Dairy Free Cinnamon Rolls

What can I say about these cinnamon rolls?  When we got our yeast delivered last week, I was so excited about starting to bake.  I couldn't decide where to start, so naturally I went to my husband for suggestion and he had a whole list of them.  Cinnamon rolls were #1 on the list, so we stocked up on 3 different types of sugar and prepared ourselves for a super tasty weekend.

It's been a long time since I've treated myself to a cinnamon roll and I've never made them from scratch before, so I was a little nervous about how they would turn out.  But how can you go wrong with sugar, cinnamon, and dough?  Well, things didn't go 100% according to plan, but they still turned out amazing.

I couldn't even finish taking pictures of them without jumping in for a bite, so that's how good they are.


Total Time: Approx. 2 hours 45 minutes
Servings: 12 rolls

Ingredients:
Dough:
1 cup warm water
1 tbs yeast
2 tbs white sugar
3 tbs canola oil
1 egg
1 tsp salt
3 cups all-purpose flour

Filling:
1 cup brown sugar
2 tbs cinnamon
1/4 cup canola oil

Glaze:
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 tbs warm almond milk
1/8 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp vanilla
1 sprinkle nutmeg

Instructions:

1. Pour warm water, yeast and sugar into a bowl and let sit for 5 minutes until the yeast is activated and frothy.
2. Add egg, oil, salt, and flour to the bowl and mix until the dough is sticky but smooth.
3. Cover the bowl with a clean towel and let rise for 45 minutes to one hour, until it's doubled in size.
4. Pour dough onto a floured surface and roll the dough out into a large rectangle
5. In a separate bowl, mix the brown sugar and cinnamon
6. Lightly pour oil onto the dough and brush it evenly across the surface.  Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar mixture over the entirety of the dough.
7. From the longer side of the dough, roll tightly and cut it into 12 even pieces.  Place the pieces on an oiled 9 x 13" baking pan.
8. Cover the pan with a clean towel and let rise for one hour, until rolls have doubled in size.
9. While the rolls are rising, preheat oven to 350° F
10. Bake rolls for 20-22 minutes until they begin to turn a light golden color.
11. Let rolls cool before glazing.
12. Combine powdered sugar, almond milk, vanilla, cinnamon, and 1 sprinkle nutmeg until you have a thick, but smooth glaze.
13. Spoon the glaze evenly over the rolls and enjoy!

Let your yeast bloom until lightly foamy, about 5 minutes.

Mix thoroughly with flour, egg, oil, and salt.  I usually start by mixing with a spoon and then going in with my hands because it's really the best way to mix dough if you don't have a mixer.

Cinnamon Sugar Goodness 😋

Here's what your dough should look like after a 45 minute - 1 hour rise.

Roll out your dough on a floured cutting board and make sure you don't roll it too thin.  You can achieve a good shape by alternating between rolling forward-backward and side-to-side.  I rolled mine out a little thinner than I should have, so don't go as far as I did (although the rolls still turned out well)

Spread evenly with oil and then the cinnamon sugar mixture.

We measured out even segments because it's important that you get even sized rolls!

Once you've put the rolls in the baking tray and let them rise for an hour, they should puff up and connect with each other.

Bake and glaze your buns!

How good do these look??

It's hard to take photos of them without taking a bite! 

Now, as you can tell, I didn't follow my own instructions and wait to glaze them until they were cooled.  My husband and I had a discussion on whether or not you want the glaze to soak into the buns and, well, we compromised.  Mostly because I couldn't wait to sink my teeth into one of these rolls.