Hands down, the most popular recipe on this blog are my vegan cinnamon rolls. This makes me immensely happy because this is my favorite recipe of all time, period.
It makes me happy when we’re all on the same page. {And who wouldn’t want to be on the page with ooey gooey cinnamon goodness?} It’s the best cinnamon roll of all times.
In fact, we’re really, really on the same page. Three Four of the top five six recipes on SoS are baked goods {and who doesn’t love healthy-ish baked goods?}. The other two are oatmeal. Yeah, baked goods and oatmeal. And this is why I love you all.
6. Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Sticky Buns
The surprise popularity of the cinnamon roll recipe also makes me sad because it is by far the worst written recipe/post on here. Probably. I can barely even follow it when I make the cinnamon rolls, though of course it’s pretty much engraved in my brain by now.
So that recipe is looooong overdue for an update. Especially when that update includes extra filling. 
So here it is:
Vegan Cinnamon Rolls
by with a Side of Sneakers
Ingredients
Dough
- 1 c almond milk
- 2 1/4 tsp instant yeast {or 1 packet}
- 2 c whole wheat flour
- 1/2 c bread flour (plus up to 1/4 c for kneading)
- 2 t baking powder
- 1/4 c sugar
- 1/4 t salt
- 1 t cinnamon
- 4T pumpkin puree
Filling
- 3 Tbsp vegan margarine/butter
- 1/4 c brown sugar
- 1 Tbsp cinnamon
Icing
- 3/4 c powdered sugar
- 1 Tbsp almond milk
- 1/4 tsp vanilla
Instructions
Heat almond milk for about 40 seconds in the microwave- you want it warm, but not scalding hot. Stir in yeast and set aside.
Mix flours, baking powder, sugar, salt, cinnamon and pumpkin. Add in almond milk and yeast mixture. It’s highly likely the dough won’t completely come together. Don’t worry about it- try not to over mix.
Spread clean, flat surface with flour. Adding flour as necessary to prevent sticking, knead dough until it forms a nice, slightly elastic-y ball.
Using a rolling pin, spread dough into a rectangle. I usually end up with dough about 1/2 inch thick.
Mix together brown sugar and cinnamon, and melt margarine or butter.
Spread the butter liberally across the top of the dough, then sprinkle with cinnamon sugar mixture.
Starting from the skinny end of the dough rectangle, roll the dough tightly towards the other end.
Slice the roll into ~1-1 1/2 inch strips, discarding the ends if necessary. By discarding, I mean eating separately. 
If you want perfectly round cinnamon rolls, try using dental floss to cut your dough instead of a knife so it doesn’t squish down. I shove them all in a pan anyway, so it doesn’t bother me that they’re not perfect circles.
Grease a 9×9 baking dish and line rolls in pan. Cover with plastic wrap or foil and refrigerate.
I usually leave them overnight so I can have fresh baked cinnamon rolls in the morning, but you don’t have to wait that long- just give them a little bit of time to rise.
When you’re ready to bake your cinnamon rolls, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Spread tops of cinnamon rolls with a little bit of margarine, cinnamon, and brown sugar. Not going to lie, I often forget this step and everything turns out just fine.
Bake cinnamon buns for about 20 minutes. Because they’ve been in the fridge, this should result in the rolls being slightly under baked- they’ll looked cooked on the outside, but they’ll be squishy on the inside. This is pivotal in making gooey, delicious cinnamon rolls.
Let buns cool for a little bit before removing from pan so that the icing won’t melt right off.
To make icing, mix together powdered sugar, almond milk, and vanilla. Powdered sugar leads the life of a two-faced trickster on occasion, so you may need significantly more or less powdered sugar or milk to reach the consistency you’re going for- thick, but still drizzle-able.
Drizzle icing over cinnamon rolls and eat while still warm.
Good luck making them last more than 30 seconds.
And there you have it. The best cinnamon buns. Ever.
*I highly, highly recommend using Smart Balance {yes, it’s vegan} instead of Earth Balance for this recipe. The butter flavor is part of what makes the filling taste so rich, and Earth Balance here leaves behind a kind of plastic-y, fake taste.
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