Gingerbread Date Rolls

This is what happens when a cinnamon roll goes on a "date" with the Gingerbread Man; lots of magic happens and out pops these babies straight outta the oven. 

Let's get this magic started!  

Put the following ingredients in a small measuring cup in this exact order; 

• 1 1/8 tsp active yeast 
• 1/2 TBSP coconut sugar 
• 1/8 cup warm water 

Stir everything together and let sit for 10 minutes. 

Onto the next set of instructions.  Place the following ingredients into a small sauce pan or pot; 

• 1.5 TBSP Vegan butter 
• 1/2 cup + 2 TBSP soy milk 

Melt Vegan butter into soy milk on low heat. Do not let this boil. You are just warming it to melt the butter. 

Lastly, use a large bowl to fill with the following; 

• 1 1/2 + 1/4 cup white flour 
• 1/4 tsp of salt 

Once everything is all said and done for all of the above instructions, add both liquid mixtures to the large bowl to stir in and start to knead the dough with your hands for about 4 minutes.  

Once kneading is done, coat the inner surface of a clean large bowl with Vegan butter, put the dough in (in the form of a ball) and cover with a clean towel to let rise for 60 minutes. 

As the dough is rising, you can prepare the filling, which has; 

• 1 cup of pitted dates (soak for 10 minutes in hot water)
• 1/2 cup hot water (this is separate from the water mentioned above) 
• 1/4 cup raw walnuts 
• 1/2 TBSP molasses
• 1 tsp cinnamon 
• 1/2 tsp of pumpkin spice  

Drain dates and add all of the above ingredients into the food processor until all ingredients have combined together. I usually stop the food processor a few times to scrap the sides and get all the good stuff back in the mixture. 

Set mixture aside until the dough is done rising. Once 55 minutes has passed, measure out 1/8 of a cup (2 TBSP) of Vegan butter and melt in small sauce pan on low heat. Once the butter has melted turn the burner off and place on a non-heated burner to avoid it from still heating. 

Also, use this time to clear, clean and lightly flour a portion of your kitchen counter for rolling the dough out. 

Take towel off dough and lightly punch the dough in. Take out of the bowl and put on floured surface. Roll it out to form a 4.5" x 7.0" rectangle. 

Once rectangle is formed brush butter on the surface of the dough, but make sure to leave approximately 1" of the perimeter unbrushed. 

Add the filling to smooth across surface of where the Vegan butter was brushed. Once filling has been smoothed out across the dough, start tightly rolling it up lengthwise. 

Once rolled up, cut roll into 6 - 8 pieces and place each one on a Vegan buttered pie pyrex dish. Cover with towel and let rise for an additional 30 minutes.  

Right about now would be a good time to set your stove to 350F and clean your kitchen. 

Once 30 minutes has passed, remove towel and bake for 25 minutes. 

Once baking is complete feel free to either brush tops with more vegan butter or icing. I chose to omit both of these to save on calories, fat and sugar. I find they were sweet enough with the date filling. No icing required for moi! 

Enjoy! 

✌️💚😋