Red Velvet Cinnamon Rolls

Red Velvet Cinnamon Rolls - Naturally beet dyed red velvet cinnamon rolls, are the ultimate addition to your slow mornings. Made from scratch, these rolls are delicious, gooey, and flaky with a sweet and thick cream cheese frosting. I have provided ways to make these gluten-free, dairy-free, and instructions on how to make them overnight. 

Is your love language, baking?! Then here’s your opportunity to bake a delicious, gooey, flaky pan of red velvet cinnamon rolls for your significant other, best friend, or for yourself! The person you are baking for is gluten and/or dairy intolerant/allergic? That’s okay, I have provided swaps!

If you are short on time but still love to make homemade delicious treats, then I have provided a way to make them overnight. That way, you can throw them in the oven first thing in the morning, go back to your snuggle sesh, and be woken up by the delicious aroma of cinnamon rolls!

I’ve partnered with Eggland’s Best Eggs to make these cinnamon rolls. What I like about them is that Eggland’s Best Eggs are available nationwide. That way, if you don’t have access to get eggs from a local farmer, you can go to any grocery store and still benefit from getting good quality organic cage free eggs! 

In order to make these red velvet, you will need chocolate like cocoa powder, vinegar, and red food coloring. Now you can use red food coloring but I wanted to turn these slightly pink since Valentine’s Day is coming up, so I used beetroot juice. I seem to always have it on hand whether I’m boiling beets to make my pickled beets or purchase Love Beets to make my beet hummus. If you decide to use the powder form, make sure you are reserving ¼ cup flour out of the normal recipe as the powder absorbs the liquid mixture causing the cinnamon rolls to be dry. 

If you try this recipe, let us know! Leave a comment, rate it, and don’t forget to tag a photo to #fromtherootsblog on Instagram. We love seeing what you come up with! 

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Red Velvet Cinnamon Rolls - Naturally beet dyed red velvet cinnamon rolls, are the ultimate addition to your slow mornings. Made from scratch, these rolls are delicious, gooey, and flaky with a sweet and thick cream cheese frosting. I have provided ways to make these gluten-free, dairy-free, and instructions on how to make them overnight.

Ingredients

• 3 cups bread flour 

• *gluten free version in notes

• 1 packet (2-1/4tsp) rapid rise yeast 

• ¾ cup warm plant-based milk (110 degrees F)

• ¼ cup unsalted grass-fed butter (melted & cooled) + 1 Tbsp melted butter

• ¼ cup organic cane sugar

• 3 Tbsp cocoa powder

• 2 Tbsp beet juice or 10-20 drops of natural red food coloring 

• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar

• 1 tsp baking powder

• ¼ tsp salt

• 2 Eggland's Best organic eggs (whisked and room temperature)

Filling

• ¼ cup softened unsalted butter

• ¾ cup organic brown sugar

• 1 Tbsp ground cinnamon

• Cream Cheese Frosting: 

• 4-6 oz softened cream cheese or lactose-free cream cheese

• ¾ cup organic powdered sugar

• ½ tsp vanilla extract

Directions

1. Warm milk in a small saucepan until the temperature reaches 110 degrees F. It should feel like warm bath water. Transfer warm milk to the bowl of an electric mixture. Add sugar and sprinkle yeast on top. Let sit for 30 minutes. Add in whisked eggs, vinegar, melted and cooled butter and red food dye of choice. Mix until well combined. 

2. In a medium bowl, combine flour, salt, baking powder, and cocoa powder. Place dough hook on the stand mixer and slowly add flour mixture to the liquid mixer on medium speed for about 4-8 minutes. Dough should form into a nice ball and be slightly sticky. If it’s too sticky (sticking to your hands or to the bottom of the mixer) add in 2 Tbsp increments of flour. 

3. Transfer dough ball to a well-oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and a warm towel. Allow dough to rise for up to an hour, or until doubled in size (if doing the gluten-free version, the dough will rise only slightly). To make sure your dough is proofing nicely, you can set the bowl in the oven under the “bread proofing” option and turn the oven off once it hits 100 degrees or you can wrap your bowl around Christmas lights (that’s what I do!)

4. While your dough is rising, make the filling by adding softened butter, cinnamon, and brown sugar to your electric mixture or small bowl. Mix until well combined. Set cinnamon filling aside and wash out the mixer to make the frosting!

5.  In the bowl of the electric mixer, combine softened cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla extract. Beat until smooth and fluffy. Set aside or leave in the mixture until you are ready to spread over cinnamon rolls. 

6. At this point, your dough has doubled in size! Get a large cutting board or large surface and sprinkle flour over the surface and place plastic wrap over it (about 14x9 inch rectangle). Add the dough in the center of the plastic wrap and sprinkle with more flour. Then top with another sheet of plastic wrap. Roll dough out into a 14x9 inch rectangle. Remove the top layer of plastic wrap and spread cinnamon filling over dough; leaving about ¼ inch margin at the far side of the dough. Tightly roll the dough lengthwise into a cylinder. (The bottom layer of plastic wrap helps to get that tight roll!) I like to carefully “smash” both ends together to make a fuller roll!

7. Use a serrated knife or dental floss to cut into even 9 rolls. You may want to cut about an inch off both ends of the dough since the ends will not be full of the cinnamon filling. 

8. Place cinnamon rolls in a greased 9x9 baking pan or round 9 inch cake pan. For easier clean up, line the pan with parchment paper. Melt the tablespoon of butter and brush the tops of the rolls with melted butter. Cover with a warm towel and let rise again for 30-45 minutes. 

9. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Remove the towel and bake cinnamon rolls for 20-25 minutes or until just slightly golden brown on the edges. I say slightly so the center stays gooey! Allow them to cool 5-10 minutes before frosting. 

Notes

1. To make these gluten-free: replace bread flour with gluten-free 1 to 1 baking flour and add an additional tsp of baking powder to the dry mix. The rolls will not rise as much as the original recipe but will still taste just as good, if not better, in my opinion! 

2. I use these brands for the lactose-free version cream cheese: Green Valley Creamy Lactose Free *my favorite and Miyoko’s Vegan Cream Cheese *Still good but more “vinegar” tasting

3. To make these overnight: After placing rolls into the greased pan (after the first rise), simply cover the pan with tinfoil and place in the fridge overnight. When you are ready to bake them, set the pan on the counter for at least 30-45 minutes (room temperature) before baking (this is their second rise). 

4. If you decide to use beetroot powder instead of beet juice, decrease your flour mixture by ¼ cup and gradually add more flour if the mixture seems to be too sticky when making the dough. 

Roasted Beet Hummus

As healthy as it is beautiful!

I can’t stop staring at this hummus. It is just too beautiful to eat. It almost makes me feel like this isn’t even hummus at all, but rather magical food made for unicorns! But once you take off your rose-colored glasses, you see that this is, in fact, made with beets.

Now, don’t beets have an earthy taste? Yes, they do. However, once you add citrus and umami flavors to this dish you will see their best side and not their dirty, earthy side.

As you can see, you can make roasted beet hummus for Valentine’s day, girl’s night out, Sunday brunch, #bachelormonday… you get my drift!

Making this for my weekly meal prep is a breeze. There are so many people asking me for healthy snacks and this one is it! I love taking ½ cup to work with veggie sticks and peppers to for my afternoon snack. With the tahini, chickpeas, and beets, this snack is super filling. Bonus - it’s a conversation starter at your job, too!

If you are obsessed about beets like I am, check out these beet recipes: refrigerator pickled beets and avocado deviled eggs.

If you try this recipe, let us know! Leave a comment, rate it, and don’t forget to tag a photo to #fromtherootsblog on Instagram. We love seeing what you come up with!

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ingredients

• 1 can chickpeas (drained, rinsed, and deshelled*)

• 2 small beets

• 1/3 cup tahini

• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

• 1/2 fresh lemon

• 1 Tbsp white miso paste

• 3 clove garlic (minced)

• S&P to taste

instructions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

2. Wrap the beets in tin foil and roast for 45 minutes to 1 hour until cooked through.

3. When beets have slightly cooled, remove the skin away.

4. To a Vitamix or food processor, add the chickpeas, roasted beets, tahini, lemon juice, miso, and garlic. As the mixture is blending, slowly add the olive oil. Blend until smooth and creamy; scrape the sides down if necessary.

5. Add S&P to season as you are blending. At this point, you may want to add more lemon juice or garlic depending on your preference. I like to blend for at least 5 minutes to ensure the consistency is smooth. You may need to add more olive oil or water to thin the hummus.

6. When you have reached the desired, creamy consistency, transfer hummus to a bowl and add fresh herbs and toppings like dill, parsley, sesame seeds, pine nuts, and extra olive oil.

7. The hummus will keep for up to one week in the fridge.

*This step is optional but if you have the time, it’s worth it! For a super creamy hummus, de-shell as many chickpeas as you can when rinsing.