Cloudy Kitchen’s vegan cinnamon rolls recipe

My sister was dairy free for a long time, so I developed a bunch of dairy-free recipes. For these cinnamon rolls, the dough already didn’t have eggs in it, so I tweaked it a bit to make them vegan too.

They have a super fluffy dough and are filled with a candied nut mixture. I use pecans, but walnuts would work great too.

Notes: I used oat milk, other non-dairy milks will work well too. Neutral oil means anything neutral tasting – so a vegetable oil, rice bran oil etc.

Vegan cinnamon rolls recipe

Prep time: 2 hours (includes rise time)

Bake time: 30 minutes

Makes: 9 rolls

Ingredients:

Candied nuts

125g pecans or walnuts

50g brown sugar

15g neutral oil

Pinch of salt

Tangzhong

20g high grade flour

95g oat milk

Cinnamon roll dough

All of the tangzhong

150g oat milk or other plant-based milk, cold

30g brown sugar

1½ tsp (6g) instant yeast

270g high grade flour

1 tsp vanilla bean paste or extract

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp ground cinnamon

35g neutral oil

Cinnamon roll filling

100g brown sugar

1 tbsp (10g) cinnamon

1 tsp (2g) cardamom

30g neutral oil

10g high grade flour

Pinch of salt

All of the candied nuts, finely chopped

Glaze

200g icing sugar, sifted if lumpy

½ tsp vanilla bean paste or extract

15-30g plant-based milk (adjust based on glaze consistency preference)

Directions:

CANDIED PECANS

1. Preheat the oven to 180C bake. Spread the pecan halves out on a baking sheet, and toast for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown (you can snap one open to check they are toasted throughout). Leave to cool.

2. Line a small baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or some baking paper. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine the sugar, oil and salt.

3. Add the toasted pecan halves and cook, stirring frequently and adjusting the heat as necessary, until the sugar has melted and the nuts are evenly coated in the sugar mixture. Tip out onto the prepared baking sheet and spread the nuts out with a spatula so they aren’t clumped together.

4. Once the nuts are cool, chop very finely either with a knife or by blitzing in a food processor until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

5. Store in an airtight container until ready to use. Can be made ahead of time.

TANGZHONG

1. Combine the milk and high grade flour in a medium saucepan. Place over medium heat and cook, stirring continuously, until the mixture thickens into a paste. Remove from heat and transfer to the bowl of a stand mixer.

VEGAN CINNAMON ROLL DOUGH

1. Add the cold milk to the tangzhong mixture and mix to combine, checking with your finger that it is not hotter than lukewarm (the cold milk should cool the hot tangzhong enough). Add the sugar, yeast, flour, vanilla, salt, cinnamon and oil. Transfer to the mixer and fit with the dough hook.

2. Mix on medium to high speed for 10-12 minutes, until the dough is soft, smooth and stretchy, and is clearing the sides of the bowl. Don’t freak out. It’s a sticky dough. Set a timer and walk away from the mixer if you need to. If it really isn’t clearing the bowl, you can add more flour, 1 tsp at a time. Different flours are more or less thirsty, which can show more on a sticky dough so just go by how the dough feels. I haven’t had to add more flour but you may need to add just a teeny bit to bring it all together.

3. Lightly oil a medium bowl. Using lightly oiled hands, turn the dough out onto a surface and shape into a ball. You can use flour on the surface instead of oil if you like.

4. Transfer the ball of the dough to the prepared bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Leave in a warm spot for 60-90 minutes, until the dough has doubled in size and is very puffy.

ASSEMBLY

1. Line a 25cm round or 23cm square pan with baking paper. Combine all of the filling ingredients except the pecans in a small bowl to form somewhat of a paste.

2. Turn out the risen dough onto a lightly floured surface and pat into a rough square (this helps with keeping it square as you roll it out – if you start with a square your chances of ending with one are much higher)

3. Roll out into a 30cmx30cm square, squaring off the sides as you go with a bench scraper.

4. Evenly spread the combined filling ingredients over the surface of the dough. Pat with your hands to help spread it out.

5. Sprinkle the chopped pecans evenly over the surface of the dough.

6. Starting from one edge, roll up the dough into a tight log. Lay it seam side down.

7. Trim the ends if desired, then, using unflavoured dental floss, cut the dough into 9 even cinnamon rolls. I like to section it into 3 first and then divide each section further into 3 more rolls. To cut with dental floss, place the floss underneath the part of dough you want to cut, ensuring it is sitting straight, then cross the ends of the floss over each other and pull to cut.

8. Arrange the buns evenly in the prepared pan.

9. Lightly cover the pan with plastic wrap and place in a warm spot until the rolls are puffy and when lightly pressed with a finger, an indentation is left that doesn’t spring all the way back. This should take 30-45 minutes.

10. While the rolls are rising, preheat the oven to 180C bake.

11. Bake the cinnamon rolls for 25-30 minutes, until golden brown on top. If you like you can measure the internal temperature – it should be tracking around 90C for baked rolls (make sure you insert the thermometer into the dough not the filling)

12. Remove from the oven and allow to stand for 15-20 minutes before drizzling with the frosting.

GLAZE

1. Place the icing sugar in a medium bowl. Add the vanilla. Start with 15g plant-based milk and mix to combine, then continue adding more milk until your desired glaze consistency is reached. Drizzle over the baked cinnamon rolls.

Store leftover rolls in an airtight container at room temperature. Refresh briefly in the microwave if desired.