These Sweet Potato Cinnamon Rolls are made with whole wheat flour and mashed sweet potatoes, packing in the nutrients while keeping the same decadently delicious cinnamon roll taste!
Today is the day! I’ve been in Germany for a few days now…eating flammkuchen, drinking glühwein, experiencing the epitome of Christmas spirit at the German Christmas markets, hugging my cat Louie…but today is the day I take the train up to my new home in Holland where my boyfriend-tulip-man awaits!
So to prep you for the large amount of Holland talk I’m bound to sling at you over the next few months as I explore and settle into this new country, I’m just going to clear your potential confusion about this little cheesy, tulip-y land.
- The Netherlands = Holland. The Netherlands is made up of 12 provinces, the two most prominent internationally being North and South Holland. Rotterdam (my new city), Amsterdam, and the Hague all lie within these two provinces. So when someone refers to “Holland”, they’re generally referring to the whole country.
- People from the Netherlands speak Dutch
- Colors of the flag = red, white, blue
- National color = orange. Orange is the color of the Dutch Royal Family, hailing from the House of Orange.
And because all great journeys begin with a great breakfast…and because all great breakfasts involve cinnamon rolls…it’s Sweet Potato Cinnamon Roll time! These cinnamon rolls are packed with the good stuff. Sweet potatoes. Whole wheat flour. Cream cheese frosting. THE WORKS.
And in addition to containing the works, these are really forgiving. Forget to add the egg until the very end (like me)? Throw it in anyways. Don’t have a rolling pin (still) and need to use a Nalgene bottle like you did that one other time? That’s okay, they forgive you. Think you’ve ruined everything and will never succeed as a cinnamon roll sensei? Well persist, young grasshopper! You can do this!
Just don’t squeeze them into the pan quite as much as I did…these puppies really want to expand and get all puffy; give ’em room to do so.
More cinnamon roll recipes to try
- Special Day Cinnamon Rolls
- Vegan Cinnamon Rolls
- Cranberry Orange Sweet Rolls
- Sweet Potato Cinnamon Rolls
Ingredients
Rolls
- ¾ cup almond milk 180 mL
- 1 7-g packet instant yeast
- 1 Tbsp sugar 14 g
- ¼ tsp salt 2 g
- 1 tsp cinnamon 2.6 g
- 2 Tbsp unsalted vegan butter softened, 30 g
- ½ cup mashed sweet potato about 1 potato, roasted, skinned, and smashed
- 2 large eggs
- 2 ½ cup all-purpose flour 300 g
- ½ cup whole wheat flour 60 g
Filling
- 2 Tbsp unsalted vegan butter softened, 30 g
- ½ cup packed brown sugar 90 g
- ¼ cup white sugar 50 g
- 1 Tbsp cinnamon 7.5 g
- ⅛ tsp ground cloves .5 g
- Pinch of salt
Icing
- 4 oz cream cheese or plant-based, 113 g
- 4 Tbsp softened butter or plant-based, 56 g
- ½ cup powdered sugar 50 g
- ½ tsp vanilla extract 2.5 mL
- Milk as needed
Instructions
- On stove or in microwave, heat milk so that it is warm (about 100 degrees F, 38 C), but not hot. In a large bowl, mix in yeast and set aside 10 minutes, until mixture is frothy.
- Mix in sugar, salt, cinnamon, butter, mashed sweet potato, and eggs.
- In separate bowl, whisk together the flours, then slowly incorporate flour into the potato mixture. When mixture forms a loose ball, throw it onto a floured surface and knead for a few minutes, adding a touch more flour as needed, until you have a smooth dough ball.
- Rinse out your large bowl, grease it, and set dough back into the bowl. Cover bowl with plastic wrap or a warm wet towel and set somewhere warm. Allow dough to double in size (1 to 2 hours).
- Punch down the dough, then place it back onto your well-floured surface. Roll dough into a large rectangle*.
- Gently spread softened butter onto dough rectangle. In a small bowl, mix together remaining “filling” ingredients, then evenly sprinkle them evenly over the dough.
- Gently and tightly roll dough from the widest edge of the rectangle, then mend the seam with a touch of water.
- To cut the rolls, a thread or floss works best. Work thread under the rolls. Cross your hand in opposite directions over the roll, almost like you were going to tie a knot, to make a clean cut. Each should be about 1 inch wide.
- Set rolls on a greased cookie sheet** and bake at 350 degrees F (176 C) for about 30 minutes, until tops have lightly browned.
- Beat together “icing” ingredients, adding milk as desired to reach a good consistency, and drizzle over warm cinnamon rolls.
Allison Jones says
I love cinnamon rolls but I usually go with the store bought kind that you just pop in the oven. These look SO much better.
LiveLifeWell,
Allison
MIstle says
I love cinnamon rolls and sweet potato’s so this recipe is perfect! I’ve never made home made cinnamon rolls before, so I need to try this out!
Hil says
These look super tasty!! I love sweet potatoes!
I would love it if you came to link up at our party tomorrow night:
http://www.raisingfairiesandknights.com/category/bloggers-spotlight/
It’s a link party and pin-up party, two parties in one! All posts will get pinned to our group pinterest board.