I don’t make desserts very often, but this has to be one of my favourite desserts to make… cinnamon rolls!
When I first started playing around with a plant-based diet and I gave up eating dairy and eggs, I started to look into vegan options for pastries. Especially since most restaurants don’t have vegan-friendly desserts, I decided to take it upon myself to make my own vegan desserts. It’s funny because I’m not much of a sweet tooth but I got so into vegan baking because I realized I couldn’t eat dessert at restaurants anymore… even though I never had much dessert to begin with… funny how our minds work!
Watch the video to see how I made vegan cinnamon rolls! Scroll down for recipe.
Back then (in 2011 was when I started my plant-based journey) I LOVED making vegan cinnamon rolls using The Sweetest Vegan’s Recipe. This time, I wanted to try out the “Best Ever Vegan Cinnamon Rolls” by Tasty! I made a few minor tweaks, sort of combining both their recipes and learning a little along the way.
Honestly, I’m such a noob when it comes to baking so if I can make these and make them taste and look this good – ANYONE can do this. It’s much easier than it looks, I promise. And it will make everyone think you are an amazing baker! That’s what I love about vegan cinnamon rolls!
Check out the Tasty recipe as well as the Sweetest Vegan recipe – thank you so much to both for the inspiration. Scroll down to see the recipe and ingredients I used for these delicious vegan cinnamon rolls!
Vegan Cinnamon Rolls Recipe (Inspired by Tasty)
Ingredients
- 1-2 tbsp vegan butter (to coat the baking dish – I used 2 disposable pie pans)
Dough
- 2 cups almond milk (at room temperature)
- 1/2 cup melted vegan butter
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 packet of active dry yeast
- 5 1/2 cups flour
- 1 tsp salt
Filling
- 3/4 cup vegan butter (or 1/2 cup if you are melting the filling – see instructions)
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 2 tbsp ground cinnamon
Icing
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tbsp powdered sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
Instructions:
- In a large bowl, whisk together the almond milk, melted butter and sugar. The mixture should be just slightly warm.
- Sprinkle the yeast evenly over the top of the mixture and let it to set for 1 minute.
- Gradually add 5 cups of flour and 1 tsp salt while mixing with a wooden spoon.
- Once it is all combined, cover the bowl with a towel or plastic wrap and set it in a warm place for an hour to let it rise. By this time, it should double in size.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Coat the inside of 2 pie dishes with vegan butter.
- Remove the cover and stir in the remaining 1/2 cup of flour.
- On a well-floured and clean surface, knead the dough lightly, while adding additional flour if needed until the dough doesn’t stick to the surface.
- Roll the dough out into a flat rectangle, about 1/2 inch (1 cm) thick.
- Now to start the filling, spread the softened vegan butter evenly over the dough. Then sprinkle the cinnamon and brown sugar on top. Alternatively, if you can melt the vegan butter, cinnamon and brown sugar together to create a liquid filling – if so, use only 1/2 cup vegan butter, not 3/4 cup.
- Roll up the dough to form a log-shape. Pinch the seams closed and place that side down.
- Cut the dough in half, then divide each half into 6-7 evenly sized pieces.
- Place half of the pieces in each pie dish then cover them with plastic wrap. Leave them in a warm place to rise for half an hour (I’ve read that this step is not necessary in some comments, so use your own discretion).
- Meanwhile, whisk together all the icing ingredients in a bowl until it is smooth.
- Remove the plastic wrap off of the cinnamon rolls and bake them in the oven for 25-30 minutes, until golden brown.
- While the rolls are still warm, drizzle the icing over them. Now they are ready to enjoy!
Credit to Tasty for the original recipe.
