Banana Cinnamon Rolls

Healthier Cinnamon Rolls from Chef Alicia Ojeda

A Healthier Alternative to Sugary High-Fat Cinnamon Rolls

Have a healthy feast with these banana cinnamon rolls! Guaranteed to make YOU ooh and aah!

short video, just for fun...

Tip: use ripe bananas in this recipe before they go bad! The riper they are, the more sugar they contain. That pertains to all fruits, not just bananas.

Ingredients for Banana Cinnamon Rolls

  • 2 ripe bananas, sliced 1/8" thick, chill overnight for easier slicing
  • cinnamon powder to taste
  • 1/2 cup of raisins
  • 1 cup of dates, re-hydrated in good water

Here's How to Make Banana Cinnamon Rolls

  1. Re-hydrate the dates overnight in good clean water, preferably distilled. (See TIPS in the video here!)
  2. Slice the bananas lengthwise, about 1/8" thick. They slice better chilled. Put on dehydrator trays for about 2 hours to remove some stickiness.
  3. When the dates are quite soft, mash them up with a fork in a glass bowl and add cinnamon powder to taste. Add raisins too at the end of the date mashing, but don't mash the raisins!
  4. Carefully spread the date and raisin mixture onto the slightly dehydrated banana slices. Roll them up.
  5. Put the banana cinnamon rolls back on the dehydrator for a couple more hours. I had to use the top tray of my Nesco due to the height of the rolls. An Excalibur dehydrator wouldn't have this problem, as you can easily remove a tray and have tons of room!

Want to Use Fresh Ingredients?

If you want to use fresh ingredients that you may have on hand, do this:

The only "cheat" here for fresh ingredients is to make your own raisins, and once you do, you'll never look back.

Fresh raisins you dehydrate from grapes beats the pants off store-bought boxes of crammed together raisins!

dates-rehydrate-exc-content-area.webp

But don't forget, you still must rehydrate the store-bought dates and that's what I'm doing in the image above. I've never personally dehydrated "fresh" dates.

Warning! These ARE Delicious!

As some of you may know, I'm a big fan of raw food—good old greens and salads and fresh fruits and veggies. My friend, Andrew Perlot, and his friend, Brittany Taylor, shared this recipe on their Facebook page.

Brittany made these for Andrew's birthday—with inspiration from their friend Alicia Ojeda (a great raw vegan chef)

I'll be the first to admit that Alicia's version looks MUCH better than mine, but my only excuse is that I'm not a chef and that it was my first attempt! LOL

Please also note that this is MY variation of the recipe as Alicia hadn't posted the exact recipe—so this is how I interpreted the photo and I worked off the ingredients and info. that Brittany gave me.

Re-hydrating the Dates

Publix brand dates, re-hydrating in a tub of water

I gobbled these up in record time. Warning! Warning! Warning! They are VERY good AND healthy too (when enjoyed in moderation!)

Just remember, when eating more fruits—you need to cut your fat intake to 10 - 15% of your total calories. Why?

So that the sugars that our bodies need to live off can get through our bloodstream and give us the energy nature provides. Plus, you don't want to get diabetes.

The dates I used are dried dates, as the photo shows. If you have juicy fresh dates, there's no need to rehydrate them obviously, but the juicier the better. Check out the taste differences between fresh and dried dates here.

Keep on scrolling to see the sliced bananas on the dehydrator!

TIP: Cut the DATES into Smaller Pieces

TIP: It's far FAR easier to rehydrate the dates by cutting them up first. Slice down the middle the halve and quarter them into uniformly sized pieces. Works like a charm!


🍍 🍎 🥦 🥔  🍒 🧄

20 Taste-Tested EASY Recipes - eBook or paperback

actually, there are 26 recipes!

The recipes also include the
food ingredient amounts to use
when you have fresh food on hand!

Here's How to Make EASY
MEALS with Dried Food
Recipe Book

🍕 Pizza!      🥧  Shepherd's Pie!
🥘  Beef Stew!
plus Cauliflower Soup and
Cauliflower Mash, along
with crazy Carrot Soup!

Desserts:
Carrot Cake and
Cranberry Pineapple Pie!
and more...

🍍 🍎 🥦 🥔  🍒 🧄

Here's How to Make EASY
MEALS with Dried Food
Recipe Book

20 Taste-Tested EASY Recipes - eBook or paperback

actually, there are 26 recipes!

🍕 Pizza!
🥧  Shepherd's Pie!
🥘  Beef Stew!

plus Cauliflower Soup and Cauliflower Mash, along with crazy Carrot Soup!

Decadent Desserts:
Carrot Cake and Cranberry Pineapple Pie and more...

The recipes also include the food ingredient amounts to use when you have fresh food on hand!


Tip for GRAPES/RAISINS:

Sliced Bananas on a Nesco® Dehydrator Tray

Remember to chill your bananas first if they're VERY ripe and a bit on the squishy side. Bananas are best eaten when they have speckled skins, about 40% covered with speckles at a guess.

I used FOUR dehydrator trays (read more HERE about why four trays are the minimum to use) even though only two trays had banana slices on them. In the image below, you'll see the bananas after they've been on the dehydrator for a couple of hours to dry them out a bit so they're not overly sticky.

Lengthwise-sliced bananas on a Nesco dehydrator tray

Next, we mash up the rehydrated dates and add the raisins. Now it's time to spoon the mixture on the banana slices and roll 'em up!

Actually, the stuff is pretty sticky, making it an easy task.

Time to Roll Them Up!

Rolling up the sliced dehydrated bananas and dates with the cinnamon mix

Don't worry if your bananas split apart; the mixture and the banana at this stage are still sticky and act like glue.

OPTIONAL: Put the rolls on the top tray of a Nesco dehydrator with three empty trays below it. Why? Nesco states you should NOT use their dehydrator with less than four trays SO THAT THE AIR can circulate properly. The reason for the top tray ONLY being used is due to needing 'head room' as these banana cinnamon rolls are taller than the height of a single tray. With the fan being in the lid, there's enough room.

Again, if you have an Excalibur dehydrator, this is not a problem as their trays are easily removed, so you can create plenty of "headroom" between trays.

ALSO: SKIP this completely if you like the color of your banana slices "as is." Putting them on the dehydrator to dry out isn't necessary. (Ask me how I know!)

Easy Food Dehydrating's Banana Cinnamon Rolls

See My Banana Cinnamon Rolls!

Admittedly NOT as pretty as Chef Alicia's, but absolutely every bit as delicious!

We have other sweet tooth delights! Namely: Apple Sauce, Delicious Carrot Cake, and my Mom's borrowed recipe: Cranberry Pineapple Pie.

The carrot cake was my dad's favorite... I can't believe he ate the frosting too. That is one thing he'd normally push off to one side of his plate!

Regarding the cranberry pineapple pie - it's quite decadent. I love it for special occasions. It does take quite a while to make, but is TOTALLY worth it!

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