Ever since we found out we could make whipped cream from coconut fat, what is everyone doing with all that leftover coconut water?
Aside from adding it to your daily smoothie, here is a recipe for Chocolate Cinnamon Rolls that will help to use up that leftover coconut water from the can!
To me they do not taste like coconut with just the water for the dough recipe, so I added so toasted shredded coconut for that extra something something!
Completely optional, if you are not a big fan of coconut you can totally leave that part out and just do straight up chocolate!
I have the traditional cinnamon filled version for you too, just forgo the chocolate schmear in the recipe that follows and instead, brush on some melted vegan butter to your rolled out dough.
Then pile on that cinnamon sugar filling and proceed as I show you in the video tutorial!
For those who want to start this dough in the evening and have freshly baked cinnamon buns for the morning, you will halt the process after the rolling up of the log.
Cut the dough and place on a sheet pan (*in the video I use cast iron, but a sheet pan will be best for those wanting to divide this process into 2 days)
Cover with plastic wrap and rest in the refrigerator overnight.
This will give the buns a very slow proofing.
In the morning take the pan out of the refrigerator and place in a warm spot to take the chill off the dough and let them continue rising to fluffy & almost doubled in size.
You are essentially picking up the process where you left off the night before.
Once the buns are fluffy & puffy and ready to bake, proceed to bake in a preheated oven just as I show you in the video!
- For the Bun Dough
- Active Dry Yeast 3 teaspoons (9g)
- Coconut Water ½ cup (120ml)
- All Purpose Flour 4 - 5 cups (520g-650g)
- Salt 1½ teaspoons (9g)
- Granulated Sugar ½ cup (100g)
- Vegan Butter 8 Tablespoons (113g)
- Coconut Milk or more Coconut Water 1 cup (237ml)
- For the Chocolate Schmear
- Water 4 tablespoons (60ml)
- Granulated Sugar 8 Tablespoons (10g)
- Unsweetened Cocoa Powder ½ cup
- Shredded Coconut 1½ cups
- Sugar Glaze
- Confectioners Sugar 2 cups (240g)
- Almond Milk 2 Tablespoons or more as needed to your desired consistency
- Prove your yeast by mixing it 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.
- Press the dough into the best square or rectangle you can by hand, and then roll with a rolling pin 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 cast iron pan as I am using this time in the video, 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 20- 30 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 almond milk together and whisk smooth
For traditional Cinnamon Buns follow the same method for mixing, rolling and baking the dough, but you will use the following recipe for cinnamon filling instead of the chocolate and coconut.
- Vegan Butter melted 2 Tablespoons (28g)
- Granulated Sugar 4 Tablespoons
- Brown Sugar 3 Tablespoons
- Ground Cinnamon 2 teaspoons
- Combine everything together except for the vegan butter.
- Melt the vegan butter and brush on the dough *in the video I used the chocolate schmear, you will use the melted butter here
- Then sprinkle the cinnamon sugar mixture evenly over the entire dough/melted butter surface
I also have a recipe for Pumpkin Cinnamon Buns CLICK HERE!
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?