Are you ready for this? I can hardly contain myself. This was just so delicious, indulgent, filling, and reminiscent of childhood that I could not be more excited to share this with you.
I’ve seen some pretty impressive cinnamon roll recipes out there but I’ve never dared to try them out because they are pretty heavy on the nuts and not very easy to digest. As you may have noticed I’ve been pretty smitten with dried figs lately and I’ve been using them as a crust and base in a lot of traditionally heavy dishes. The same goes here and I think it worked beautifully.
As always, I use my SO as the official taste-tester, and since he’s no raw foodie–and an omnivore, at that–I feel he’s a good judge on taste. I mean, if I can make something that pleases myself as well as the meat-eater, then it must be good, right?
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He even requested the leftover rolls as dessert. I must be doing something right!!
Besides a rolling pin and some plastic wrap, nothing special and no special skills are needed for this delicious treat. If you already have a raw kitchen you will likely already have these ingredients. If not, they’re fairly easy to get.
My SO and I both agreed that these were so much better when they sat in the fridge for a few hours. It added to the experience by giving a similar consistency to traditional cinnamon rolls.
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Raw Cinnamon Rolls:
a recipe
1 cup dried figs, soaked
1/2 cup pecans, soaked
1 T cinnamon
1/2 T nutmeg
1-2 T maple syrup, non raw
1/4 cup chopped pecans
2-3 T coconut butter
tools:
food processor
plastic wrap
rolling pin
knife
The crust:
Soak your dried figs and pecans, separately, in warm water for about 30 minutes. When the figs are soft, drain them and plop them into a food processor (leave the pecans in their soak water until you’re ready to use them). Whirl the figs until they are broken down and sticky like a dough. Do not process too much, we do not want a paste!!
Dump the contents out onto a cookie sheet lined with plastic wrap. Next, cover the dough with another sheet of plastic wrap and then use your rolling pin to roll it out to about 1/4″. (no rolling pin? get creative! I’ve been known to use a round vase …) Place this in the fridge to harden up a bit.
The filling:
Drain the pecans and place them in your processor. Process them until a mousse, and almost a nut butter, forms. You will have to stop and scrape down the sides throughout. It took me about 5 minutes. Next, add the maple syrup, nutmeg and cinnamon. Process until it’s incorporated.
Dump contents onto crust and cover with the plastic wrap. Roll it out until the crust is covered evenly. Sprinkle some chopped pecans over the layer if you’d like.
Place back into the fridge to harden while you clean up.
The rolling:
Much like sushi, use the bottom plastic sheet to guide the crust up and begin rolling as tightly as you can without squishing everything. Continue until the whole thing is rolled. Leave the plastic wrap around the outer part of the log and place back in the fridge to firm up. After about 10-20 minutes you can take out and gently cut into rolls.
Drizzle with melted coconut butter and top with chopped pecans. YUM!
