Christmas Morning Cinnamon Rolls

I've tried several cinnamon roll recipes over the past few years, and none of them were as good as I hoped they would be... until last year when I found a recipe on the Food Network. My sister and I have made these rolls more than once now, and while they do take a lot of preparation, they are so amazingly good for special occasions. I'm not sure why this recipe is better than the others I tried. I'm wondering if the trick is with the use of egg yolks.

Here were our cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning '07!


The recipe is here. Below are the modifications I made to the recipe.

For the dough I used:

1/4 c. agave nectar in place of the 1/4 c. sugar in the dough.

6 oz. goat milk + 3/4 Tbsp. white distilled vinegar in place of the buttermilk.

unbleached flour in place of all-purpose flour

sea salt in place of kosher salt

Also, a tip I got from my friend Leah, who is a culinary genius, is to use dental floss to cut the dough (instead of a serrated knife). The floss creates a really clean cut and is much easier than a knife.

For the filling I used:

1/2 c. agave nectar in place of 1 c. brown sugar

For the icing I used:

3 Tbsp. heavy cream (organic/raw cow or goat milk would've been fine here) in place of 3 Tbsp. milk

agave nectar to taste in place of 1 1/2 c. powdered sugar (I used MUCH less than 1 1/2 c. agave here... it doesn't take much agave to make the icing very sweet.)

Mock Toffee

Mock Toffee was my comfort food of choice during the final month of pregnancy, and has also proven to be my comfort food of choice in the postpartum period! I can't get enough of it, especially when I spread cream cheese on in. So delicious! Lately I have been making it without nuts due to some nut allergies in our family, and it's just as tasty without the nuts. Here's the recipe:

Mock Toffee

1 c. brown rice syrup
1/2 c. butter
Midel graham crackers (or homemade)
grain-sweetened chocolate chips
pecan pieces (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 375. Line large cookie sheet with foil, butter heavily; Place crackers side by side to cover cookie sheet.

2. Combine butter and brown rice syrup in a saucepan and heat until they boil and bubble. Pour immediately over crackers; Bake 10-12 minutes.

3. Remove from oven and sprinkle surface with chocolate chips. Allow to sit for about one minute, then spread chocolate around with a spatula until all the crackers are coated. If using nuts, sprinkle over chocolate and press into chocolate with spatula.

4. Allow to cool and harden in refrigerator.

5. When cool, break into pieces and enjoy!

Agave Nectar

I've had several people ask me for more information about agave in recent months. For a great overview about agave, I recommend reading Debra Lynn Dadd's write up on it here.

Agave is one of my favorite natural sweeteners because it tastes very much like sugar in recipes. It is a liquid, so it does behave a bit differently than granulated sugar. I usually use 3/4 c. agave for every 1 c. sugar in a recipe. Sometimes I'll go as low as 1/2 c. agave per 1 c. sugar, but I tend to prefer things less sweet.

I also like agave because it doesn't spike insulin the way refined sugars do.

As for where to get agave, you can find it at health food stores, but it's expensive. The cheapest way we have found to buy it is to order a case of it from Amazon. We usually buy Madhava Raw Agave Nectar. You can also order in bulk from Agavebythecase. On that site you enter in the products you are interested in buying and they e-mail you a quote for how much it would cost, shipping included.

At this time, according to Debra Lynn Dadd, Mexico is the only country that produces agave nectar (some have asked if it's possible to find agave produced in the U.S.).

Aromatherapy Candles

Today at Wild Oats I discovered Aroma Naturals Candles. They are fabulous! There was a display for some of their holiday candles (scented with 100% plant aromas). I immediately fell in love with the "Wish" peppermint and vanilla scent. Yum! I also picked up an evergreen votive. I love having natural, seasonal scents in my home, and these candles are a welcome addition. Not only do they smell great, but they are aromatherapy candles, so they have an extra dimension to them. Hmmm, I wonder if I should get the candles called "Tranquility," "Serenity," and "Peace" to light when my little boys are bouncing off the walls?!

What will kids eat?

I read this article yesterday, which details a study done by the University of Minnesota showing that when children were served healthier school lunches, the sales did not decline. I found this to be encouraging and I hope it will be eye-opening to parents (it certainly was to me). I've always found it disturbing that children's menus at restaurants rarely have healthy options. At a local seafood restaurant we like to visit, the children's menu only has deep fried options. Before I had kids, I wondered if that was because children simply would not eat things that weren't breaded and fried. According to this study, that belief is false.

Obviously, children will eat fried foods if that's all that is offered to them. Those foods are immediately pleasing to the palate for most people. But if kids never try the fried stuff, they will be much more likely to try a fresh, healthy option when they are hungry. I know this is true, because I see my boys eating broiled and poached fish on a weekly basis.

As the article stated, it takes more work and costs more to prepare foods in a healthy way. But how encouraging to know that if the effort is made, children WILL eat the healthy stuff.

Fantastic Cranberry Sauce

I've always loved cranberry sauce, and this year I made some using agave nectar. Wow, it was delicious, and SO easy to make. We didn't have any cranberry sauce left over after Thanksgiving dinner. I ended up making an entire new batch so that we would have it to go along with our other Thanksgiving leftover foods!

Cranberry Sauce

1 bag fresh cranberries
1 c. water
3/4 c. agave nectar

Place cranberries, water and agave in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and continue boiling for 5-7 minutes until the cranberries have popped and sauce has thickened. Stir several times while the mixture is boiling. Allow to cool, then refrigerate.

A Chocolate Cake Recipe for All Occasions

Martha Stewart has a fantastic chocolate cake recipe that I have altered to fit my family's preferences. This cake can be used to make sheet cakes, frosted birthday cakes, cupcakes and more.

Here are my changes to the recipe:

*Instead of all-purpose flour, use unbleached flour.
*Instead of 3 c. sugar, use 2 or 2 1/2 c. agave nectar (I tend to use the smaller amount and the cake is still plenty sweet).
*Instead of buttermilk, use plain organic yogurt, OR use goat milk, organic milk, or raw milk with an added tablespoon of vinegar.
*Instead of vegetable oil, use virgin coconut oil (high oleic safflower oil would work well too).

I usually use my basic cream cheese frosting recipe when I frost this cake.

Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz. cream cheese
1/2 c. butter, softened
4 T. honey or agave
1 t. vanilla

Beat cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Beat in honey or agave. Add vanilla.

For Tie-Dye's birthday last year I made a lion cake using this recipe. I got the lion idea from Martha Stewart's website as well. She used buttercream frosting to do the lion's face, and licorice for the whiskers. I just whipped up some organic heavy cream, liquid stevia, and natural yellow food coloring for the base of the lion's face and in between the two cake layers, and then used cream cheese frosting for the mane and face.



Tomorrow is Tie-Dye's 4th birthday, so today I will be making chocolate cupcakes. I'm going to try a little experiment and turn them into Chocolate Cheesecake Cupcakes. For the cheesecake filling I will use 6 oz. softened cream cheese, 1/4 c. agave nectar, 1 egg and 1/8 tsp. sea salt. I hope they turn out!

***As a side note I wanted to let you know that my posts may continue to be less frequent than usual this month and next, not only because it's a busy time of year with birthdays and holidays, but because I'm now 9 months pregnant and my baby is due in 23 days! Once the baby has arrived and we're all settled I should be able to resume more regular posts. Thanks for your patience!