Chocolate cinnamon rolls to make your weekends delicious!
Fluffy cinnamon bun dough slathered with chocolate cinnamon through every bite!
Yeast doughs can be time consuming since we have to wait for the dough to rise
But I have an easy fix for those who want to start this dough in the evening and have freshly baked cinnamon buns for the morning
Simply halt the process before the second rise, just after rolling and cutting into buns
Cover loosely and let the dough slow proof in the refrigerator overnight!
In the morning take the pan out of the refrigerator and place in a warm spot to take the chill off
Then let them continue rising to fluffy and almost doubled in size.
Once the buns are fluffy & puffy and ready to bake, proceed to bake just as I show you in the video!
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Notes for Success:
Cast Iron Skillet for baking these buns today!
But of course you can use a 9″ x 13″ pan if you don’t have the cast iron!
You’ll notice I am using coconut water from leftover cans of coconut milk, as well shredded coconut
If you are not keen on coconut in any way just substitute the coconut water for plant milk instead!
For traditional cinnamon buns without the chocolate CLICK HERE!
CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL YOUTUBE VIDEO TUTORIAL FOR HOW TO MAKE THESE BUNS
Chocolate Cinnamon Rolls
Ingredients
For the Bun Dough
- Active Dry Yeast 3 teaspoons 9g
- Coconut Water 1½ cup 360ml *see notes
- All Purpose Flour 4½ cups 580g
- Salt 1½ teaspoons 9g
- Granulated Sugar ¼ cup 50g
- Soft Vegan Butter 4 Tablespoons 56g
For the Chocolate Schmear
- Water 4 tablespoons 60ml
- Granulated Sugar 8 Tablespoons 100g
- Unsweetened Cocoa Powder ½ cup
- Shredded Coconut 1½ cups
Sugar Glaze
- Confectioners Sugar 2 cups 240g
- Plant Milk 2 Tablespoons or as needed
Instructions
- Combine the yeast with the room temperature coconut water and a pinch of the sugar.
- If it gets bubbly and frothy after about 5 to 10 minutes, you have proven that the yeast is alive and you may proceed with the recipe. (*if it does not froth, it is good chance your yeast is old and dead and you should buy a fresh package)
- Combine all of the remaining ingredients, including the proven yeast into the bowl of your Kitchen Aid mixer with a dough hook attachment
- Follow along in the video tutorial for mixing this dough.
- Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl and cover with a towel and set in a nice warm spot to double in size. This will take approximately 1 hour depending on the conditions in your kitchen.
Meanwhile prepare the chocolate schmear:
- Combine the water and sugar together in a small sauce pot and bring to a boil.
- Add to the cocoa powder and whisk smooth.
- Set aside to cool, but if it gets to hard to spread, just rewarm it slightly
- Once the dough has doubled, you will gently “punch down” the dough to release the gasses and proceed to roll the buns as shown in the video.
- Roll the dough to approximately 12" X 20"
- Spread the entire surface with chocolate schmear recipe and then the shredded coconut
- Roll up jelly-roll style and then cut into 12 equal portions. (OR the traditional cinnamon sugar mixture below)
- Arrange the buns in a greased 9" x 13" baking dish or a 12" cast iron pan spaced so they are about 1″ apart.
- Cover with a towel and place the baking dish in a warm, draft free spot to rise again.
- About 1 hour depending on your kitchen conditions.
- Once the buns have risen they will most likely be touching each other or almost touching each other and be soft and airy when you poke them, bake them in a PREHEATED 350° F oven for approximately 30- 35 minutes or until golden brown and center buns are fully baked
- Cool slightly and then ice with sugar glaze by combining the confectioners sugar and plant milk together and whisk smooth
Notes
They will go stale faster than they will go bad and can be kept for up to 3 days at room temperature wrapped to prevent staling
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hi Gretchen… any reason why this recipe, or any of your vegan recipes, couldn’t be made with non-vegan ingredients?…. thanks!
Of course there are tons of similar non vegan recipes out there. CLICK HERE FOR MORE
Is it still to get your non vegan recipes I made these and a cake with Swiss meringue buttercream from your bakery videos a few years ago.
Hi Gretchen
I don’t have your cinnamon roll recipe from years ago. Can I use Reg water instead of coconut milk and Reg butter instead of vegan butter? I loved your non vegan recipe. It’s to die for ????
yes
Hi Gretchen, the same quantity sugar appears twice in the schmear ingredients. Is this correct?
Hey thanks for pointing that out! I didn’t realize it was so confusing. Here is the updated instructions (but it is still 8Tbs sugar total)
Combine the water and sugar together in a small sauce pot and bring to a boil.
Add to the cocoa powder and whisk smooth.
Set aside to cool, but if it gets to hard to spread, just rewarm it slightly
Hi, just wanted to point out that the cinnamon filling recipe doesn’t list a quantity of vegan butter. I used about 2T and it worked great. Wonderful recipe!
THANKYOU!! I’ll update now!
Hey Gretchen there is something brown u put in d mixture of dough before mixing…is it cinnamon ?
A friend has requested for cinnamon rolls n hv never made them at home ..so gonna make this as my first attempt.
Regards,
Mrunal
Hey…
Made this …they turned out Ammmazingggggg…I did with traditional cinnamon filling and also made my own banana cinnamon filling and choc orange cinnamon filling
Thanks for sharing the wonderful recipe..
Love u
Is cinnamon missing from d main dough ingredients?! Or the name is cinnamon Oni when we use traditional cinnamon filling
Regards
Mru
I want to turn the cinnamon roll dough chocolate. How much baking cocoa would I need to add to this recipe to make it a chocolate dough?
Hi Gretchen, been following you for years. Love your recipes. The recipe above for the chocolate smear does not mention cinnamon but the video does mention cinnamon. Which is correct? Thank you for all your great recipes.
Hey there thanks for pointing that out! I did not get a notification for this comment so I’m sorry if it has been a very late reply~ at any rate cinnamon can be added or not added it is really optional! I will note that on the recipe post~ thanks!
Hi Gretchen,
These look sooooo YUMMO-licious.
Once formed and panned up, can the second rise be done overnight in the fridge?
Thanks a Bunch,
Deb
Yes absolutely!