Healthy Spelt Flour Cinnamon Buns

4.50 from 2 votes

What is more comforting than a warm cinnamon bun freshly iced right out of the oven? You're going to love these wholesome and delicious Spelt Flour Cinnamon Buns with a unique orange-infused cinnamon filling and cream cheese icing. They're lightly sweetened with maple syrup and coconut sugar and will make your kitchen smell amazing as they bake up!

Prep Time45

Cook Time25

Dough Rising1 30

Total Time2 40

Course: Breakfast, Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings: Rolls

Calories: 485kcal

Author: Christy Faber

Equipment

Stand Mixer

Ingredients

For the Dough

1 cup scalded milk
½ cup unsalted butter
¼ cup maple syrup
1 packet dry active yeast (8g)
2 cups whole grain spelt flour
2 cups all purpose flour
2 large eggs
2 teaspoon unrefined sea salt

For the Filling

¾ cup coconut sugar
½ cup softened unsalted butter
2 tablespoon ground cinnamon
¾ teaspoon ground nutmeg
zest from one small orange
1 tablespoon orange juice

For the Icing:

½ cup unsalted butter softened
4 oz cream cheese softened
2 or 3 tablespoon honey or maple syrup
1 orange zest from one small orange

Instructions

For the Dough:

Heat the milk in a small saucepan. Watch the milk carefully and as soon as it starts bubbling around the side of the saucepan take it off the heat. (This is referred to as scalding. This is an important step to ensure the yeast is able to rise properly later.)
1 cup scalded milk
Pour the milk into an electric mixer with butter, and maple syrup. Before you add the yeast ensure that the temperature of the milk mixture has come down to room temperature. It's important to be patient at this step because if it's too warm it can kill the yeast.
½ cup unsalted butter, ¼ cup maple syrup
Stir in the yeast and wait until you see it begin to get bubbly and foamy on the surface. This takes about 15 minutes. (see photos above of this step.)
1 packet dry active yeast (8g)
Add the eggs, spelt flour and all-purpose flour and salt. Place the bread hook on the stand mixer and turn on low. Run the mixer for 15 minutes and you'll see the dough go from rough and sticky looking to a nice soft homogenous ball of dough. Turn the mixer off and cover the top of the mixing bowl with a towel and wait for the dough to rise until doubled in size. (This can take anywhere from an hour to a hour and a half but it's more important to go by eye than by time.)
2 cups whole grain spelt flour, 2 cups all purpose flour, 2 teaspoon unrefined sea salt, 2 large eggs

For the Filling:

Cream together the sugar, softened unsalted butter, cinnamon, nutmeg, orange zest and orange juice until smooth. Mixture should be room temperature when you are ready to spread it out on the dough.
¾ cup coconut sugar, ½ cup softened unsalted butter , 2 tablespoon ground cinnamon , ¾ teaspoon ground nutmeg , zest from one small orange , 1 tablespoon orange juice
Turn the risen dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Roll into a rectangle approximately 16 inches high by 20 inches wide.
Spread the sugar and cinnamon filling evenly over the rolled out dough.
To create cinnamon buns in the traditional shape: Roll up your rectangular sheet of dough from the long edge into a tight log. Cut into approximately 12 evenly sized rolls.
To create cinnamon buns in the braided style (as seen in the photos): Begin with your 16 inch high by 20 inch wide rectangle of dough. Fold up the bottom edge to meet the middle of the dough. Now fold down the top edge even with the new bottom edge. Trim off the rough edges with a sharp knife or bench scraper. Cut strips from top to bottom that are approximately 2 ½ inches wide. You should be able to get 10-12 strips. Take each individual strip and leaving an inch of dough at the top, make two cuts to create three sections of dough for braiding. Braid the three strands and then roll from the top down into a bun shape.
Place buns in a 9x13 inch baking dish or 12 inch round cast iron pan.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place the baking dish on the top of the oven as the oven preheats and allow the rolls to rise for at least 20 minutes.
Bake the rolls for 25-30 minutes.

For the Icing:

Beat the softened cream cheese, softened butter, honey and orange zest together until light and fluffy. When the rolls come out of the oven, spoon the icing over the buns. Enjoy!
½ cup unsalted butter, 4 oz cream cheese, 2 or 3 tablespoon honey, 1 orange zest from one small orange

Video

Notes

If you're using salted butter instead of unsalted butter, decrease the amount of added salt to the dough.

Ensure that you're using fresh dry active yeast that hasn't expired.

Measure the flour carefully and accurately. The best way to do this is to spoon the flour into your measuring cup and level it off with the back of a knife.

For recipes that use yeast, it’s more important to go by eye than by time. If the recipe says it takes one hour for the dough to double in size and an hour has gone by and your dough hasn’t risen much, just give it more time. If your house is a bit colder, you could try setting the bowl in a warmer spot. A trick I sometimes use is to heat the oven to 200 degrees and then crack the door open slightly. I set my bowl of dough on the top of the oven so it can catch the rising heat.

I recommend splurging on organic oranges when you’re using the zest for a recipe.

Allow the cinnamon buns to cool slightly before spreading the icing. This prevents the icing from melting and resulting in a messy presentation.

Make Ahead Option: If you plan to serve fresh cinnamon buns for breakfast, you can do most of the preparation the evening before. Just follow all the steps up to when the buns are shaped and placed in a baking dish. Cover the pan and pop them in the fridge. The next morning, preheat the oven to 350F. Place the covered baking dish on top of the oven for half an hour to 45 minutes to allow the cinnamon buns to warm up and rise to double their size. Bake as instructed in the recipe.

Nutrition