spread around. Optional - add the honey chocolate glaze in a spiral-spider web effect if wanted. And sprinkle with some cinnamon powder... if you have any cool plastic black spiders, add those too - I'm much too wimpy to use anything like that on my food though. I really detest spiders.