1-Hour Vegan Chocolate Cinnamon Rolls

These delicious Vegan Chocolate Cinnamon Rolls are ready in 1 hour with minimal prep time. They are fluffy, delicious and packed with chocolate, cinnamon sugar and toasted coconut all topped with a thick glaze.

I love making cinnamon rolls and other buns and pastries and often opt for the “cheat’s” method using my magic no-yeast dough or using puff pastry. For these rolls, I wanted to create a recipe that was as fluffy as regular yeasted dough while being quick and easy to make. Say hello to the one-hour cinnamon roll filled with chocolate, toasted coconut and cinnamon sugar that’s ready with 15 minutes of preparation, a little 20-minute rise and then a 25 minutes baking before devouring them from the oven.

Why will I love these rolls?

These rolls are divine, they are:

• Light, fluffy, tender and pillowy-soft
• Ready in one hour with minimal prep time, kneading or proofing time
• Filled with chocolate spread, toasted coconut ad cinnamon sugar
• Great to make in a rush when you crave fluffy rolls
• Better than shop-bought
• Made with lighter ingredients like yoghurt
• Delicious for weekend brunch, afternoon tea delights or dessert
• Naturally vegan and easily nut-free

If you already love these 1-Hour Vegan Chocolate Cinnamon Rolls then skip ahead to the recipe card below. Or, first let’s discuss the recipe in more detail.

What ingredients do I need?

This recipe sticks to the basics with a few nourishing tweaks to make them stand out.

For the dough:

• Plant-based milk: use your favourite milk like oat, almond, soya or coconut (from the carton).
• Vegan butter: use your preferred vegan butter or margarine to add the buttery richness to the dough. Compared to similar recipes, this dough uses only half the amount of butter, so they are much lighter.
• Quick action yeast: for the rise, use quick or fast action yeast.
• Caster or coconut sugar: for a slightly sweet dough. I love using coconut sugar for the richer flavour and colour but golden or regular caster sugar is also great.
• Thick coconut yoghurt: this replaces some of the butter and is great for a moist and rich dough. The yoghurt must be thick and creamy like Cocos Organic as runny yoghurt will not work.
• Plain flour: this keeps the dough really light. Start with the smaller amount of flour and add more as needed.
• Vegan vanilla or caramel protein powder: I love finding ways to add protein into bakes and this works so well. I love the caramel popcorn, cinnamon bun or vanilla buttercream proteins from Macromike here, and you can save 10% off everything with code AMB-AMY. If you’d prefer to not use protein powder, swap this for more flour.
• Salt: for flavour.

And for the filling we need:

• Homemade chocolate spread: I am obsessed with this Homemade Vegan Nutella which has a sugar-free option that I used here. But you can also use the version with sugar for a sweeter filling or use a shop-bought dairy-free chocolate spread. Biona Organic, Mr Organic and KoRo have great options.
• Toasted desiccated coconut: to toast your desiccated coconut, add the coconut to a clean tray and bake for 7-10 minutes at 160Fan/180ºC, stirring often as it turns quickly. Allow to cool.
• Cinnamon: for flavour.
• Coconut, demerara or brown sugar: for the filling, it is best to use a crunchier sugar.
• Maple syrup: for the glaze. You can use any sticky syrup like agave, brown rice or vegan honey.
• Olive oil: this is also for the glaze and I love the richness it adds instead of using an “egg” wash.

The glaze relies on the same ingredients as above:

• Thick coconut yoghurt
• Vegan vanilla or caramel protein powder
• Plant-based milk
• Maple syrup

How do I make them?

These buns are easy to make and follow a similar method to most doughs:

• Warm the milk and butter till just melted: making sure it is lukewarm so as not to kill off the yeast.
• Sprinkle over the yeast and wait 5 minutes: it will smell like dough, and you know the yeast is blooming.
• Stir in the sugar and yoghurt and transfer to a mixing bowl: of a freestanding mixer with a dough hook.
• Start the mixer and gradually add in the dry ingredients: or work by hand using a spoon.
• Once fully incorporated continue to knead for 5 minutes: or for 8-10 minutes if using your hands.
• Place the sticky dough in a greased bowl, cover and leave somewhere warm for 20 minutes: to rise a little. It will not double in size but will increase in volume.
• Prepare the fillings and light flour a work surface: ready for the dough.
• Roll out the dough to a rectangle: mine was 40x30cm or there abouts.
• Spread over the chocolate Nutella: and sprinkle over the coconut and cinnamon sugar.
• Using the long edge, roll up the cinnamon dough into a log: and trim the edges.
• Cut into 6 or 7 rolls using a knife or a piece of cotton: and nestle the buns into a round or square dish.
• Brush over the glaze and bake: for 25 minutes or until risen, golden and cooked through.
• Cool for 10 minutes and make the glaze: till smooth.
• Spread over the glaze and add on extra coconut: and enjoy the rolls.

How long will they last?

These will keep in a sealed container for 2-3 days although best eaten as fresh as possible. You can also freeze the rolls for 1 month and allow to defrost at room temperature before eating.

Are these gluten-free and nut-free?

These are easily nut-free just check that none of your ingredients contain nuts and opt for a nut-free chocolate spread. I am yet to make these gluten-free.

Can I use other fillings?

Here are some other filling suggestions:

• Regular cinnamon sugar (omit the chocolate spread and coconut)
• Simply chocolate (omit the coconut and cinnamon sugar)
• Use the filling from my Salted Caramel Banana Bread Pecan Cinnamon Rolls
• Apple Cinnamon Pecan rolls using this filling
• Raspberry, Strawberry or Blueberry Jam

What else can I bake?

If you are looking for more buns and rolls, how about my:

• Vegan Chocolate Cinnamon Star Bread
• Giant Gingerbread Cinnamon Roll
• No Yeast Strawberry Swirl Buns
• Lemon and Blueberry Sweet Rolls
• Salted Caramel Banana Bread Pecan Cinnamon Rolls

I look forward to hearing what you think of these 1-Hour Vegan Chocolate Cinnamon Rolls so please leave a comment below and a star review above. If you do make these, I’d love to see so please tag me, I’m @nourishing.amy on Instagram and use the hashtag #nourishingamy. I’m also on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest  – please say hello!

With one-hour of love x