Heavenly soft, perfectly spiced, with a delicate nutty crunch… These vegan cinnamon rolls will blow you away. Topped with a vanilla bean cream cheese icing for the perfect touch.
These vegan cinnamon rolls honestly surprised the heck out of me. I mean…
w o w
My aunt and uncle make some pretty mean cinnamon rolls, and have a secret perfected recipe they’ve developed after much trial and error. But of course, they weren’t vegan cinnamon rolls.
So, I was delightfully surprised when my aunt asked me to veganize them. This vegan cinnamon roll recipe is just that.
Therefore, I must dub these bad boys, “Ernie’s Evil Cinnamon Rolls Pt.2 … GONE VEGAN!” They sure do it justice!
They have yet to try this recipe… But it may just top the original. We’ll have to let Ernie decide that…
Ernie’s Evil Vegan Cinnamon Rolls
Naturally, as I tend to do, these cinnamon rolls turned out ginormous. These are basically vegan Cinnabons if I’m being honest. But hey, I’m so glad they did.
Instead of having thin, too spirally, overly crammed “cinnamon squares”, I wound up with fluffy, bready, goodness. Cinnamon rolls need to be fluffy.
It is a rule.
And needless to say, you can’t tell at all these are vegan cinnamon rolls. Honest to god, these are the best cinnamon rolls I’ve ever had, non vegan included.
Everyone that I have shared these with is blown away.
I’ve always enjoyed cinnamon rolls, but I didn’t know cinnamon rolls could be this good. Really!
Cinnamon Roll Tips
Let me start you off with some little secrets. These will make all the difference in your cinnamon rolls.
- Keep the dough somewhat sticky and don’t use too much flour.
- Do not over knead. I knead mine for just about 2 minutes.
- Start with warm water and warm milk. Around 100°F.
- Rise the dough in an actual warm area. 80°F +.
- Add the salt at the times I mention. Too much too early effects yeast.
- Don’t over bake… That would be tragic. Stop at a pale gold color.
If you put each of these golden tips into play, I promise your cinnamon rolls will turn out just as good as mine.
So much of what make any recipe amazing boils down to technique, so I always want to make sure I was these tidbits on to you guys. Let me know if you want more help.
For the filling, I know a lot recipes call for melted butter… But you don’t need to melt anything in mine. Softened butter is by far the best for spreading. It also helps to keep the dough from soaking up the buttery filling prematurely.
I also prefer to mix everything together in a bowl before you spread it onto the rolls. This ensures and even spread of flavors throughout.
It’s also just a lot easier and neater to do it that way.
The only thing I sprinkle onto the sheet of rolled out dough by hand would be any walnuts, raisins, or add ins you prefer. Raisins are originally include in Ernie’s Evil Cinnamon Rolls with the walnuts, but I omitted them here because I’m not the biggest raisin fan.
Maybe dried cranberries would be good? Give it a try and let me know.
Bake to a pale golden tone
Be absolutely sure not to bake these to “golden brown”. Even if you think you like cinnamon rolls “crusty”, I urge you to try these differently.
Pale golden won’t mean doughy mush. These guys still develop a light crust, and it’s oooh so satisfying. Going too far with crust essentially means drying out the cinnamon rolls, and that’s heartbreaking.
Try it once… Trust me.
Also, don’t rely on bake times, rely on your senses and your pastry heart. Everyone’s ovens vary so, so much! I can’t stress this enough. I would start checking them after 20 minutes, every 3-5 minutes.
It helps to use a glass dish vs. a metal pan since it won’t sear the sides of the rolls quite so bad.
Just some baking thoughts for ya.
Give me your feedback
And, as always, you know I want to hear your thoughts. Your opinions matter so much to me, and I always want to grow and improve for you guys.
Drop a comment down below and say hi!
ALSO: I just looked it up. Interesting fact:
If you’ve ever wondered where cinnamon rolls originated… They’re not American, but Swedish! Just another reason to love Sweden.
Until next time…
The BEST Vegan Cinnamon Rolls
Ingredients
Dough
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup creamy oat milk
- 1/2 cup vegan butter
- 1/4 cup organic cane sugar
- 6 (+1) cups all purpose flour
- 1 (+1) tsp sea salt
- 2½ tsp active dry yeast
Walnut Spice Filling
- 3/4 cup vegan butter, softened
- 1/2 cup organic brown cane sugar
- 1/4 cup organic cane sugar
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 2 tbsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste (or extract)
- 1 cup chopped walnuts
Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese Icing
- 4 oz vegan cream cheese (Tofutti)
- 1/3 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tbsp creamy oat milk
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste (or extract)
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
Instructions
Dough
- Prepare two 9×13 baking dishes with a simple piece of parchment along the bottom.
- Combine water and milk in a microwave safe bowl. Warm in the microwave with 20 second bursts until it reaches approx. 100°F. Next, separately microwave the vegan butter until completely melted.
- Move the milk mixture into a large mixing bowl. Add the melted butter, sugar, and yeast. Stir to combine and let sit 10 minutes.
- Add 1 tsp salt and 6 cups flour to the milk/sugar mixture and stir to combine. Don't over mix. Cover with plastic wrap and a dark kitchen towel and place somewhere warm to rise for 1 hour. Prep the filling at this point.
- After rising, add 1 cup flour and 1 tsp salt to the dough and mix in with hands. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead slightly, approx. 1-2 mins.
- Flour the surface again before rolling out into a rectangular sheet. The sheet will be 1/2"-3/4" thick. The rectangle will be about the size of a half sheet pan.
- Spread walnut filling mixture over the rectangle. Sprinkle with walnuts and any other desired add ins. Roll into a long log from the longest side over. (Horizontally with the short side parallel to you.)
- Using a thread or piece of floss, encircle the roll 1½" in from either end and cross pull tightly to cut off a slice. Use a spatula to transfer the sliced roll over into one of the prepped pans. 6 large rolls will fit per pan. Give them at least 1" spacing between each other.
- Cover the pans with plastic wrap and a dark towel and set somewhere warm to rise for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 350°F, convection fan on. Prep the icing at this point.
- When done rising, remove the plastic wrap and transition the cinnamon roll pans immediately to the center rack in your oven. Bake 15-20 minutes, or until a pale golden color. (NOT golden brown)
- Serve immediately. Drizzle with Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese icing and freshly chopped walnuts. Enjoy!
Walnut Spice Filling
- Combine all ingredients except for the walnuts in a medium mixing bowl and stir to combine.
- Spread onto the prepared rectangle of dough as instructed. Sprinkle walnuts and any other additions over top at this point.
Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese Icing
- Combine cream cheese, powdered sugar, and oat milk in either a stand mixer or a bowl with a hand held mixer. Mix with a whisk attachment on medium high until smooth.
- Add remaining ingredients and mix to combine. Drizzle over finished cinnamon rolls as instructed.
One of my favorite desserts, the best cinnamon rolls I’ve ever tried.
Thank you! <3
OOOOH. Fresh out of the oven, these are the BEST thing you can have. They’re so, so good. My fave dessert. 100%.
Thank you so much!