Hippy Mother’s Day With Vegan Strawberry Orange Cinnamon Rolls

Written in April, 2013 by Christina Anthis

We all know how much I love coming up with crazy awesome vegan sweets and treats. I can’t help myself, when I get a craving for something…I have to create it! I decided for this upcoming Mother’s Day, I wanted one of my favorites, but revamped for spring. Cinnamon rolls! These aren’t just ordinary cinnamon rolls though, they are orange strawberry cinnamon rolls, and they are GOOD!! My dad is going to be very sad that you was out of town while I made these, because he loves cinnamon rolls about as much as I do…but do you know what that means for me? With my dad out of town and a whole entire batch of these cinnamon rolls, that means that I don’t have to guard the center of my cinnamon roll with my fork, while I am eating. (YES! He TOTALLY DOES THAT he will straight up snatch the middle first while we are sharing a cinnamon roll, just so that he can have it first….I mean HOW RUDE!)

Enjoy! I most certainly did!

Vegan Orange Strawberry Cinnamon Rolls

Print recipe

Serves	12 cinnamon rolls
Prep time	3 hours
Cook time	20 minutes
Total time	3 hours, 20 minutes
Dietary	Vegan
Meal type	Breakfast, Dessert

Ingredients

Strawberry Sauce

3 cups strawberries (hulled and chopped)
3 tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup orange juice
zest of one orange

Dough

3/4 cups orange juice
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup coconut oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup warm water (110 degrees roughly)
1 packet active dry yeast (or 1 1/2 teaspoon)
1 tablespoon sugar
5 cups all-purpose flour (plus extra for rolling)

Filling

3/4 cups brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
4 tablespoons coconut oil (melted)
strawberry sauce

Icing

1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
4-6 tablespoons orange juice
1 tablespoon orange zest

Directions

Strawberry Sauce
1.	Combine strawberries, sugar, orange zest, and orange juice in a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Bring the heat down to low and simmer for 20 minutes, allowing to thicken. Set aside to cool.
Dough
2.	Combine the orange juice, sugar, salt, and coconut oil in a medium sauce pan and heat over low hear until the coconut oil is just melted. Remove from heat and add the vanilla extract. Set pan aside to cool to 110 degrees.
3.	In a glass bowl or measuring cup, combine 1/2 cup warm (110 degree) water, active dry yeast, and the 1 Tbsp. sugar. Mix until all is dissolved and set aside for ten minutes to bubble up. It will double in size.
4.	In large mixing bowl (or your handy electric stand mixer if you have one, I used the bread hook for this one) combine the orange juice/coconut oil mixture and yeast mixture. Slowly mix in 5 cups flour.
5.	knead the dough on a well floured surface (or in your handy electric mixer with a dough hook on setting 2 if it's a Kitchenaid) for 2 minutes, using extra flour to prevent it from sticking.
6.	Transfer the dough to a well oiled bowl and roll the dough around, coating it with the oil. Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and set in a warm space in your home. Let sit to rise until it has doubled it's size, roughly 1 1/2 hours.
7.	Punch in the middle of the dough to make it deflate and then take it out and set it on a well floured surface. Cover with the kitchen towel and let rest for ten minutes. Grease a 9x13 inch pan.
8.	Roll the dough out into a wide rectangle shape roughly 20 inches by 13 inches.
Filling
9.	Combine the brown sugar, cinnamon, and ginger. Using a brush, spread the coconut oil over the entire surface of the dough. Sprinkle the brown sugar/cinnamon mixture evenly over the dough. Drop spoonfuls of the strawberry sauce evenly over the dough.
Cinnamon Rolls
10.	Roll up the dough, with the long end facing you, and wipe away any of the excess sauce that squishes out (because it will). Cut the dough into 12 cinnamon rolls and place cut side up in 4 rows of three.
11.	Cover and let rise for 1 hour in a warm space in your house. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
12.	Bake the cinnamon rolls uncovered, for 20 minutes and let sit to cool for 10 minutes.
Icing
13.	Whisk together orange juice, orange zest, and powdered sugar. Ice Cinnamon rolls after they have cooled for 10 minutes and serve!