Anyone doing a lot of holiday shopping online this year? ME TOO! It’s all good though. I certainly don’t miss the crowds. But maybe do I miss the smells wafting from Cinnabon as I would walk through the mall. Even if I haven’t actually bought a Cinnabon since 1995. Well, good news: these vegan cinnamon rolls make your house smell just like Cinnabon. But better! You can actually eat these buns, because they’re vegan. And they’re more delicious than anything I ever got at a mall, if I do say so myself. Also, this vegan cinnamon bun recipe has an overnight option, so you can assemble them on Christmas eve and then bake them Christmas morning and share your Cinnabon experience with the whole family. Most malls aren’t even open on Christmas.
What You’ll Need
Non-dairy milk. Just about anything that’s unflavored and unsweetened will work!Active dry yeast. Vegan butter. Look for brands like Earth Balance or Miyoko’s.Granulated sugar. Use organic to keep the recipe vegan.Vanilla extract.Wheat flour. This recipe was developed with all-purpose flour, so that’s what I recommend you use.Vanilla extract.Salt.Oil. Any neutral baking oil will work.Spices. You’ll need cinnamon (obviously!), and I also recommend using ginger, cloves and nutmeg.Powdered sugar. Again, make sure it’s organic!
How to Make Vegan Cinnamon Rolls
The following is a detailed photo tutorial on how to make vegan cinnamon rolls. Scroll down to the bottom of the page if you’d like to skip right to the recipe!
Make the Dough
Whisk some warm milk and yeast together in a liquid measuring cup and let it sit for a few minutes. While that happens, stir some sugar, butter and vanilla together in a large mixing bowl.Add your yeast and milk mixture to the bowl, along with some flour and salt. Stir it all up to make a dough.Knead the dough until it becomes smooth and elastic. This should take about 10 minutes if you do it by hand.
Transfer the dough to an oiled bowl, cover it and let it rise until it doubles in size. This usually takes about 2 hours, depending on the temperature.
Shape the Rolls
And then comes the (actually) fun part.
Roll the dough into a giant rectangle.Brush the top of your dough with melted vegan butter.Sprinkle the dough a mix of cinnamon, sugar, and if you’d like, some other spices (I went for a Chai-type blend).Roll it up into a tight log, and slice it into 18 rolls.
Tip: Start by slicing your log in half, then slice each half into thirds (so now you’ve got six pieces), then slice each of those pieces into thirds. This will ensure you get nice evenly sized pieces, and the right number of pieces. I actually goofed when I made this batch and ended up with 20. Oops!
Arrange the slices in an oiled baking pan. There will be some gaps initially, but they’ll fill out. At this point you have two options: leave the rolls out for their second rise, or refrigerate them overnight, and then let them rise in the morning. Either way, you’ll need another one or two hours of rise time. You’ll know they’re ready when they’ve gotten nice and puffy and fill in most of the gaps in the pan.
Bake and Finish the Rolls
Pop your rolls into the oven.Make the glaze while your rolls bake.Give your vegan cinnamon rolls a few minutes to set when they come out of the oven, but not too long — they’re awesome while they’re still hot. Drizzle with glaze and serve.
If you’ve got a stand mixer, feel free to use it for mixing and kneading the dough.I recommend getting these out of the pan while they’re still warm, as the sugary filling tends to harden and make them stick once it cools down.The vegan cream cheese frosting from this vegan carrot cake recipe would make an awesome alternative to the glaze.The filling for this recipe includes not just cinnamon, but also ginger, nutmeg and cloves. I like lots of spices! If you’re not into that, feel free to leave the extra spices out and just use cinnamon. If you want to experiment with even more additional spices and flavors, try some allspice, cardamom and/or orange zest.Can I refrigerate the uncooked rolls longer than 12 hours? How about freezing them? I’ve only tested the recipe with 12 hours of chill time, so I can’t say for sure. I suspect that after 12 hours the rolls will start to lose their ability to rise. As for freezing, I think, based on my experience with freezing other yeast doughs, that this would work, but I can’t say for sure.Can I substitute whole wheat flour? I’d recommend using a mix of all-purpose and whole wheat pastry flour if you want to try. Again, I haven’t tested this, so no promises!Can I make these gluten-free? Honestly, I don’t have much experience with gluten-free yeast breads, so my guess is as good as yours.Help! My dough isn’t rising! This could be a few things. Your yeast is old. Check the expiration date! The room is too cold. Yeast are more active in warm temperatures. Your milk was too hot in step 1. It should be between 100° and 110°F, or the temperature of hot bath water. If it’s much hotter it could kill them.
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