February 26, 2019

Golden Milk Turmeric Vegan Cinnamon Rolls

Waking up in the mornings to warm, spiced cinnamon buns with sweet, dripping icing is a warm, sun-touched memory of childhood, and this recipe for turmeric vegan cinnamon rolls has all the warmth of those memories. These cheerful rolls have more turmeric than cinnamon, with flavors taken straight from a warm mug of golden milk (or turmeric latte). Sweet, peppery, somewhat floral turmeric, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, with nutty bits of pecans, wrapped in fluffy, warm, newly risen turmeric-touched dough with a vanilla drizzle running down the sides. These aren’t exactly the cinnamon rolls of my childhood, but they are the cinnamon rolls of my dreams.

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Turmeric Love

These turmeric cinnamon rolls are coming about as a result of a turmeric craze I’m going through right now. I just can’t seem to get enough of golden, kitchen staining, sweet, airy, turmeric desserts. It started with Cold Weather Cabbage Soup with Butternut Squash and Turmeric (not a dessert), before quickly evolving into Vegan Lemon Scones with Lemon Turmeric Glaze (now we’re at dessert). Lately I’ve been making myself golden milk (basically a warm turmeric spice latte) just about every other afternoon. If there’s some interest, I can share my golden milk recipe (just let me know in the comments, or hit me up on social media. I’m always looking for feedback and suggestions!)

Looking to Cook with Turmeric? Try one of these Recipes!

You were Right, Mom

The first time I made these turmeric vegan cinnamon rolls I really enjoyed them- but I felt they were missing something. They needed that earthy, nutty, not too sweet crunch of a walnut or pecan. I decided on pecans, but the experience made me laugh, because it made me realize that I’m turning into my mother. My childhood is studded with memories of my mother making some dessert- say, chocolate chip cookies- and insisting on throwing in some nuts. To me, she had taken a sweet, yummy, chocolatey dessert and diluted it with stupid, slightly bitter and not at all chocolate, walnuts. Why? Her insistence on contaminating a perfectly good dessert with “healthy” bits was endlessly frustrating. But, as I age and my taste buds are less sugar-inclined, I get it. It’s not about adding healthy food, it’s about making little breaks in the sugary goodness so you can appreciate the entire dessert. And these turmeric vegan cinnamon rolls needed a little pecan for me to appreciate it fully.

Making Turmeric Vegan Cinnamon Rolls

I adapted my recipe for cinnamon rolls from this one by the Minimalist Baker. By far the hardest part of this recipe is that you have to wait. First the yeast needs to activate for 10 minutes, and then you need to wait an entire hour for the dough to rise- the waiting really tests my patience, but the smell of the yeast as it activates, and after it’s baked is entirely worth it. Is it weird that I love the smell of yeast? One thing I did in order to make life a little simpler is use pumpkin pie spice, that I had leftover from making Vegan Pumpkin Pie Spice Granola in the fall. If you don’t have pumpkin pie spice in your pantry, you can substitute it for a combination of cinnamon, ground ginger and allspice, or whatever sweet spices you have in stock.

Golden Milk Turmeric Vegan Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients

Dough

3 TBSP. vegan butter or coconut oil
1 cup plant-based milk (I used hemp milk, but pick your favorite)
1 package (2¼ tsp.) instant yeast
1 tbsp. cane sugar
2 tsp. turmeric power
Pinch of salt
2-3 cups all-purpose flour

Filling

4 TBSP. vegan butter or coconut oil
1/3 cup cane sugar
2 tsp. turmeric
1 ½ tsp. pumpkin pie spice
½ tsp. cinnamon
1 cup finely chopped pecans

Icing

1 cup powdered sugar
½ tsp. vanilla extract
1-2 tbsp. plant-based milk

Instructions

Start by heating the vegan butter and the vegan milk for the dough together in a small saucepan, stirring frequently, until warm (but never boiling). Remove from the heat, and let cool until a drop on the inside of your wrist doesn’t burn. Sprinkle the yeast on top, and set aside for 10 minutes to allow the yeast to activate.
After 10 minutes, stir in the sugar, salt and turmeric. Add the flour, half a cup at a time, and stir in until you have a light, somewhat sticky ball of dough. Only kneed a couple times in the bowl, before lifting it out and oiling the sides with vegetable oil. Place the ball of dough back in the oiled bowl, and let sit in a warm place for one hour, covered, until it has doubled in size.
While the dough is rising, mix the sugar and spices for the filling together, and melt the vegan butter of the filling.
Once the dough has risen, punch it down and kneed a few times on a well-floured surfaced. Use a rolling pin to roll out the dough into a large, thin, rectangle, about 15 inches wide. Brush with roughly ¾ of the melted butter, setting the rest aside, and sprinkle the sugar and spice mixture across the buttered dough. Sprinkle the pecans evenly across the dough on top of the spices.
Roll the dough in a tight spiral, starting with the edge closest to you and rolling down the counter. Use a serrated knife to cut the roll into 10 even pieces, each about 1½ inchs long. Grease a 9½ inch round pie pan (or an 8x8 inch square dish) and place the rolls inside. Brush the remaining butter on top, and place on the oven.
Allow the rolls to sit on (not in!) the oven while it preheats to 350°F (175°C). Once the oven is heated, baked for 25-30 minutes, until the edges appear slightly tanned. Once cooked, remove from the oven. Eat right away, or once cooled.
Create the glaze by mixing the sugar, vanilla, and vegan milk together. Add the vegan milk slowly, until the thickness you like has been achieved. Drizzle over the rolls once cool.

https://veryveganval.com/2019/02/26/golden-milk-turmeric-vegan-cinnamon-rolls/

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Let’s hear from you…

How do you feel about pecans to break up the sweet in the turmeric vegan cinnamon rolls? Have I ruined a good thing, or do you think it adds to the rolls?
Do you like the smell of rising yeast? Does it make you feel warm and homey?
Are you interested in getting my golden milk recipe, or are there enough already?

Share your thoughts in the comments below!