Cinnamon Buns - Let's pretend it's healthy-ish!

Carbs, fat and sugar. Makes you feel naughty just thinking about it, eh? Mmhm. My sweetie had to work late and is going in super early tomorrow. It's time to bake something special. Something he can drag in and make a sucktastic morning not so crap.

A few minor tweaks are gonna turn my standard cinnamon buns into not quite so horrible for you breakfast fare.

It go like this, here it go...

2 c 5x Protein Vanilla flavored Almond Milk
1 Tbsp Brown Sugar
1 Yeast Packet

Warm the almond milk and pour over the yeast and sugar in your mixer bowl. Not too hot, don't wanna kill the yeast.  Let it get all foamy like - 5 minutes or so of waiting.

Add in:
1/2 c Milled Flax Seed
1 c Whole Wheat Flour
1 c Oat Flour (I put plain Oatmeal into an electric mini chopper and let 'er rip until it made powder)
1/2 tsp Salt
1 Tbsp Vital Wheat Gluten
1/4 c Brown Sugar
A sprinkle of cinnamon

And beat on medium-low for a few minutes.  Hooray, you made glop! The oat flour will suck most of the moisture from the mixture, so expect a heavier dough than my usual stuff.

In a small bowl add 1/2c oil, 1 tsp Almond extract (or vanilla) and an egg. Beat em together. Throw that into your mixer and give it the business.

When it's combined nicely add in:

1.5 c All Purpose White Flour

Beat it some more. You should be seeing a doughy paste ball. Scrape it outta the bowl onto a well floured board and start with the kneading. Don't over knead it, but do make sure you get a happy ball of squishy dough. Maybe 5 minutes till you're to the good. Toss your ball into a greased bowl and hit it with some spray grease on top. The dough will feel like decent play dough. Not stiff, nicely pliable and springy. Cover with a moist paper towel and let it rise.

Punch it down in about a half hour or once the dough has doubled in size. Grease everything again and cover with your moist towel before letting it rise one more time.

And then:
Get out a small bowl, add in 1/2 c softened butter, 1/4c Brown sugar and 1 Tbsp Cinnamon. Mix till everything is combined nicely.

Flour your board again and drop the dough bomb on it. Roll it out until it's about the size of your 13 x 9 cookie sheet. Flip the dough once or twice while you're rolling. When you've got a nice even rectangle, spread your buttery sugary cinnamony paste across the entire thing. Grab a long side of the dough and roll till you hit the other side. Goo is likely to squeeze out, so be gentle if you want to keep the goodness on the inside where it belongs. Let it rest for 5 - 10 minutes. Slice the spiral dough tube into 1 inch thick circles. Lay these side by side on your cookie sheet. Don't crowd em too much, they still have to rise again. Shake a touch of cinnamon across the top. Maybe a pinch of nutmeg too, if you're feeling adventurous.

Time for more rising. Let em go as long as you can hang. If it's gonna be more than an hour, let it rise in the fridge.

Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes.

Notes:
Vital wheat gluten is wheat flour without the starch. It's a source of protein. With the super duper almond milk and egg, this should have more oomph than the crap you can find at a donut shop or in a cellophane packet at a convenience store. Almond milk does not have the fat that is in my lovely lovely red cap homo milk. We're robbing Peter to pay Paul with it, though. The buttery center is where we're gonna jam the fat back in.  You can replace the sugar with agave nectar or honey or whatever form of sweetish goodness floats your boat. I'm a fan of brown sugar. Why not have the little tickle of molasses in there to add it's own groove?