Paleo Cinnamon Buns

The other day I made cinnamon buns for a friend's birthday.  A mutual friend, who happened to be coming over for dinner last night, heard about it and sent me a text asking if I could make paleo cinnamon buns for dessert.  It was a total joke.  I laughed about it but then I thought ... hmm ... I wonder.  And so I googled and shopped and made something that was actually quite delicious.  They weren't fluffy like regular cinnamon buns, but the flavor was good and quite reminiscent of ... well, cinnamon buns!  I used the dough in this recipe  but had a strange experience with the tapioca flour so had to change the method a bit.  I used the filling ingredients from this recipe but again I changed the method ... mainly because I didn't read the recipe right.  I made up the glaze.

For the dough:

1/2 cup coconut oil

1/2 cup water

1/2 tsp sea salt

1 cup tapioca flour

1/2 cup coconut flour

2 TBLS honey

1 egg

For the filling:

1/2 cup dates

1/2 cup pecans

2 tablespoons cinnamon

1.5 TBLS butter, melted

1.5 TBLS coconut oil, melted

For the glaze:

4 TBLS coconut sweet spread

2 TBLS tapioca flour

2 tsp pure maple syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

pint of salt

Before we start ... I have to tell you about this coconut sweet spread.  It is a new discovery and it is a good one.  This stuff is so tasty! It tastes like caramel and it is ALL COCONUT.  The ingredients are coconut, coconut oil and coconut nectar.

To make the dough:

Put the coconut water, oil, sea salt, and honey into a little pot and bring to the boil.  Take off the heat and add the tapioca flour.  The original recipe said to mix.  I did ... but it was a sticky-bouncy mess, and there was a bunch of coconut oil left in the bottom that wouldn't mix in!At this stage I didn't have high hopes for the dough!  But don't worry if that happens to you, I'm fixing to tell you how to make it work.   Let the mess in  he pan cool for a few minutes and then throw it in the food processor.  Add the coconut flour and egg.  Whizz that around in the food processor for a bit.  It will look a bit like breadcrumbs.  Grab that out and knead it for a minute or two.  At this point, it all came together into a dough like consistency.  An oily dough, to be sure, but I had hope again!  Roll the dough out on a piece of baking paper.  I did mine into a large rectangle shape.

To make the filling:
Add all four ingredients to the food processor and whizz it up.  Spread on top of the dough.

Roll the dough up like you are making regular cinnamon buns ... or sushi.  I actually used the baking paper to assist in this process ...

Slice the  log into 8 pieces.  I cut and discarded the very ends.

Bake in a preheated 350C oven for 20 minutes uncovered. Cover with tin foil and bake for another 10/15 minutes or until done. I just tasted a little bit of the outside dough to see if they were done ...  Here's what they looked like straight out of the oven.

For the glaze: Mix all ingredients. Spread on top of rolls.