Indulge: Vegan Cinnamon Rolls
Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission if you click a link and purchase something. I only include links for products and services I love and believe in. Please check out my disclosure policy for more details!Most people start off the new year with a healthy initiative. Me – I do things a little differently. For the second year in a row, I continued my annual tradition to make vegan cinnamon rolls on the first day of the year. And, I can’t stress this enough, I only plan on making these once a year. You will regret these but also be very happy you made them. They’re perfect for a special brunch or a great treat for people you really really love.
Vegan Cinnamon Rolls – Ingredients
Dough
- Yeast mixture (1 cup warm water, 1 tsp sugar, 4 tsp active dry yeast)
- ⅔ cup sugar
- ⅔ cup vegan butter
- 1 cup soymilk
- 2 tsp salt
- 6 cups all purpose flour
Filling
- ½ cup melted vegan butter
- ¾ cups sugar
- 2 tbsp cinnamon
For the casserole dish
- ½ cup melted vegan butter
- ⅓ cup sugar
Icing (optional)
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 tbsp almond milk
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
Directions
Start by preparing the yeast mixture in a medium bowl and setting it aside.
Put all the wet dough ingredients (sugar, butter, soymilk) in a small pot and melt together on low. Make sure it’s not too hot, just warm. Add to the yeast mixture.
Grab a large bowl and put in 4 cups of flour and the salt. Add in the wet ingredients and mix together with a wooden spoon. It will resemble pancake batter. Add in 2 more cups of flour and mix in until just combined.
Now comes the hardest part of the recipe (which isn’t that hard) – the kneading. Knead until the dry flour is mixed into the door, and add flour only if you’re having problems with it sticking to the table. The dough should look smooth when you’re done and will take 5-6 minutes to look good.
Use a large clean and oiled bowl and plop the dough in there. Add some cooking spray to plastic wrap and cover the bowl. Let it sit for 90 minutes (in a warm spot if you have one) Once it’s ready, it’ll have some give when you poke the dough – it shouldn’t be springy.
Once it’s ready, press and roll out the dough into a rectangle. The dough should be a little thick (maybe a half inch?)
The next part is where it gets messy. Melt the vegan butter and pour/brush over the dough. Take the cinnamon-sugar mix and sprinkle it on the dough.
Here comes more butter. Melt more butter (from the “for the pan section”) combine with the sugar, and pour into a casserole dish.
This is my favorite part, the rolling! Roll up the dough and take some thread (or a really sharp, non-serrated knife), and cut into at least 12 slices. I think I ended up getting about 25 cinnamon rolls of various sizes from this recipe the last time I made it (Dec 31, 2020) and ended up using 2 casserole dishes, so if that happens for you, no worries. You might want to melt more butter but you don’t have to go AS overboard as I did at first (see pic). You do want them to swim in butter, though.
After they’re in their dishes, let the rolls rest for 45 minutes. You can also put them in the fridge and bake the next morning.
When you’re ready to eat them, preheat the oven to 350 degrees, bake the cinnamon rolls for 25-30 minutes, and enjoy!
While the cinnamon rolls are in the oven, make the icing. It’s really simple – combine all the ingredients and mix to the desired consistency. If it doesn’t seem to be fluid enough, just add a tiny bit more milk. You need much less than you think.
I hope you enjoyed making this recipe and consider doing it as an annual tradition, too. Or just whenever you want!
