"You'll Never Know there's Zucchini" Cinnamon Rolls!

Before baking! 

For those who noticed, I failed to send out a recipe last week......and I'll bet you know why! Yes, our 5th grandchild came into the world, so we were quite busy with the fam! With all the hubbub, we barely noticed the days going by, but as I sit down to write, I can hardly believe it's August 31 and summer is almost finished! I know it'll be October or November before the farm markets close, but the calendar makes me want to rush out NOW and buy up produce! I did finally get my spiced tomato jam done and five dozen ears of corn frozen last week ...... and every time I was at the market, I'd buy a zucchini. No specific ideas in mind for them, though, so they got to the point where they HAD to be used up! I also needed to take sweet rolls to an event, so I decided to try this zucchini cinnamon roll recipe. After all, who had to know there was zucchini in the recipe? And I got to be thrifty and use up my veggies! In the end, these goodies got rave reviews.......I think you'll rave about them, too! (Don't worry- the green flecks you see in the above pic disappear in the baking process - no one will know!) 

Zucchini Cinnamon Rolls!

Dough:

1 Tbsp/packet Red Star Platinum Yeast

½ Cup milk, warmed

1 egg

3 Tbsp. butter, softened

2 Tbsp. sugar

2 tsp. vanilla

¼ tsp. nutmeg (optional)

1 ½ Cup shredded zucchini, drained and pressed in a paper towel to remove excess liquid

½ tsp. salt

3-3 ¾ Cup unbleached, all-purpose flour

Filling:

4 Tbsp. butter, softened

¾ Cup brown sugar

1 Tbsp. cinnamon

1 Tbsp. flour

Icing:

2 oz. cream cheese, softened

¾-1 Cup powdered sugar

1 -2 Tbsp. milk

Place warm water and yeast in EZ DOH bucket and stir to dissolve yeast. Let rest 1 minute. Add one cup of flour, then additional dough ingredients. EZ DOH-it for 2-3 minutes, or until dough is smooth and soft and all ingredients are incorporated, adding additional flour if dough is too sticky. Remove dough from bucket, spray bucket with cooking spray, “smooth” dough and replace in bucket. Cover and let rise until doubled. While dough is rising, mix filling ingredients.

Remove dough from the bucket and roll into a large rectangle, approximately 11x19 . Spread filling onto rectangle and roll up from the long side, cinnamon-roll style. Slice into 12-15 equal slices and place rolls into a greased 9x13 pan. Cover and let rise for 30-45 minutes. Bake at 375 for 20-30 minutes, until golden. Remove from oven. Cool slightly. Mix icing ingredients and spread over the warm rolls. Enjoy! 

Recipe adapted from "VanessaBaked.com" 

"You'll Never Know there's Zucchini" Cinnamon Rolls!