Guess who just made from-scratch cinnamon rolls for the first time??
I have been a fan of Sally’s Baking Addiction for a while, but up till now, I had only made one of her recipes. It was before I was vegan, so it’s not like I’m super-familiar with how her recipes actually turned out. Mostly, I am a fan because I love her personality, her photos, and her in-depth discussion of baking science. It’s just such a fun blog to read each day.
Still, I’ve been kind of itching to try to veganize one of her recipes! I decided that her Easy Cinnamon Rolls would be good, because they only call for one egg. I made the following modifications:
- I substituted one flax egg (1 tablespoon golden flax, 3 tablespoons water) for the chicken egg. That seemed to work pretty well, though I had to add more flour than was called for in order to get the suggested consistency. I think that was probably because the flax egg was still a bit looser than a chicken egg. It could also be that most chicken eggs have less than 3 tablespoons of liquid, but I’m honestly not sure. It’s been a long time since I used chicken’s eggs!
- I used coconut oil instead of butter. This worked pretty well, but I think if I did it again I would use Earth Balance for the cinnamon/sugar/butter mixture in the center of the rolls instead of coconut oil.
This recipe calls for only one true rise. I followed the instructions for this rise, but when the rolls were done rising, they were extremely fragile and deflated quickly. They also seemed to have smushed together quite a bit.
I was a little concerned about this, but I put them in the oven anyway, where I baked them for the low end of the recommended time (25 minutes). They didn’t rise as much as some rolls that I’ve seen, but they still baked up fluffy and soft!
I chose not to cover the whole pan with glaze, but I made some for people to use as they wished. The rolls are delicately sweet and fragrant, and I like them very well without any glaze. Despite seeming to smush together in the pan, each roll still comes out easily.
Overall, I’m reluctant to give this recipe a rating, because I modified it pretty heavily. I will just say that this is a lovely recipe, that it worked quite well to veganize, and that I hope my observations will be helpful for anybody wanting to make some vegan cinnamon rolls! 🙂