Whole Wheat Cinnamon Rolls: Healthy AND Delicious?

Is it possible? I'm happy to report that, YES, it is! HH had a couple of friends over this morning to watch the World Cup, and when he mentioned the idea a few days ago, I told him that I *might* be able to make them a morning treat.

Last night, I googled "Whole Wheat Cinnamon Rolls" and this was the first hit. I decided to give it a try, and boy am I glad that I did! These were pillowy soft, melted in your mouth, and sweet-but-not-too sweet. I never would have guessed that the dough was 100% whole wheat and the dough (tho not the filling or the frosting) was sweetened with honey. I'm not opposed to using white flour and sugar when necessary, but it sure is nice to have more wholesome options available, especially when you can still get rave reviews :)

Here's the recipe, with my modifications:

Whole Wheat Cinnamon Rolls

1 c. water
2 T. yeast
2 t. honey
2 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup honey
4 t. sea salt
8+ cups whole wheat flour

Ingredients for the “innerds” of your cinnamon rolls:

1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 T. ground cinnamon

Melt your butter and set it aside. Mix together the sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. (I ended up using more brown sugar and cinnamon -- in the future, I will probably not bother pre-mixing them but just sprinkle the sugar on top of the butter and sprinkle cinnamon on top.)

Ooey-Gooey Frosting
1/4 cup butter
3 T milk
1/2 t. vanilla
1-2 cups powdered sugar to make the consistency you like

Melt butter. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla, milk and powdered sugar. Whisk together until smooth. (I only had 1 c. powdered sugar in the house, and it wasn't thick enough for my tastes. The frosting sort of turned into a glaze and absorbed into the warm rolls. Cream cheese frosting next time?)

Okay, here’s how to make the dough…
In a large bowl (I used my stand mixer), mix 1 cup very warm water, 2 T. yeast and 2 t. honey. Stir this together and kind of mush the yeast around. Let this sit for a few minutes while you do the next step.

Melt a stick of butter in a large saucepan. Add 1/2 cup honey, 4 t. salt and 2 1/2 cups of milk. Heat this to 120 degrees.

Pour milk mixture into yeast mixture and stir. Stir in 8 cups of flour, 2 cups at a time. (add more if you need it -- I probably added at least another 1/2 cup of flour.)

Knead the dough for 5-10 minutes. Plop it into a bowl, cover it and let it rise for 1-1 1/2 hours.

After dough is nice and fat, punch it down and knead out all it’s bubbles. Cut the dough in half, setting one half aside.

On a well floured surface, roll dough into a nice big rectangle, about 1/4 inch thick. Use a pastry brush to spread 1/2 of the melted butter all over the rectangle. Sprinkle 1/2 of the sugar/cinnamon mixture all over the butter.

Roll up the dough, cut into thin slices, about 1/2 inch thick. Place rolls side by side on baking pan (I sprayed the pans with Pam because I wasn't sure if they'd stick). Repeat process with other 1/2 of dough.

At this point, you can allow dough to rise about 30 minutes, then bake. I covered the pans (two 13x9 pans) and saran wrap and let them sit in the fridge overnight. This morning, HH let them sit on the counter for about an hour before baking.

Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown at 350 degrees.

Allow rolls to cool a bit, then drizzle lots and lots of ooey-gooey frosting all over them.