Remember back when we used pizza dough as a hack to make cinnamon rolls easier? Well, we are at it again! This time, I made a little more of an indulgent version of vegan cinnamon rolls, complete with dark chocolate chips, toasted pecans, and sweetened with a healthy dose of caramelized maple syrup. These maple, pecan, and dark chocolate cinnamon rolls is definitely on the ‘for the holidays’ or indulgent side of the spectrum, because they aren’t as healthy as my banana sweetened ones. But really, when you are planning for holiday brunches, who votes for chocolate cinnamon rolls or regular? ME!
You can feel free to pick up some pre-prepared pizza dough at your favorite grocery store, but I happened to have a batch of dough chilling in the fridge, so this was super fast and easy for me to put together. I made these as a brunch dish for a blogger potluck, so I knew I had to bring my A game, all the way.
How to make these vegan cinnamon rolls
This maple, pecan, and dark chocolate cinnamon roll recipe is ready in an hour and requires a minimal amount of work on your part. First, you need to roll out the pre-made pizza dough into a large rectangle. Then, mix the filling ingredients in a bowl and sprinkle the mixture over the dough. After that, you simply need to roll up the dough and cut it into slices that are about two inches thick. Unlike most cinnamon roll recipes, you’ll need to add the maple pecan topping to these rolls before popping them into the oven. This gives the maple syrup time to caramelize and the pecans time to get nice and toasty.
The key to not having these chocolate cinnamon rolls turn into a soupy, messy disaster is to back off on the amount of maple syrup you use in the filling (I found out the hard way, maple syrup everywhere on the counter!). You also need to let them bake for a little longer than you think they may need to. The first time around, I took mine out too early and the dough on the bottom of the rolls was still soggy. But after sticking them in for a little bit longer, they came out perfect and with a lovely caramel maple crust on the bottom. Feel free to sub in your favorite nuts for the pecans, but I felt like using pecans lent more of a Christmas-y vibe to them.
These vegan cinnamon rolls are also perfect for filling and freezing, then baking when you need them. Just let them thaw out before you bake!
Previously on Heart of a Baker
Caramel Glazed Vegan Bananas Foster Donuts
Cranberry and Pear Vegan French Toast Casserole
Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Doughnuts
PrintMaple, Pecan, and Dark Chocolate Cinnamon Rolls
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Total Time: 65 minutes
- Yield: 12 1x
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American
Description
Maple syrup sweetens up these indulgent vegan pecan and chocolate cinnamon rolls. These are perfect for a holiday brunch or weekend breakfast!
Ingredients
For the dough:
- 1 batch prepared pizza dough (my recipe said it is enough to make 2 pizzas)
For the filling:
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips (I used dark chocolate, but feel free to use semi-sweet)
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/4 cup chopped pecans
For the topping:
- 3/4 cup maple syrup
- 1 cup chopped pecans
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325ºF. Grease a pie pan or cake pan and set aside.
- In a small bowl, combine all the ingredients for the filling and in a separate small bowl, combine the ingredients for the topping. Set both aside.
- Flour your surface liberally and roll out prepared pizza dough to a rectangle that is 14 inches by 6 inches. Spread your already mixed filling evenly over the rolled out dough, stopping just an inch or so short of the edges of the rectangle. Roll up the rectangle lengthwise and cut into 2-inch pieces. Place each piece on its end in the pie plate until they have all been cut. Pour the topping mixture over the rolls and bake for 40-45 minutes, or until topping is bubbling up around the edges of the pan.
- Let cool for about 15 minutes and serve!
Keywords: chocolate cinnamon rolls, vegan cinnamon rolls
Back for Seconds says
Woah, these look crazy good!
The Frosted Vegan says
Thanks dear!
nataliejo344 says
Why haven’t I ever heard of chocolate + cinnamon rolls until now?! These look so decadent!!
The Frosted Vegan says
Get on that!
whiskandshout says
Yum yum yum! I’ve never had chocolate in cinnamon rolls but with the pecans and maple, it sounds awesome 🙂
The Frosted Vegan says
Thank you! They were gone in a flash : )
Julia says
BUH-rilliant!!!! No joke, I seriously made a batch of pizza dough last week and I have half of it in my freezer, just waiting to be purposed for these cinn-uh-buns. UGH, I die over these, I just do! P.S. I’d take soggy bottom cinnamon rolls any day!
The Frosted Vegan says
right?! I always want to have stuff like this prepped, buuut it doesn’t always happen that way! Soggy botttooommms!
Shikha la mode says
Woah, pizza dough for cinnamon rolls is insane and awesomeeee.
cavoletto says
Wow, so much beautiful yumminess on this blog – and it’s vegan too!! Really want to try these! 🙂