These fluffy rolls with cinnamon swirls and a refreshing frosting on top. How much better can it get? This is the best Cinnamon Rolls recipe out there, which can also be made vegan by simply substituting a couple of ingredients and they turn out as tasty as in the original recipe. I am generally a big fan of cinnamon and almost top anything sweet with it. I add it to my porridges, to yogurts, to my pancakes etc. I really hope you are too! If yes, then you are on the perfect spot here to give it a try!
- You can view the entire step by step baking process in my Instagram Highlights
- For more classic and easy recipes, check out my Jessi’s Favorites section
Easy Cinnamon Rolls like Cinnabon
American Cinnamon Rolls from Cinnabon are so popular and loved. Honestly, I have never had them, but when it comes to pastries and baked goods I always prefer homemade goods and homemade cinnamon rolls. The best part about it is, that this easy cinnamon rolls recipe is made super fast and there are not many ingredients needed! I’ll take you along the steps and ingredients that are important to highlight in this recipe in order to make the perfect fluffy cinnamon buns.
- Yeast: for the best cinnamon rolls recipe, we need yeast to make the dough as fluffy as possible. For this I am using active dry yeast, as you can store it longer in your cupboard. If you prefer fresh yeast you can also freeze it, to always have it available. There is active dry yeast and instant yeast available, I am using active dry yeast which needs to be proofed first, before adding to the dry ingredients. Instant yeast can be mixed with dry ingredients and it does not need to be proofed.
- Yeast proofing: an essential part to get the best cinnamon rolls which are super fluffy! The active dry yeast needs to be proofed with warm water or milk. VERY IMPORTANT is the temperature, it should be about 32°C / 90°F. If it is much warmer than that, the yeast and it’s effect will be killed. Also important to either add salt or sugar to this mixture, because the yeast needs something ‘to eat’. Once this is mixed you will see within a couple of minutes that the yeast is growing and changing its form.
- Cinnamon Rolls dough: once the yeast is mixed with the dry ingredients to a perfect dough it needs TIME. Time to rise in a warm environment not warmer than 50°C / 120°F. The rule of thumb is that it should double in size, then it is ready to go. If it is not rising, the yeast was probably killed by too hot water, too cold environment or other factors such as the amount of ingredients in there.
Vegan Cinnamon Rolls Recipe
Making the best cinnamon rolls vegan is super easy! For this we only need to substitute a couple of ingredients. This is not a gluten free cinnamon rolls recipe though, as I am using regular wheat flour, but this could also be substituted with chickpea flour or another kind of flour, but then then addition of liquids needs to be adjusted, which can be different for the different types of flour. For the vegan cinnamon rolls recipe we exchange the following ingredients:
- Milk: you can your preferred milk substitute!
- Butter: simply take plant-based margarine for the dough, filling and frosting
- Cream Cheese: we substitute it with either solid coconut milk or a cream cheese substitute
Best Cinnamon Buns with Frosting
The cream cheese frosting is literally the best part about these easy cinnamon rolls! Best to add it when they are not completely cooled down, a bit warm and the spread it over them so that it slightly melts. I love it, as the cinnamon rolls frosting is mainly made out of cream cheese with a tiny bit of butter, powdered sugar and lemon juice. For the vegan cinnamon rolls recipe the cream cheese frosting does not results in the exact same taste, but this is normal. Of course I tried to make it as similar to the original taste and recipe as possible, but making cinnamon rolls vegan is generally super easy!
