I grew up with my grandma’s cinnamon rolls and now that I unfortunately don’t live very close to her anymore, I was so happy when I found out that my favorite bakery not far from our place has vegan cinnamon rolls. It’s a regular bakery, but their cinnamon buns just happen to be dairy and egg-free. How great is that?! I’ve always thought making them at home would be quite complicated and time-consuming and I especially worried about the yeast rising component.
A couple of days ago, I was buying groceries and I was in a total cinnamon mood, but unfortunately the bakery was out of cinnamon rolls, so I decided to just make some at home as it couldn’t be this difficult. I ended up with these delicious vegan cinnamon rolls with apples that were even better and also a lot healthier than the ones I intended to buy. And I can assure you it’s so much easier than I first thought.
How to Make Vegan Cinnamon Rolls
I made a simple yeast dough with spelt flour, almond milk, brown sugar, vegan margarine, and cinnamon. Instead of the brown sugar, you can also use coconut sugar and sub the spelt flour with whole-wheat flour if you want. First, dissolve the yeast in warm almond milk with some sugar and add it to the flour. Let it sit for a couple of minutes. In the meantime, you can melt the margarine and then also add it to the flour together with the remaining almond milk, sugar, and cinnamon. Then knead the dough for about a minute or two. I used a hand mixer with dough hooks, but of course you can also use a classic stand mixer or just use your hands.
Let the dough rise in a warm place for about half an hour. Then make the filling. I used three small apples, some more margarine, sugar and cinnamon.
Roll the dough into a rectangle (about 12 by 6 inch) and spread the melted margarine. Then sprinkle with sugar, cinnamon, and equally spread the apples. Roll up the cinnamon rolls and seal the edges. I decided to make mini vegan cinnamon rolls. So I just put them into muffin cups. If you want to do this, make sure to cut them up into exactly 12 pieces. But of course you can also use any other baking form.
Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes (or until very slightly golden). In the meantime make the frosting: Combine 1/2 cup powdered sugar, with half a teaspoon vanilla extract and about 1/2 teaspoon almond milk. If it’s too thick add some more almond milk.
All in all, the vegan cinnamon rolls come together in less than an hour, the baking time being included, which is pretty quick for cinnamon rolls.
I hope you enjoy this vegan cinnamon roll recipe and have a cinnamon apple-scented weekend. As always, I love to hear from you guys. :-)
Vegan Cinnamon Rolls
Ingredients
For the vegan cinnamon rolls:
- 2 1/4 cup spelt flour
- 1/3 cup almond milk
- 0,7 oz yeast
- 1/4 cup brown sugar or coconut sugar
- 1/4 cup vegan margarine
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 pinch salt
For the filling:
- 2 small apples (about 7 oz)
- 1 teaspoon vegan margarine
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon margarine
- 2 teaspoons brown sugar or coconut sugar
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
For the frosting:
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2-1 teaspoon almond milk
Instructions
- First dissolve the yeast in warm almond milk (use about 2 tablespoons from the amount named in the ingredient list) and sugar (1 tablespoon from the amount named in the ingredient list). In a bowl, combine the yeast-milk mixture with the flour. Let it sit for a couple of minutes, in which you can melt the margarine and then also add it to the flour together with the remaining almond milk, sugar, and cinnamon.
- Then knead the dough for about a minute or two. I used a hand mixer with dough hooks, but of course you can also use a classic stand mixer or just use your hands.
- Let the dough rise for about half an hour. Then make the filling: Cut the apples into small pieces. In a small pan, heat one teaspoon vegan margarine. Cook the apple for about 3 minutes and sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon. Set aside. Then melt the remaining margarine (1 tablespoon).
- Roll the dough into a rectangle (about 12 by 6 inch) and spread the melted margarine. Then sprinkle with sugar, cinnamon, and equally spread the apples. Roll up the cinnamon rolls and seal the edges.
- With a sharp knife, cut the roll into exactly 12 pieces. Put them into muffin cups and bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes (or until very slightly golden).
- In the meantime make the frosting: Combine 1/2 cup powdered sugar, with half a teaspoon vanilla extract and about 1/2 teaspoon almond milk. If it's to thick add some more almond milk.
- Allow the cinnamon rolls to cool down a bit. Spread or pour the frosting over the cooled cinnamon rolls.
Hi Sina,
Do you know the conversion for this recipe if I was using active dry yeast? Thanks!
Hi Amaylah,
I usually use one package of dry yeast, but I guess this depends on where you live. I’m from Europe and here one package dried yeast weighs 7 grams, which is about 0.25 oz or 2 teaspoons. Hope that helps. :-)
I’ll make these for Christmas for sure, finally a cinnamon recipe without vegan butter. :) (really expensive where I live compared to margarine)
Can I sub the almond milk for soy milk?
Hi Veerle, So glad you like them. :-) Yes, using soy milk instead of almond milk should totally work. Do you mean Earth Balance? I think you can sub the vegan butter with margarine in most recipes. I know it can be quite expensive! Let me know how they turned out. And happy holidays! :-)
Hi. I want to make these for Thanksgiving but am unsure about the yeast. Tt says 0,7 oz. Is that .7 oz? That is almost 3 packets of yeast and seems like too much for this size recipe. Thanks.
Hi Nancy, sorry for the confusion. I used half a cube of fresh yeast (not dry yeast!), which is 0.7 oz. You’re right 3 cubes would be way too much. I hope that helps! :-) Happy Thanksgiving!
These look so delicious! I’m cinnamon obsessed and put it on everything, and I usually eat an apple a day because I love them so much. I don’t see how I couldn’t love these cinnamon rolls! :)
How fortunate to find a bakery with vegan cinnamon rolls. It isn’t very often you find vegan rolls unless it is a specialty bakery so that is awesome. Your version looks amazing though. I must try it!!
I guess it really is pretty fortunate, Amanda! :-) They have other vegan baked goods as well, for example apple turnovers. If you give them a try, let me know how you liked them. ;-)
Oh my, these are just stunning. I love how you rolled and sliced them full of apples. Mmmm. Thank you for sharing!
Thanks, Steph! Glad you like them! :-)
If I used coconut milk instead of the almond milk do you think it would make much of a difference?
Hi Sarah, I guess it depends on what kind of coconut milk you’re using. I wouldn’t use the thick and creamy part of the coconut milk. I haven’t tried using coconut milk for baking yet, I usually use soy, almond, or oat milk. If you give it a try, let me know how it turned out. :-)