Non-Dairy Baking Experiment #35 Cinnamon Rolls

I have been craving cinnamon rolls since my coworker Annie paraded her giant Sebastopol Cookie Company cinnamon roll into Cultivate over a year ago.  I searched for recipes and found them all to be very time consuming, involving lots of rising time and refrigeration.
Then, after reading in Good Housekeeping this month a recipe for things to do with crappy prepackaged biscuit dough, I was inspired again by the thought of sweet, gooey, melty cinnamon and pecans surrounded by bready goodness and topped with sugary frosting.
I used a recipe I found online www.allrecipes.com for 90 Minute Cinnamon Rolls, but made substitutions for wheat flour and butter as noted.

90 Minute Cinnamon Rolls

DOUGH
3/4 cup almond milk (I used Almond Breeze Original)
1/8 cup coconut oil
1/8 cup Earth Balance non-dairy spread, softened
3 1/4 cups white spelt flour
1 (.25 ounce) package instant yeast
1/4 cup organic sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup water
1 egg

FILLING
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup Earth Balance, softened
1/2 cup pecans, chopped

FROSTING
2 tablespoons coconut oil
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
4 tablespoons almond milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Heat almond milk in a small saucepan until it bubbles, then remove from heat.  Mix in coconut oil and earth Balance; stir until melted.  Let cool until lukewarm.

In a large mixing bowl, combine 2 1/4 cups flour, yeast, sugar and salt; mix well.  Add water, egg and the milk mixture; beat well.  Add remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring well after each addition.  When the dough has just pulled together, turn out onto a well-floured surface (spelt dough is sticky!) and knead until smooth, about two minutes.

Cover the dough with a damp cloth and let rest for 10 minutes.  Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, cinnamon, coconut oil and Earth Balance.  Mix in pecans.

Roll out the dough into a 12x9 inch rectangle.  Spread dough with cinnamon pecan mixture.  Roll up dough and pinch seam to seal.  The dough roll will be a little loose and will not hold it's shape as well as dough that perhaps was made with wheat and allowed to rise and chill, etc.  However, you can still cut the dough roll into 12 slices and plop them into a well-greased (I used coconut oil) muffin pan.  As I am reading the recipe, I notice a crucial step that I missed when I made mine.  It says to now cover and let rise about 30 minutes.  I put the right in the oven without doing that and they came out fine.  A little dense, but still really delicious.  Next time I will incorporate that 30 minutes rise and report back. *The extra 30 minute rise yields a softer, slightly lighter cinnamon roll.......less "hockey-puck", as my husband puts it.*

Bake at 375 for 20 minutes, or until browned.  I prefer my rolls less brown.  Allow to cool in muffin cups and then move rolls to a plate for frosting.

These freeze well if frozen in one layer 9on a plate or cookie sheet) and then moved to a freezer bag or large storage container lined with wax paper or parchment.  Reheat in the microwave 20-30 seconds.