Ever want a cinnamon roll but don't want to make so many that you couldn't possibly eat them all? Been there and done that, and that's why this small-batch cinnamon roll recipe is perfect for a family or pair of individuals, as it makes about 6-8 rolls.
My husband has been calling these dairy free Cinnabon cinnamon rolls because they taste almost exactly like the real deal. They're packed with cinnamon flavor, gooey in the center, and fluffy.
The only thing missing is the whipped cream cheese frosting on top, but that's okay because this vegan cinnamon roll icing is simple and a delicious complement to the flavors we have going on in every roll.
Why This Recipe Works
- It's delicious! The filling from these rolls is exactly the same as my Cinnabon Clone Cinnamon Rolls but using a dairy free margarine instead.
- It's allergen-friendly. Because there are no eggs or dairy in this recipe, it's a vegan cinnamon roll recipe, but you'll never notice anything is missing because these rolls are just too good to resist.
- They're great for any occasion. Serve them up for the holidays, like Christmas morning, or keep them as a nice weekend treat. There's no wrong time to enjoy this small batch of cinnamon rolls.
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🥘 Ingredients
For the dough, you will need:
Flour- You will need All-Purpose Flour or Bread Flour for the glute structure in the dough. The bread flour may produce softer and tastier results, but all-purpose flour works fine too.
Active Dry Yeast- This will help the dough to grow and expand more quickly. Make sure it is not old or expired.
Salt- A natural flavor enhancer.
Warm Water- You will need water that is about 110F. This will activate the yeast. Water that is too cold will not get the job done, and water that is too hot will kill the yeast.
Vegetable Oil- For necessary fats, I recommend using canola oil or vegetable oil.
Sugar- Add in some granulated sugar to help feed the yeast.
For the filling, you will need:
Brown Sugar- Brown sugar will make the filling sweet and delicious.
Margarine- Plant based margarine will not melt down as easily as butter would, so you don't have to worry about the filling running out of the bottom of the cinnamon rolls as they bake.
Ground Cinnamon- Use ground cinnamon for warm spice and flavor.
Salt- A natural flavor enhancer.
For the icing, you will need:
Powdered Sugar- For a smooth and sweet icing, I recommend using powdered sugar.
Vanilla Extract- Another flavor enhancer.
Milk- You can use any dairy free milk or water. This is to thin down the icing to the right consistency for drizzling and spreading.
For specific quantities, see the recipe card below.
🍽 Equipment Needed
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🔪 Instructions
Check out how to make small batch cinnamon rolls with these simple step-by-step instructions:
In a bowl, whisk together the flour, yeast, and salt.
Make a well in the center and add to it the sugar, oil, and water.
Stir to combine.
Knead the dough on a floured surface for about 10 minutes until smooth and elastic. Feed it more flour as needed to get it no longer sticky. You may need about 1 more cup of flour.
Place in a bowl and cover. Let rise until doubled, about 1 hour in a warm place.
Punch down and roll out into a rectangle shape about ¼ inch thick.
In a small bowl, mix together the filling ingredients until they're a nice paste-like consistency.
Use a butter knife or the back of a spoon to spread the filling over the cinnamon rolls. It sticks better when using a cold metal object than it does with your hands. Rub the filling out to within an inch of the border of the dough.
Starting from one long end of the rectangle to the other, roll the cinnamon roll dough into a tight log and then pinch the end seams to hold it together.
Slice the ends off and discard them, as these will have very little filling. Slice the remaining log into 6 or 8 equal-sized pieces and place them into a greased baking dish. An 8x8 or 2 qt baking dish will work fine.
Cover the dish and allow the rolls to rest until doubled in size. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Bake for 15 minutes or until golden on top. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 5-10 minutes.
In a small bowl, whisk together the icing ingredients until smooth, using enough milk to get it to a drizzling consistency. Drizzle the icing over the top of the cinnamon rolls.
Serve warm, and enjoy.
🍴 Recipe Tips
Making these dairy free cinnamon rolls from scratch is both simple and fun because you get to get your hands messy and smell that wonderful aroma of yeast dough and cinnamon in your home for hours.
This cinnamon roll filling is a wet one meaning that we mix everything together and spread it on at once instead of rubbing butter on the dough and sprinkling cinnamon sugar on top. This works best (in my opinion) to keep the cinnamon in place so that it doesn't run out the bottom of the roll when you bake.
We also use a lot of cinnamon in these rolls so there's a ton of great flavor, unlike other cinnamon roll recipes where the cinnamon is barely a whisper.
🧾 Substitutions
You can use milk based margarine and milk or plant based and still get incredible results every time, so use what you have on hand or keep it allergen friendly.
📖 How to DIY Brown Sugar
Did you know that you can make your own brown sugar? It's true! White sugar is refined from sugar cane, and brown sugar is the white sugar that has molasses added to it. This is different from raw sugar, which is just sugar that has been less refined than white sugar.
- With Molasses: 1 cup granulated white sugar + ½ Tbsp-2 tablespoon molasses (less for light brown sugar and more for dark brown sugar).
- With Honey: 1 cup granulated sugar with 1 tablespoon honey or agave.
- Maple Syrup: 1 cup granulated sugar + 1 tablespoon Maple Syrup.
- Rum Extract: 1 cup granulated sugar + a few drops of rum extract.
Simply take any of these ratios and mix together in a small bowl before using.
⏲️Make Ahead Instructions
You can prepare these cinnamon rolls up to the second rise and cover the top with plastic wrap before placing the rolls into the fridge overnight for a slow 8 hour rise or freezing them for up to three months.
For overnight fridge rises, simply place the pan on the counter for an hour as the oven preheats and bake as directed. Do not let the rolls rise in the fridge for more than 12 hours.
For freezing unbaked rolls, once frozen solid, you can place them into an airtight container for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge or for several hours in a pan on the counter until doubled. Bake as directed.
With either method, make sure to let the pan of cinnamon rolls sit on the counter for at least 30 minutes to one hour before baking. I like to set my baking dish out as the oven preheats.
This is especially important if you are using a glass baking dish- you don't want it to explode in the oven from going from a cold environment to a hot one too quickly.
🍞 How to Knead Bread Dough
Kneading your dough with an electric mixer using dough hooks is simple and easy, but my favorite method is to do it by hand because you're far less likely to overwork the dough when doing it this way.
Knead the dough by hand by placing it onto a floured surface and using two hands to roll it out into an oval, pull back half, so it's sandwiched together, and repeat.
Smoosh the dough as you roll it back out into an oval, and bring it back. Every few times, rotate the dough about 90 degrees so that you can get all of the dough worked into the process.
When the dough is smooth and elastic, it's finished. This takes about 10 minutes by hand, faster if you're quick, but there are a few good ways to tell when you are finished.
- The dough should not tear easily. This means that if you stretch a chunk of the dough between your fingers, it doesn't tear apart like paper and creates jagged edges.
- The dough should be elastic. You should be able to poke the ball of kneaded dough with your finger and watch the dough quickly try to bounce back and fill in the hole you made.
🥖 How Long to Proof Dough
The time needed to proof dough truly varies from person to person. It depends upon the weather, climate, wind drafts, temperature of ingredients, age of the yeast, and more.
On average, it can take anywhere between 1 hour to 3 hours for the dough to proof properly, but some people can see it happen in as little as 30 minutes.
The goal is not waiting to a specific time but instead looking for a specific response from the dough. We want the dough to be doubled in size, and whether that takes one hour or more, we shouldn't jump straight into the next step before completing this one.
You should expect that it will take about 1 hour for your dough to double in size and proof, but here are some tips for getting it there.
- Cover the bowl of dough with greased plastic wrap. This helps to prevent the dough from drying out and helps to trap the heat. The cooking spray on the plastic wrap helps to prevent it from sticking to the dough.
- Store it in a warm location. I like to preheat my oven to 200 degrees F for 2 minutes and then turn it off. Then I place the bowl in the oven and let it rise until doubled.
Other locations to place your dough include:
- Inside your closed microwave
- Inside a closed oven with just the oven light turned on
- On a hot and sunny day, your kitchen's countertop can work well too
💭 FAQs
These cinnamon rolls are good for about 3 or 4 days if stored in an airtight container at room temperature. I do not recommend storing them in the fridge after being baked (you could, though), but the fridge's cold air will cause the cinnamon rolls to dry out.
Yes, you can freeze the dough just before the second rise (right after cutting and placing it in the baking dish). If freezing raw cinnamon rolls, cover well with plastic wrap and foil and place in the freezer for 3 or 4 months. To thaw and bake, just place them in the fridge overnight and allow them to come to room temperature on the counter the next day (about 30 minutes) while the oven preheats. Then bake as directed.
More great vegan recipes to try
- Simple Dairy Free White Bread
- Dairy Free Rice Krispie Treats
- Dairy Free Waffles
- Vegan Dinner Rolls
- Vegan Hamburger Buns
- Vegan Apple Upside Down Cake
📖 Recipe
Small Batch Cinnamon Rolls
Equipment
- Baking dish
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups All-Purpose Flour or Bread Flour ($0.20)
- 2 ¼ teaspoon Active Dry Yeast (one packet) ($0.54)
- 1 ½ teaspoon Salt ($0.15)
- 1 cup Warm Water 110*F ($0.00)
- 3 Tablespoons Vegetable Oil ($0.39)
- 2 Tablespoons Sugar ($0.03)
Filling
- 1 cup Brown Sugar ($0.55)
- ⅓ cup Margarine ($0.50)
- 3 Tablespoons Ground Cinnamon ($0.30)
- ¼ teaspoon Salt *only if using unsalted butter/margarine ($0.02)
Icing
- 1 cup Powdered Sugar ($0.23)
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract ($0.02)
- 1-2 Tablespoons Milk ($0.01)
Instructions
- In a bowl whisk together the flour, yeast, and salt.
- Make a well in the center and add to it the sugar, oil, and water.
- Stir to combine.
- Knead the dough on floured surface for about 10 minutes until smooth and elastic. Feed it more flour as needed to get it no longer sticky. You may need about 1 more cup of flour.
- Place in a bowl and cover. Let rise until doubled, about 1 hour in a warm place.
- Punch down and roll out into a rectangle shape about ¼ inch thick.
- In a small bowl, mix together the filling ingredients until they're a nice paste-like consistency.
- Use a butter knife or the back of a spoon to spread the filling over the cinnamon rolls. It sticks better when using a cold metal object than it does with your hands. Rub the filling out to within an inch of the border of the dough.
- Starting from one long end of the rectangle to the other, roll the cinnamon roll dough into a tight log and then pinch the end seams to hold it together.
- Slice the ends off and discard as these will have very little filling. Slice the remaining log into 6 or 8 equal sized pieces and place them into a greased baking dish. An 8x8 or 2 qt baking dish will work fine.
- Cover the dish and allow the rolls to rest until doubled in size. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- Bake for 15 minutes or until golden on top. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 5-10 minutes.
- In a small bowl whisk together the icing ingredients until smooth, using enough milk to get it to a drizzling consistency. Drizzle the icing over the top of the cinnamon rolls.
- Serve warm and enjoy.
Bread machine option
- Place dough ingredients in order of the owners manual for your specific bread machine.
- Turn the machine to "dough cycle" and close the lid. Waiting for the beep.
- Take the dough and turn it onto a lightly floured surface and continue with the steps above starting with rolling it out into a rectangular shape about ¼ inch thick.
Notes
Recipe Tips
- You will know that you have kneaded your dough enough when it's smooth and no longer sticky. You should be able to poke the dough with your finger and watch the indent quickly fill in as the dough springs to life.
- This cinnamon roll filling is a wet one meaning that we mix everything together and spread it on at once instead of rubbing butter on the dough and sprinkling cinnamon sugar on top. This works best (in my opinion) to keep the cinnamon in place so that it doesn't run out the bottom of the roll when you bake.
- You can use milk based margarine and milk or plant based and still get incredible results every time so use what you have on hand or keep it allergen friendly.
Overnight cinnamon rolls with this recipe
- Just make the cinnamon rolls as directed until the second rise (right after placing the cut rolls into the baking dish) and then cover with plastic wrap.
- Place the cinnamon rolls in the fridge and let them slow rise in there overnight or for no more than 12 hours.
- Remove from the fridge and place on the counter while you preheat the oven.
- Allow the pan to come closer to room temperature (about 30 minutes) before baking as directed.
Storage
- These cinnamon rolls are good for about 3 or 4 days if stored in an airtight container at room temperature. I do not recommend storing them in the fridge after being baked (you could though) but the fridge cold air will cause the cinnamon rolls to dry out.
Make Ahead Freezer Technique
- You can freeze the dough just before the second rise (right after cutting and placing in the baking dish). If freezing raw cinnamon rolls, cover well with plastic wrap and foil and place in the freezer for 3 or 4 months.
- To thaw and bake just place them in the fridge overnight and allow to come to room temperature on the counter the next day (about 30 minutes) while the oven preheats. Then bake as directed.
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