I love cinnamon rolls and when I bake them at home, I try to make them a bit healthier. Healthy cinnamon rolls sounds a bit ridiculous, but I was determined to give it a shot. I studied cinnamon recipes, stripped away some unnecessary steps, and then replaced the ingredients with their healthier counterparts. Surprisingly, the result was still the same – delicious! And with only 8 ingredients, it just couldn’t get any easier to make them.
1 packet instant dry yeast
1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
3 cups all-purpose flour
3 tbsp apple sauce
3 tbsp vegan butter
¼ tsp salt
1 tbsp cinnamon
¼ cup coconut sugar
- In a large sauce pan, heat the almond and 3tbsp apple sauce until warm, not boiling or else it will kill the yeast.
- Remove from heat and transfer to a large bowl. Mix yeast in and let activate for 10 minutes. Add a tbsp. of sugar and salt. Mix well.
- Next, add in the flour, but sprinkle a little bit at a time, stirring as you add. The dough will become sticky. When it becomes too thick to stir, remove from bowl and place on a lightly floured surface and knead for about 2 minutes or until you form a ball. Rinse the bowl, coat with grapeseed or canola oil and put dough back in the bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for 1 hour. The dough should double in size.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough into a thin rectangular shape. Brush melted vegan butter and sprinkle coconut sugar and cinnamon.
- Starting from the longest side, roll up the dough tightly. Then with a serrated knife, cut the dough into even sections and position in a greased 8×8 square baking pan (I ended up with about 10 rolls). Brush remaining vegan butter on top, cover with plastic wrap, and let sit while you preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Once the oven is hot, bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown.
- Once done, let cool for a bit, then frost with an almond milk and powdered sugar mixture (optional).
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