Yes, these easy-to-make buns or rolls are low sugar/"diabetic friendly." The buns also are good! They are soft and filled with a date and cinnamon mixture that gives them sweetness without extra sugar. A touch of orange zest also brightens the filling. The rolls are nutritious as well as tasty, with plenty of white whole-wheat flour in them and a bit of flax seed meal. You'll taste the yeasty tang of sourdough and the contrast of the sweet, caramel-like date paste. You can certainly use commercial date paste in the buns, but I make my own. Just soak two cups of pitted dates overnight (refrigerate them if it's warm in your kitchen), then drain the dates of all but about 1/3 cup of their liquid. Blitz the soaked dates and reserved liquid in a food processor for a few minutes (pulsing part of the time) until you have a sticky, light brown paste. In addition to using the paste in this recipe, you can also use it in other baked goods or even spread it on toast. I make and refrigerate the paste to have on hand. The buns cook in the air fryer in 10-15 minutes. The cinnamon-date buns are great for breakfast, and they make a nice, not-to-sweet snack with a cup of coffee or tea. With a glass of milk, the buns make a nutritious treat for kids with a glass of milk. Enjoy!
Sourdough Cinnamon-Date Buns -- Makes 10-12
1 cup of sourdough starter/discard
1 large egg
1/4 cup of canola oil
1/4 cup of milk
1 tablespoon of flax seed meal
1/3 cup of unsweetened applesauce
1 cup of white whole-wheat flour
In a large bowl mix all of the ingredients listed above well and let the mixture sit, loosely covered with plastic wrap, for at least an hour. I usually let my mixture sit for 4-5 hours, and it's fine. When you're ready, add:
1 1/4 cup of white whole-wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoons of salt
Stir, then knead in the flour and salt. Knead the dough for 3-5 minutes, kneading in about 1/2 cup more of white whole-wheat flour as you knead to prevent the dough from being too sticky. On a floured surface, press the dough into a rectangle about 10- x 12-inches. Spread the top of the rectangle with the following date mixture (just mix the ingredients for the date mixture together), spreading the date mixture to within about 1/2-inch of the edges of the dough.
1/2 cup of date puree
1 teaspoon of orange zest (or use clementine zest)
1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/2 cup of chopped walnuts (optional but good)
Roll up the dough into a log, jelly-roll-style, starting from the short side. Cut the dough log, crosswise, into 10-12 slices. Don't worry if some of the filling oozes out. Just press it back in and shape the buns the best way you can. Place the dough slices on baking parchment, spacing the slices at least 1 1/2 inches apart. Let the dough rise until it increases in volume by about one-third. Air fry the risen dough slices at 320 degrees for 10-15 minutes. Alternatively, you can bake the dough slices in a regular oven at 350 for 15-20 minutes.
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