The beginning of a love affair...

After moving out of my parents house and in with my older sister a few years ago, I developed a passion for cooking. The discovery of lactose intolerance at the ripe ol' age of 23 only motivated me to further hone my skills; insuring that despite my inability to process lactose, I could continue to eat tasty, flavorful food.

Cheese was probably the most difficult dairy product to give up, though milk was also a challenge. Particularly when I went through a 3 month detoxing period. During that time I wasn't allowed to eat anything that had even been processed in the same plant as dairy products.

Grocery shopping was a nightmare.

Slowly over time, I found ways to accommodate my new dietary restriction. I allowed (and still do) myself to "cheat" every now and again. But of course, around the holidays it was more now than again.

Now I continue to try to adapt recipes to make them dairy-free enough to satisfy my stomach and tasty enough to feed to my significant other who loves all that is dairy.

When he surprised me the other day with my very own, brand new, RED Kitchenaide mixer, I knew I had to make the inaugural culinary concoction a good one.

He suggested I make cinnamon rolls; a pastry he had been craving for quite some time.  Cinnamon rolls seemed like a good choice, particularly as they carry such fond memories for me...

My family used to celebrate Santa Lucia Day to honor our Swedish heritage.  On the morning of Dec. 16th, my oldest sister would put on a crown of greenery with (fake) candles attached.  My younger sister and I were the star girls and we assisted in carrying up coffee and cinnamon buns to my parents, while singing the Santa Lucia song along the way.  Then the three of us would pile on my parents bed and eat breakfast with them.  I'm not exactly sure how this tradition started, but I'm pretty sure my parents enjoyed being served breakfast in bed!

Now, cinnamon rolls, as we all know, contain not only milk in the dough, but typically a form of dairy (such as cream cheese) in the frosting as well. Finding an easily adaptable recipe required a bit of research.

I started by searching for dairy-free recipes online, but as is typically the case, my search continually provided me with gluten-free, dairy-free, vegan options.

I'm not vegan. I love meat. And for some weird reason, apparently (according to my doctor) I can still process butter.

Ultimately, I decided to go with a regular recipe (i.e. one that contains dairy) and simply substituted rice milk.

I used this Cinnabon Cinnamon Roll recipe from Food.com and ended up with these:

My entire apartment smelled delicious while these rolls were baking in the oven.  The sweet scent of cinnamon wafted through the air.  When I took my first ooey, gooey bite a few moments after extracting them from the oven, it was one of pure sensory delight.

I opted not to have frosting on mine, after a semi-disastrous attempt at using rice milk and powdered sugar (rice milk is too watery).  But my SO made a small batch using milk, butter, and powdered sugar:

Yum!!

Possible suggestions to tweak this recipe:
 - Brushing butter across the top for added color and flavor
 - Finding a non-dairy frosting, though the plain rolls were tasty on their own!