Raspberry Whole Wheat Cinnamon Rolls {Vegan}
If you’ve ready any of my posts from the last few months, you probably know that combining dessert and breakfast is one of my favorite things. Pancakes, waffles, scones, and muffins are all excuses to eat sugary carbs in the morning and call it a meal, and I stand by that excuse wholeheartedly at least once a weekend.
When I started my one month vegan challenge a little over a week ago, all these haters (really just my family) asked how I would last a month with no butter or eggs in my breakfast and dessert. Well, to the skeptics I present this: flaky, buttery (tasting), just sweet enough with a touch of raspberry tartness and a warm hint of brown sugar and cinnamon…rolls. Unfortunately that description runs a tad long for the title field in WordPress, but now you truly know what we’re dealing with.
Although I love cinnamon rolls, they only occasionally make my breakfast/dessert lineup because they are a bit tedious. These rolls take about 20 minutes longer than my Speedy Cinnamon Rolls, because I wanted to give them a little extra time for their initial rise due to the higher ratio of whole wheat flour. Don’t let that keep you from making these though, because nothing feels cozier or more satisfying than curling up with some tea and a big homemade cinnamon roll.
For the icing I simply whisked together some powdered sugar, almond milk, and vanilla. Cream cheese frosting would be a phenomenal topper as well, so if you have a vegan cream cheese icing recipe that you love, feel free to slather that on (and share it with me, please!).
Whether you’re vegan or not, get up just a tad early so you can sink your teeth into some sweet spiraled layers of “breakfast” – you won’t regret it.
I think I could get used to this vegan thing.
Vegan Raspberry Whole Wheat Cinnamon Rolls
Flaky, buttery vegan breakfast rolls that are perfectly sweet with a touch of raspberry tartness and a warm hint of brown sugar and cinnamon.
Yield: 8-9 rolls
Prep Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 40 minutes
Ingredients:
Vegan Sweet Roll Dough
- 1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk (or other non-dairy milk)
- ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons vegan buttery spread
- 2 and a ¼ cups whole wheat pastry flour
- 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1 (1/4 ounce) package Rapid Rise or Instant yeast
- ¼ cup vegan brown sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 "flax egg" - 1 tablespoon ground flax mixed with 3 tablespoons warm water
Raspberry Cinnamon Filling
- 10-ounces frozen raspberries
- ¼ cup brown sugar, loosely packed
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ cup water
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
Icing
- 2-2 and a ½ cups powdered sugar (depending on desired consistency)
- 3-4 tablespoons unsweetened vanilla almond milk (or other non-dairy milk)
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions:
- Heat the almond milk in a small saucepan over medium heat just until it starts to bubble on top. Remove from heat and whisk in ¼ cup of the buttery spread, cut into chunks, until melted. Set aside and let cool to a lukewarm temperature while you get the dry ingredients together
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together whole wheat pastry flour, yeast, brown sugar, salt, and baking powder. Beat in the vanilla, flax egg, and the lukewarm milk/buttery spread mixture.
- Add the all-purpose flour in two waves, stirring well with a wooden spoon after each addition. Once you have a loose dough, either use a knead hook in your mixer for about 3 minutes, or knead on a lightly-floured surface until smooth (about 5 minutes). This sounds gross, but you want the the dough to feel just a bit softer than your ear lobe when you pinch it (I know, what?).
- Cover the dough with a damp paper towel and let rest for 25-30 minutes, until it holds its shape when poked.
- While the dough is resting, heat the raspberry, brown sugar, water and cornstarch in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, and stir for 6-7 minutes (It will thicken in this time). Set aside to cool*.
- Use a rolling pin to create a 16x12 inch rectangle with the dough. Lightly brush the dough with the remaining melted buttery spread, then spoon the raspberry mixture evenly over the entire dough. Carefully roll up the dough. Some of the raspberry mixture will be squeezed out, but that's okay. Pinch the seam to seal. I usually cut off the end pieces, as it seems unfair that someone would get stuck with the runt of the bunch. Cut the remaining dough into 8-9 rolls (depending on how big you want them). I used a cheese knife to cut mine, as the dough is quite soft**.
- Place rolls cut-side-up in a greased 9-inch cake or pie pan, cover with a damp towel, and let rise for another 30-minutes.
- Set the oven to preheat to 375.
- After the dough has risen, put the rolls in the oven for 20 minutes, until golden brown on top.
- While the rolls are baking, mix almond milk and vanilla into the powdered sugar. You can adjust the levels to get the consistency you want.
- Drizzle the icing on top of the warm rolls. Best served warm!
* I did not strain the raspberry sauce, because I knew the seeds wouldn’t bother myself or The Beast. I honestly barely noticed them, but if you think they will bother you go ahead and strain the sauce.
** Don’t be afraid that the dough is soft; Some of the rolls may feel like they’re falling apart as you’re cutting and transferring them to the pan, but you can easily shape them back into a circle if they get a little funky. I had to do that, and mine still ended up pretty.
These are brilliant—and so beautiful! I love the healthier and wholesome twist on cinnamon rolls, so I’ll definitely be giving this a go. I can never seem to find the right recipe for the dough, but I imagine coconut oil would work beautifully in place of the vegan spread?
Thank you! I haven’t tried using coconut oil in cinnamon roll dough, but let me know if you do! That definitely could be a good addition. :)
I used coconut oil in mine and subbed raspberries for blueberries and walnuts and also used an egg because I’m not vegan and they turned out delicious! Fluffy and moist with just the right flavor contrasts. It was amazing. I just had to post pictures on Facebook.
That sounds great, Victoria! I love the addition of blueberries and walnuts.
My mouth literally watered looking at those photos! YUM!
These sound so freaking awesome! I love dessert for breakfast too, and know I would loooove these!
Plain cinnamon rolls have never done it for me, but these raspberry ones are right up my alley! All the fruit, all the time! :)
Just tried making these… ended up ruining my dough because the 1/2 cup water isn’t listed in the ingredients for the dough, it’s with the berry filling. So I made the dough as listed in your instructions and it turned out super stiff. Didn’t realize it needed a whole 1/2 cup water until it was too late. Really bummed. I’m assuming that the 1/2 cup water was supposed to go into the dough, and not the berry filling?
I just looked over the recipe, and I see that although the ingredients were correct, my instructions were not. The water does go in the raspberry sauce, and not in the dough. Did you use whole wheat pastry flour, or just whole wheat flour? I’m wondering if the coarser texture of plain whole wheat flour would result in needing more liquid. Let me know. I’m so sorry it didn’t turn out! I know that feeling, and it’s very frustrating.
That’s a good question. I’m fairly sure my flour is whole wheat pastry, but there’s a chance it’s not. I buy everything in bulk, and don’t really keep it well marked in my pantry. I suppose it could be just whole wheat. When I had looked at your other recipe for cinnamon rolls, it used water in the dough, so I thought maybe this recipe was wrong. Sorry for assuming! I’m excited to try again… Thank you!
No worries at all, I’m sorry it didn’t work out! The recipe this is based on does use water in the dough, but for this version I used more milk instead of water, so there should be enough liquid. I’ll be interested to hear if you have that problem again. Let me know!
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I’m in love with the second photo! I can see it looking beautiful framed in my kitchen, haha :) And I keep looking at this recipe, eyes wide and wondering if I’d actually make them. At the very least I’m passing the link on to my baker sister!
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Did you miss the baking power in the instructions? I dont see where it says to add it.
It looks like I did! You stir it into the whole wheat pastry flour, sugar, yeast, and salt. I’ll update the recipe now. Good catch! :)
Ok thanks, I made them the other night GREAT RECIPE my family and I loved them.
Wonderful! I’m so glad they were a hit :)
This looks great. I’m starting on my 4th week of a vegan diet. I’m starting to realize that it really isn’t that hard if you find the right recipes.
Will you PLEASE post a video. These are my very first homemade cinnamon rolls and although they were really good I’d like more visual of how you do it. It looked like I murdered a berry patch! When I tried to roll and cut them. I had sauce on the table, floor and myself. I’d like to see how it was supposed to be done. Thank you!
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These are delicious! Definitely worth the time it took to make them. I love the filling, tastes just like a homemade raspberry pie. Will keep this in my recipe box! I also substituted the all-purpose flour for oat flour (didn’t have all-purpose on hand) and it worked just fine. Dough was slightly sticky, had to add 1/8 cup more so that it could be kneaded. I also used half the amount of powdered sugar. Other than that, delicious! Thanks for the recipe :-D I can’t wait to try some of your other ones. And, congrats on the cookbook.
This recipe looks delicious! I can’t wait to try it! Do you think that I could make the rolls the night before, store them in the fridge overnight and then bake them in the mornin?
I can’t say that I’ve tried making the dough ahead of time myself, but I have read enough articles about it to know that it is possible. From what I’ve read, here is what you should do: make this recipe all the way through Step 7, then cover and set in the fridge overnight. The next morning, let the rolls sit out on the counter (or in a slightly warm place) for about an hour so they can puff up a bit, and then bake. Let me know how it goes!
Perfect! Thanks for the advise, Katie!
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