Homemade Vegan Cinnamon Rolls

7 rolls
1 hr 55 min

Fluffy, soft and delicious homemade vegan cinnamon rolls with thick cream cheese frosting. These are the best homemade cinnamon rolls you can ask for and will make your Sunday brunch an awesome event! Not to mention the sugar rush.

A little bit about cinnamon rolls


Cinnamon rolls are a common item for breakfasts and brunches in the US and goes well with coffee. They are especially a popular item in coffee shops, mostly served with a topping of creamy icing made with just butter and sugar. You could also go an extra mile and make a cream cheese topping (similar to what we did) and it will be extra thick and rich.


The exact origin of cinnamon rolls, like a lot of other desserts, are lost in history and often debated. Some believe it originated in Northern Europe. Cinnamon made its way to Europe during the spice trade with Sri Lanka since it could not be locally grown. There is also some influence of German baking techniques followed by Swedish and Danish ingredients. There are some accounts of the first roll baked in Sweden, dating back to 2000 BCs.

These ones are not what you would commonly find in the US. While the cinnamon rolls in US are more heavy and sweet, you will find that the Swedish ones have a hint of cardamom and baked in muffin wrappers and are known as “kanelbulle” which means cinnamon bun. People also call them cinnamon bun, sticky rolls and sticky buns.

Homemade Vegan Cinnamon Rolls
Recipe details
  • 7  rolls
  • Prep time: 90 Minutes Cook time: 25 Minutes Total time: 1 hr 55 min
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Ingredients
Dough
  • 3 tbsp Vegan butter Plus some for brushing on the roll before baking
  • 2 1/4 tsp Instant yeast
  • 1 cup Unsweetened almond milk
  • 1/4 tsp Salt
  • 3 cup All purpose flour
  • 1 tbsp Olive oil
Filling
  • 1 tbsp Cinnamon powder
  • 1/4 cup Granulated sugar
  • 3 tbsp Vegan Butter
Frosting
  • 3 tbsp Vegan butter Softened at room temperature
  • 1/2 cup Cream cheese Use either dairy or non-dairy
  • 1 cup Powdered sugar
  • 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
Instructions
Dough
In a large sauce pan, heat the milk and butter till the butter is melted. Make sure it does not get to a boil.
Move the mix to a bowl and let it cool to 110 F. This is the optimum temperature for the yeast to activate. If its too hot, the yeast will die at around 140 F.
Once cooled, add in the yeast and mix it. Leave it to activate for 10 minutes.
Once activated, add the sugar , salt and half of the dough and mix continuously.
Add the rest of the flour and keep mixing. The dough will be sticky and this is normal.
Once the dough gets too stiff and thick to mix in the bowl, take it out and put it on a lightly floured clean surface. Knead for around 2 minutes or until the dough becomes a smooth soft ball. Do not over-knead the dough.
Grease the bowl with olive oil and add the dough back in. Coat the dough with a light touch of oil as well.
Wrap the bowl with plastic wrap and set it in a warm place to let it rise for 1 hour or until it doubles in size. Ideally you could preheat the oven to 150 F, switch it off and put the bowl in there to rise.
Take the dough out of the bowl and place it on a lightly floured surface. Roll it out to a 1/4 inch thick rectangle.
Filling
Brush with melted vegan butter and top with sugar and cinnamon.
Starting at one end, tightly roll up the dough.
With a string of floss, cut the dough into 1.5 – 2 inch pieces and place it in a buttered baking pan.
Brush with meltefd vegan butter and cover with plastic wrap.
Set it on top of the oven to rise some more while pre-heating the oven to 350F.
Bakeat 350F for 25-30 min.
Cool for a few min. Serve warm with cream cheese frosting
Cream Cheese Frosting
Beat softened vegan butter and cream cheese (with or without dairy) together.
Add powdered sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, Mix with a spatula and beat again to mix well.
Next add pure vanilla extract and whip for few 30s. The frosting should be fairly thick but still spreadable.
Tips
  • The almond milk and butter mix should not reach a boil. The milk needs to be heated only for the butter to melt and mix into it.
  • While adding yeast, the milk + butter mix should be around 110 F as this is the optimum temperature for the yeast to bloom. It is crucial that the mix should not be too hot as yeast dies at a temperature of around 140 F and your dough will not rise.
  • For cutting the rolled out dough to individual rolls, I would strongly recommend using floss. You could try using a knife but you run the risk of squishing the rolls.
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Comments
  • C. D. Scallan C. D. Scallan on Jul 03, 2021

    The recipe instructions say to add sugar to the dough to activate the yeast. There is no sugar listed in the ingredients for the dough, however, so we don't know how much to add. Assistance please?

    • Beth Beth on Jul 04, 2022

      If you watch the video is shows to add 1 tablespoon sugar.

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