Journal/ Recipes

Easy Vegan Cinnamon Rolls

I fell in love with this Sprinkled by Jules recipe the first time I made it, two years ago. It’s very easy and it’s unbelievably delicious and it doesn’t even require any obscure ingredients or difficult techniques. That said, you should see people’s reactions when you produce homemade warm glazed cinnamon rolls. The secret to the simplicity of this is the instant yeast! The recipe requires a lot of it, but it works a charm, see below

nothing beats that feeling, being up before everyone else in the morning baking, with the world to yourself. The oven whirring in anticipation.

Without further ado, here is the recipe, find the original here with very useful images if you need more guidance. I get frustrated with those blogs that tell make you scroll through their entire life story before revealing the recipe you came here for!

Vegan Cinnamon Rolls by Sprinkled with Jules

Print Recipe
Serves: 12 Cooking Time: 1 hour

Ingredients

  • 4.5 tsp. (2 packets) instant yeast
  • 1 cup lukewarm water
  • 1/3 cup melted coconut oil
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 2.5 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup + 1 tsp. sugar
  • 2 tbsp. melted coconut oil (for the filling)
  • 1 tbsp. cinnamon (for the filling)
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar (for the filling)
  • 1.5 cups icing sugar (for the frosting)
  • 2-3 tbsp. water (for the frosting)

Instructions

1

Warm water until it feels like warm bath water. Sprinkle with 1 tsp. of sugar, and all the yeast. Stir and let sit for a few minutes to activate. After 5-10 minutes the mixture should have bubbles in it to show the yeast is alive. If there is no change, throw it out and use fresher yeast.

2

Add the 1/3 cup coconut oil, salt, 2 cups of flour, remaining 1/4 cup sugar, and stir until the mixture comes together. Add additional flour in small increments until mixture pulls away from the sides of the bowl, but is still soft and slightly sticky.

3

Turn dough out onto floured surface and knead a few times until you form a smooth ball. Dust your bowl with flour and put the dough back in the bowl. Set aside while you prep the filling.

4

Combine the cinnamon and brown sugar in a small bowl and mix together. Dust the counter with more flour, and turn the dough onto the floured surface. Roll dough out to a rectangle about 30x40cm. Spread 2 tbsp. melted coconut oil over the rolled out dough, leaving a border of about 3 cm around the edges free from oil.

5

Sprinkle oil with cinnamon and brown sugar mixture, and use your hands to gently move it around so that it evenly coats the oiled dough. Use your rolling pin to gently roll over it to press the sugar into the dough.

6

Starting at the long side closest to you, begin to (gently but tightly) roll the dough up into a log.

7

Position the dough log so the end is underneath it.

8

Using a sharp serrated knife, slice off the two uneven ends where there is no filling. Slice rolls off about 1 1/2 inch thick and place them in a greased 9x9 inch pan. You should get around 12 rolls.

9

Cover with plastic wrap and set somewhere warm to double in size, for about 20-30 minutes.

10

Preheat oven to 180°C. Once rolls have puffed up and doubled in size, bake them for about 13 minutes.

11

Let them cool for a few minutes before glazing and serving.

12

To make the frosting, mix the icing sugar, water, and vanilla extract together. If it needs to be thinner, add small increments of additional water. To thicken, add small increments of powdered sugar. Spread over the warm cinnamon rolls.

Notes

Recipe adapted to include more European measurements, from Sprinkled with Jules originally.

I made these for a brunch I hosted this morning, as I had a vegan guest who hails from the Swedish-speaking part of Finland and is rather fond of a cinnamon roll. I made shakshuka to cover the savoury side of our brunch, a Middle-Eastern dish consisting of eggs baked in a rich sweet spiced tomato sauce. Served with crusty bread, and hummus, it makes an ideal brunch food I reckon. I also made a vegan version, by adding white beans to the sauce instead of an egg.

The recipe I use for shakshuka comes from one of my favourite cookbooks in which all the recipes are incredibly delicious. In addition to the shakshukas, I made strong spiced black tea and a salad of blood orange, grapefruit and pomegranate garnished with fresh mint leaves. I also served coffee and lavendar, lemon, mint-infused water if you don’t mind! I was feeling fancy.

It took about four hours to prepare this. I love love love hosting though and nothing beats that feeling, being up before everyone else in the morning baking, with the world to yourself. The oven whirring in anticipation. Making a mess with flour everywhere but quietly confident that you’re creating something very tasty. The smell of the oven when you take your first peak inside at that magical process of raw ingredients transforming into something special. I love it. It’s therapeutic. The satisfaction of creating something with your hands, you know? I work on a computer all day, so making something in such a tactile way is, in a way, my escapism.

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