A Hawaiian Spin on Cinnamon Rolls
Roots and Truth
The end of this blog post has a recipe attached. It is called Heart of TeFiti Rolls, and I want to reveal how this recipe got it’s name, (I will do so at the end of this post,) but to start off I would like to write an update on the season of my life that I am currently in. I would like to write about the complexities and the beautiful things that are happening inside of my home. I have been pulled homeward again. But home looks different for me then I thought it might be.
I am being pulled closer to home in my body.
Truth is being revealed in conjunction with my healing.
I have been working on my physical home as well. I don’t want the home filled with toys. I want the necessities. A few games, and a kitchen full of nourishing food!
An huge message that I have been receiving recently is:
So I have been examining; what is my capacity?
What can I do with the energy that is inside of me?
So today, with this in mind, this is where I will begin my writing!
Starving to Write
I don’t know where my love of writing began. I want to think that I began writing to seek attention. I wanted someone, anyone, to see inside of my mind and compliment me on the colorful nonsense that was going on inside of it. I would say that this is a look of my shadow that is inside of me.
If the term “shadow” is new to you, shadow work is accredited to the work of Carl Jung. “Jung (1875-1961) was a Swiss psychotherapist who studied the symbols and myths of different cultures and religions. He saw them as expressions of archetypes, universal patterns of the human psyche.” 1
Shadow work is a symbol of what he believes happens in our of our inner-mind’s, which often is revealed in our behaviors.
Shadow work leads to the understanding the dark side of our personality. The shadow “identifies the areas that we are hiding from ourselves. It shines a light of perspective where before there was darkness.” 2
In my example, I started writing as I was seeking attention. I see it in my adult life as well. I kept vigorously writing or posting on instagram hoping to seek attention that I was so seeking as a kid.
This “shadow” was revealed through years of hard fought understanding. Also through internal discussion and things that were revealed spiritually through my heart, my body and my mind.
This is a complex discussion, but it has caused me to pause and revaluate.
It also causes me to question, does the time that I spend writing mean anything? Or is it a waste of energy?
I took a couple weeks away from writing. I was tired. It was a couple of weeks were I was being more intentional with the our children, and to be honest, I couldn’t bring myself to write about this recipe, or about our recent trip to Hawaii. Both would be a great post for a traditional blog, but every time that I thought about writing about both of those things—it felt empty.
This is not supposed to be a traditional blog. This blog is intended to be about story. My story, as I invite others to share about what they are experiencing. This inspiration wasn’t coming from the right place. I have been trying too hard to be like someone else’s blog.
My conclusion, through all of my wanderings, is that I really love writing! I want to write what is on my heart at the time. To tell you the truth, I have been starving to write more of my story, but I haven’t know where to start. AND every new post feels like a new start.
I have this beautiful platform. But each post, I need to start anew. This process takes energy!
Inspiration for This Blog Post
I thought that I needed to start this post with pictures of the steps of how I made the cinnamon rolls. That didn’t sound fun, and I never got around to writing. I couldn’t bring myself to write and post all of those photos.
I sat down today and started writing from my heart.
I want to write because it fuels me. It feeds me in a way that I can’t explain. Sure, someday I hope that someone will connect with what I am writing, but personally I love when I read something that comes out of my mind, and I think–wow, that is really good;)
Feeling More At Home
My vision continues to expand, but the purpose of my blog is to record alternative therapies that are available for healing. Either physical healing or healing from mental distress. I invite others to share their stories if desired. I would like to build a database of experiences that others have had with these therapies.
I personally have been seeking a physical healing from my chronic pain for 13 years. My chronic illness began in my 20’s. This has lead me to my life’s work.
Dieting to lower inflammation in my liver has been a huge part of my healing journey. You can read more about my life-changing event that lead me to a overloaded liver, (and no, it was alcoholism, he he, it’s more complex then that). More about that in this post:
I have been dieting for so long, but a couple of years ago I was taught about Ray Pete’s approach to metabolic health, which focus on the mitochondria health in each cell that make up our bodies. Then I read a free booklet offered by the Root Cause Protocol website, and started experimenting with this way of eating, which includes beef liver and whole-raw milk.
I took another turn on my healing route and slowly changed my diet away from a mostly plant-focused diet to eating a lot more eggs and adding in beef and chicken again. It was weird at first. But I so desired to help level-out my blood sugar and help my body digest without bloating again.
As I’ve experimented for two years, I have found that as I munch carrots with my meals I am able to maintain a more level blood sugar. Adding the saturated fats, and proteins, that a pro-metabolic diet recommends, has helped the blood sugar normalize as well.
The recipe that I have recorded here has sugar, (which I don’t eat much of), but it also has carefully selected ingredients including whole-foods including saturated fat in the coconut oil and real butter. (The pro-metabolic way of eating encourages saturated fats.)
Oh, these rolls are so good, and they truly help my body feel a little closer to home.
My body has been on a wild ride the last 13 years. At one point I didn’t know if I would/could ever eat sugar again, but I’m doing ok. I still eat very healthy. I trying to find foods that are closest to coming of the land. I don’t eat packaged foods for the most part, but man, it is sure nice to eat a roll that I resembles what I ate so many times in my childhood!
Where Inspiration Comes From
#1: The name came from my daughter Mae! She was three years old when Scott (13yrs) and I made cinnamon rolls, and she saw them in our home for the first time. She said, “It looks like the Heart of Te Fiti! (Referencing Disney’s Moana movie) 3
Can you see the resemblance in the spiral? Ha ha! Mae’s comparison made us laugh! (It was not what I associated cinnamon rolls with, that’s for sure!!)
The roll recipe inspiration came from a garlic roll recipe that I have used for years. I ended up adjusting it, and substituting the olive oil with coconut oil, and using white sweet potatoes (as pictured) instead of a traditional sweet potato.
Our family went to Hawaii in January. During our visit I recognized sweet potatoes, especially purple ones, to be part of the desert on the island of Oahu. I thought the title of this roll gave a nod to hawaiian culture with the sweet potatoes, coconut sugar and coconut oil. I love Disney’s island representation in the movie Moana as well! This is how I came up with a name!
Take a look at this recipe. Do you have these ingredients in your home?
Even if you don’t could you experiment with one of them? Could you try buying coconut sugar sometime and substituting it in your own cinnamon roll recipe? Have you ever used coconut oil while cooking your eggs?
I am here to encourage you to think out of the box and try something new the next time that you are cooking!
Heart of TeFiti Rolls
There are a number of supplier of this flour online. The supplier I currently use is The Food Nanny All Purpose White Flour
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups warm water
- 1 1/2 teaspoons instant-rise yeast
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 3 3/4 cup Kamut flour* (divided)
- 1/3 cup white or orange sweet potato, baked
- 1/4 cup melted unrefined coconut oil
- 1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon coconut sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons salted butter, melted
- Frosting:
- 4 tablespoons salted butter
- 3 cups powdered sugar or confectioners sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest (optional)
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon milk of choice
Instructions
- First bake the sweet potato. I prefer using a white, or jersey sweet potato. Orange sweet potatoes work wonderfully. A Japanese yam also works well! Preheat the oven to 400° F. Place the sweet potato on a baking sheet, with parchment, to keep clean up easy! Bake the sweet potato for about 50 minutes. (Some small potatoes may bake in less time, larger potatoes make need to bake for about an hour.). The potato is done when it starts whistling, or is soft to the touch right in the center of the potato. If juices are seen running out, you know it is ready to be pulled out
- Creating the sponge (beginning process of the dough): In the meantime, while the sweet potato is baking start by placing the roll ingredients in a mixing bowl. Add the warm water (I suggest around 94° F which should feel warm to the touch), yeast, honey, salt and two cups of Kamut flour to the bowl. With a spoon or dough hook, stir these ingredients together to create what is a called a sponge. In this step we are activating the yeast and creating flavor within the dough.
- Let the sponge sit on the counter top for an hour while the sweet potato is baking.
- After an hour, melt 1/4 cup of coconut oil and measure it out. Add a 1/3 cup of mashed-cooked sweet potato to the mixing bowl, with the remainder of the 1 3/4 cups of flour. With the dough-hook attachment attached, turn the mixer on to a slow speed. As it is mixing, pour in the coconut oil. Let everything incorporate, and continue to mix on a low speed to combine and knead the dough. This step usually takes about six minutes. This mixing process for the gluten strands to be stretched, which is a benefit for the rising dough in the next step.
- After about six minutes of mixing, turning the mixer off and remove the dough hook. Cover the bowl with a towel and let the dough sit on the counter top to rise for another hour.
- After an hour, in a small bowl measure out the coconut sugar and the cinnamon.
- Stir those together. Next, melt 2 tablespoons of butter. Spread some of the butter on a countertop, or clean surface area. The butter greases the area, so the dough won’t stick as it is being rolled out.
- Place all of the dough on the buttered area. With a rolling pin gentle roll, then rotate the dough with your hands. Roll and rotate the dough. Be aware that you roll the dough out without forcing it. You want it to relax. Create a rectangle shape as best you can, around 1 foot to 1 1/2 feet in dimension.
- After the dough is rolled out, pour the remainder of the melted butter onto the surface of the dough. With your fingers spread the butter around all the way out to the edges of the dough.
- Next reach for your prepared coconut sugar and cinnamon mixture. Sprinkle the mixture on the surface of the dough. Again, spread it out until it reaches the edges of the dough. Completely cover the surface area with this mixture.
- Wash your hands.
- The next step is to create the roll. Gently, with your fingertips, start rolling the edge of the longer side of your rectangle. Roll the remainder of the dough into one complete line. (See picture below!)
- There is a couple of ways to cut cinnamon rolls. The most efficient way that I have used in by using a sharp serrated knife and sawing quickly to cut a slice of dough off the roll.
- After each roll is cut off the the line, place them onto a baking sheet with parchment or a silicone pad. I can fit this whole batch on one pan. (If they are squished together they tend to keep their neighbor roll moist:) After each roll is cut and placed on the pan, let the rolls sit on the counter top again and rise for about another hour. This rise time has a lot of variables, one being, the temperature of the kitchen. If it is the summertime and warm they may need a half hour to rise. If it is winter time, and the kitchen is colder it may need to rise for over an hour. What you are looking for is a visual increase in size and expanded shape. To the touch the roll should feel very soft.
- After the rolls have risen long enough, preheat the oven to 385° F. After the oven is preheated, place the cinnamon rolls onto a center rack and bake for 15 minutes.
- While they are baking prepare the frosting.
Notes
*Kamut flour comes from an ancient grain named Khorasan wheat, and is typically more easily digested with people that have a sensitivity to a modern wheat grain.
There are a number of supplier of this flour online. The supplier I currently use is The Food Nanny All Purpose White Flour
*I have found coconut sugar for sale at most main grocery stores in the U.S. including Target, Wal-Mart, Kroger Stores, Trader Joes, TJ Maxx and all online stores.
Hi, I’m Cami
The creator of this blog. I started writing as a way to explain what was happening inside of my physically ill body ten years ago. Throughout my journey I can see and feel the difference that it has made. I have gained an understanding of my human frame that has begun to explain my physical illness in so many ways. I encourage you to do the same! Pick up a pen and start by writing: “The best thing that has happened in my life was…” and start explaining your memories, feelings and how you explored that time with your taste, touch, smell, sight and hearing!
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Jung[↩]
- https://www.learning-mind.com/shadow-work/[↩]
- Image Credit: https://eesafashionista.blogspot.com/2017/05/easy-hearts-of-te-fiti.html[↩]
