I love carrot cake, and I love sweet rolls. So, it only makes sense that I would love a big, soft sweet roll filled with the delicious combination of carrot cake flavors and topped with a healthy dose of sweet, sugary glaze! Irresistible! These grain-free carrot cake sweet rolls are all that and more. I can’t think of any better way to start the day off right, or to continue the day going strong, or to end the day on a good note. Seriously, these sweet rolls are just that good, scroll on down and you’ll see why I love these rolls so much!
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Modern Pioneer Recipe
These grain-free carrot cake sweet rolls are a modern pioneer recipe! In the early days, doughnuts were the sweet treat that would draw a crowd. In modern pioneer days, these sweet rolls definitely take over that roll (no pun intended!).
I don’t tend to put the word famous with any of my recipes. I mean, who actually determines if a recipe is famous? However, I just have to mention that these sweet rolls happen to be a famous recipe, famous in my house that is. Anna and I LOVE these sweet rolls.
It’s more or less the sweet roll dough that we love. You can pair just about any flavoring with this dough and have the sweet rolls turn out delicious! In fact, I used a similar recipe for my grain-free cinnamon rolls that I make during Christmas time. I also happened to try making a strawberry sweet roll recipe with this dough. Except I was using frozen strawberries and ran into some issues.
That’s how Anna and I ended up eating two batches of failed strawberry sweet rolls in a matter of 3 three days. Yup, that’s 16 sweet rolls devoured by two people in just three days! And we weren’t even tired of them after we polished off the last bite!
I ended up making these carrot cake sweet rolls the following weekend, so we definitely got our fill of sweet rolls that week!
After you try these carrot cake sweet rolls, then you will definitely want to check out this Grain-free Carrot Cake or these Gluten-free Carrot Cake Whoopie Pies! Can you tell we like carrots around on our homestead?
Baking Like a Pioneer
I think that sweet rolls are the perfect modern pioneer recipe, especially if you make them in a cast iron skillet! If you don’t have a cast iron skillet, you can use a 9″ glass pie plate, but come on, a cast iron skillet is way more rustic!
It’s not just the fact that these sweet rolls can be made in a cast iron skillet that makes them a modern pioneer recipe. It also has to do with the ingredients in these sweet rolls.
Not every recipe is modern pioneer quality, but these carrot cake sweet rolls fit the bill. Here’s how you can make these sweet rolls a 100% modern pioneer recipe:
- Use organic and gluten-free cassava flour.
- Use fresh eggs from your homestead flock of chickens.
- If you raise a dairy animal, use your own milk instead of dairy-free milk.
- Make sure you grow carrots in your homestead garden so you can make these sweet rolls with your own homegrown carrots!
- Want to use butter in the recipe instead of coconut oil? Make your own butter to use in the recipe!
- Use the stovetop to melt your oil, not the microwave.
- Bake the sweet rolls in a cast iron skillet!
Can Sweet Rolls be Healthy?
Alright, so far these carrot cake sweet rolls have been labeled as healthy and 100% modern pioneer quality. There’s one more label I want to put with these sweet rolls, and that’s the healthy label.
Just because these sweet rolls contain carrots doesn’t necessarily qualify them for healthy. It’s all the other ingredients that go with the carrots that help make these sweet rolls a healthy option for breakfast, brunch, snack, or lunch! These sweet rolls are….
- grain-free
- anti-inflammatory
- gluten-free
- nut free
- corn free
- yeast free
- low sugar
Now, not to ruin the health trend we are on right now, but there is a little side note I would like to make about my sweet rolls. I added a sugar glaze to top them off with! The good news is that the glaze doesn’t have to be the unhealthy part about these sweet rolls!
Use powdered coconut sugar or powder maple sugar to create a sweet, sugary glaze that uses natural sugars that are easier to digest than refined sugars. Of course, you can skip the glaze and still have a delicious sweet roll to enjoy, I just love to add a little extra glaze to my rolls! Plus, my family loves glazed sweet rolls.
Since we are on a roll with rolls, make sure you check out these gluten-free cinnamon rolls that are frosted with dairy-free frosting. They are amazing!
Recipe Substitutions
I tried to make this sweet roll recipe with simple ingredients that many of you may already have stocked in your homestead pantry. However, sometimes you may not have all of the ingredients on hand, or you can’t have certain ingredients due to dietary restrictions.
There are a few substitutions that you could try for this recipe so that hopefully you can still enjoy these sweet rolls!
- Butter– You can use coconut oil instead of butter for both the dough and the filling in this recipe. Make sure you use softened coconut oil in the filling though, not melted coconut oil. Avocado oil or olive oil can also be used in the dough.
- Cassava Flour– You could try using almond flour in place of the cassava flour in this recipe. I have never used almond flour before because of the tree nut allergy in my house, but I have made successful 1 to 1 conversions from almond flour to cassava flour in recipes. The only issue you may run into is the dough being too dry, in which case you could add some warm water, 1 teaspoon at a time.
- Coconut Sugar- You can use maple sugar or any other healthy granulated sugar instead of coconut sugar. I don’t recommend using a liquid sweetener in place of the granulated sugar.
- Eggs- I don’t recommend replacing the egg since the eggs help keep the dough together and makes it soft, which makes rolling out the dough much easier. However, if you are feeling daring, you could try a flax egg or chia egg.
- Oat Milk– You can use any dairy-free milk substitute in place of the oat milk, including almond milk, coconut milk, and hemp milk. For grain-free rolls, you will want to use a grain-free and dairy-free milk.
Recipe Tips
Finally, before we get to the recipe, I want to share with you a few recipe tips that I found were helpful when making these sweet rolls. Thanks to my failures with the strawberry sweet rolls, I learned a lot of lessons about dealing with the dough in this recipe!
- Once the dough is made up, work efficiently to get the dough spread out and the filling layered on. The dough can be a little stiff if it is left for too long or gets cold.
- If your dough seems too moist, just let it set for a minute. The cassava flour will absorb some of the moisture. You want the dough to be soft for rolling.
- Use the parchment paper to help you get an even roll when rolling up the dough!
- Always air on the safe side when flouring your work surface. A little extra tapioca flour is more helpful than sticky sweet roll dough!
- To get your carrots finely chopped, use a hand chopper or a food processor with a fine shredding blade.
- For soft rolls, bake the rolls for only 10 minutes after uncovering them. For firmer rolls with more of a crusty outer roll, bake them for closer to 20 minutes after uncovering them.
- These sweet rolls freeze well! Perfect for a quick breakfast option or stocking up for busy times.
Now it’s time for you to try this famous, modern pioneer, healthy sweet roll recipe! Whether you’re a carrot cake fan or not, you are still going to love these sweet rolls. Hint: especially if you top them with a sweet, sugary glaze!
Grain-free Carrot Cake Sweet Rolls
Ingredients
- 6 T. organic, pasture-raised butter, melted or coconut oil
- 2 1/4 cups Otto's Naturals cassava flour
- 1/4 cup coconut sugar
- 1 T. baking powder
- 1 tsp. sea salt
- 3 large pasture-raised, organic eggs room temp.
- 1 cup organic dairy-free milk I like using oat milk
- 1 cup finely shredded organic carrots
Filling
- 4 T. organic butter or coconut oil softened
- 1/2 cup coconut sugar
- 1 T. ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp. ground clove optional
- 1/4 tsp. ground ginger optional
Sugar Glaze
- 1/2 cup powdered coconut or maple sugar
- 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
- 1-2 T. dairy-free milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350° F. Lightly spread coconut oil into a 9" cast iron skillet or 9" glass pie plate.
- In a small saucepan, melt the butter or coocnut oil over low heat. While the oil is melting, whisk the cassava flour, baking powder, and salt together in a large mixing bowl.
- Add the melted oil, coconut sugar, eggs, shredded carrots, and dairy-free milk. Stir until the dough forms a smooth ball. Set aside for a minute. If needed, knead the dough with your hands until it is smooth.
- Cut a piece of unbleached parchment paper and sprinkle a teaspoon of tapioca flour on it. Place the sweet roll dough onto the parchment paper. Pat into a 14×12" rectangle.
- Spoon the melted/softened butter for the filling onto the rectangle. In a small mug, combine the coconut sugar, cinnamon, clove, and ginger. Evenly sprinkle the mixture onto the rectangle.
- Beginning at one of the 14" edges, start rolling the dough towards you into a tight roll. Cut the roll into 8 even pieces. Place the sweet rolls in the 9" cast iron skillet or pie plate.
- Cover the rolls with aluminum foil poking holes in the foil for steam ventialtion. Bake for 20 minutes. Uncover the rolls and bake for 10-20 more minutes until they are at your desired doneness.
- Let the rolls cool before applying the glaze
- In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the glaze ingredients with a fork until smooth. Apply the glaze to the rolls and enjoy!
Where to Find the Ingredients
- Otto’s Naturals cassava flour
- Simply Organic cinnamon
- Nutiva coconut sugar
- Hain Pure Foods baking powder
- SoDelicious coconut milk
- Pacific oat milk
- Supplies: 9″ glass pie plate, unbleached parchment paper, Cuisinart food processor
Grain-free carrot cake sweet rolls are the perfect low-inflammation breakfast, brunch, or snack option! Easy to make, delicious to eat, these sweet rolls will have a hard time getting past any picky vegetable eaters in your house. Check off ‘baking with cast iron’ and ‘making a meal from scratch’ on your Modern Pioneer Checklist, then sit down and enjoy a nice big, fluffy carrot cake sweet roll!
Of course, I couldn’t end this post without encouraging you to join our modern pioneer community! Stay in the pioneer loop, learn helpful life skills, enjoy more delicious recipes, and much more when you get your Modern Pioneer Starter Package and join our community!
by Alexa
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