The way to a man's heart, Cinnamon Rolls

The finished gems!

I went to my old standby for the base of this recipe, Smitten Kitchen.  I made a few adjustments, replacing milk with canned coconut milk and replacing white flour with whole wheat flour.  I also skipped the glaze and sprinkled mine with powdered sugar instead.  They took a long time, and I definitely didn't start them early enough for breakfast, but they were a great mid-morning snack with a single espresso!  Please look at the link for detailed instructions, I didn't take any pictures along the way of the steps, it was too early!

Dough

1 cup of coconut milk

3 tablespoons of unsalted butter

4 cups of whole wheat flour, divided

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

1 envelope of yeast

1 teaspoon salt

tablespoon of olive oil

Cinnamon Filling

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons of cinnamon

1/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

pinch of salt

powdered sugar, sifted

I gently warmed the milk and butter in a small pot, then cooled it a bit to 120'  Then I added to this one cup of flour, sugar, egg, yeast and salt and I beat this with a hand mixer for about 3 minutes.  Then I added in another 2/12 cups of flour and mixed a bit, but it quickly became too sticky and I wiped off the mixer and began working with my hands, mixing the dough together.  I then turned the dough onto my kneading board and began to gently knead the dough, folding and turning the dough while gradually sprinkling in about 1 more cup of flour.  I continued this way for about 10 minutes until the dough was soft and malleable.  I then oiled a big bowl and dropped the dough in and gave it a flip so it was oiled on all sides.  I covered with plastic wrap and then with a towel and placed the bowl in my oven for 2 hours.  The oven was not on, it was a very cold morning and I needed a warm place for the dough to rise.

After the dough had doubled in size, I punched it down and rolled it out to a big rectangle on my kneading board. I mixed together the sugar, cinnamon and salt.  The butter was spread evenly over the dough and then the sugar topping was spread evenly over the dough.  I left the outer 1/4 inch on all sides free from sugar and butter.  Then I rolled the dough and sliced it into 1 1/2" slices and placed the rolls close together on parchment paper in small bread loaf pans.  I covered with plastic and a towel and again let it rise for another hour.  When that hour was almost through, I preheated the oven to 350'.  I baked the rolls for 20 minutes and then sifted powdered sugar on top.