Egg-less Whole Wheat and Flax Seed Cinnamon Rolls

It's snowing today so we are cooped up inside with not a whole lot to do. Jonah was bugging me to bake something, so I decided to do up a batch of these Cinnamon Rolls. He loves this one because I let him put his little hands in butter to rub all over the dough. He thinks it's hilarious, and he loves sprinkling the cinnamon on top. Honestly, with how much Jonah loves to bake and watch me cook, I sometimes wonder if perhaps he will become a chef when he grows up. He is so very creative and imaginative that I would be over the moon if he pursued it.

This recipe originated from the Looneyspoons cook book, but I have made small modifications to it as per my family's taste and for ease of baking.

This is not a quick recipe to just be able to whip up. Don't attempt it unless you have a lot of time on your hands to bounce around the kitchen. It is, however well worth it, and the perfect thing to bring to a brunch to wow people.

Ingredients for dough

2 cups of all purpose flour
1 cup of whole wheat flour
1/3 cup of ground flax seed
2 1/4 teaspoons of instant yeast
1 teaspoon of salt
1 cup of 2% milk
1/4 cup of brown sugar (Or Splenda Brown Sugar)
2 tablespoons of butter
1 tablespoon of vanilla
1 egg substitute (or 1 egg)

Ingredients for filling

1/4 cup of brown sugar
1 tablespoon of cinnamon
1 tablespoon of butter (softened but not melted)

In the bowl of a mixer, place the flour, flax, yeast, salt, and sugar. Mix well on low for about 1 minute.

In a microwaveable bowl, add the milk, butter vanilla and egg substitute (or egg). Beat well with a fork, and then nuke for 30 seconds. Stir with fork again and nuke for another 10-15 seconds. You just want the mixture to be warm. Not hot or scalded.

Turn your mixer to the slowest speed and stir, while slowly adding the wet mixture to the dry mixture.

Once it comes together, remove and kneed with your hands for a few seconds and form a ball with the dough.

Place dough in a large, well oiled bowl and cover with a tea towel. Put somewhere warm to rise for 45 minutes.

*TIP: I always turn my oven on to 350 degrees and count to 15, and then turn it off immediately. Then I let the dough rise inside the oven. Make SURE the oven is off. You just want a quick blast of heat to warm it up, that's it.

After the dough has risen. Remove from oven and using a rolling pin, roll out dough on to the counter into the largest rectangle you can get. Using your hands, rub 1 tablespoon of butter over the surface of the dough. Take the filling, and sprinkle it on top of the dough. Then roll up the dough (jelly roll style).

Using a sharp knife, cut into disks, and place in a parchment paper lined, oven safe pan. Cover with tea towel, and let rise again, for one hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (make sure you remove the rolls from the oven if this is where they are rising!)

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

Remove from oven, inhale deeply and bask in the fact that YOU created these heavenly pieces of deliciousness.

Oh, and top with my Vanilla Cream Cheese Icing.