Better Than Canned, Vegan Crescent Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Frosting!

If you grew up as an 80’s kid like I did, canned cinnamon rolls were a Saturday morning tradition. Probably the best thing you can really say about canned rolls, as an adult, is that they are quick and easy, crack open the can, plop them into a dish and bake. But would you believe that in the time it takes to preheat your oven you can up your cinnamon roll game by using another canned doughy staple from your childhood? That’s right…we’re talking crescent rolls!

Ever since I realized that canned crescent rolls are are #accidentallyvegan I have been thinking about using them to make some dairy free cinnamon rolls! And...WOW am I glad that I did because these bad boys turned out absolutely amazing. These quick and easy rolls are everything you love about cinnamon rolls and everything you love about crescent rolls all in one bite!

What you are going to need to buy:

Canned crescent rolls. (The Pillsbury brand is vegan!)

Non Stick Cooking Spray

1 cup of White Sugar

3 Tablespoons of Ground Cinnamon

Dairy Free Cream Cheese

Powdered Sugar

Vanilla or Maple Extract

What you are going to need to do:

Preheat your oven to 350.
Yes, the back of the can will tell you to bake at a higher temperature…don’t do it! We are going to bake these rolls at a lower temperature for longer than what you would bake traditional crescent rolls.

Crack open your crescent rolls and carefully unroll them onto a piece of parchment paper.
Do not break apart along the perforated edged into individual pieces. The goal is to get one rectangle of dough.

Take your fingers and gently press the perforated seams that you would normally use to separate into individual crescent rolls back together.

Spray the dough rectangle with the non-stick cooking spray. This is going to give the cinnamon sugar something to stick to.

Combine your cinnamon sugar and sprinkle a liberal amount onto the entire rectangle, leaving a one inch seam on one of the short ends. This is where you will close your rolls and you want the dough to stick to itself after rolled up!

Begin at the opposite end from where you left your sugarless seam and roll the dough onto itself until you get a log. Go slow and try to make sure that the whole log stays together. You can use the parchment to help you roll.

With a very sharp, serrated knife, cut the roll in half, then in half again and one final time so that you have 8 equal pieces.

Lightly spray the pan you are going to bake the rolls in.

Note: I like to bake mine in a round pan but if you want to use a 9 by 9 pan that is fine too but you will want to cut your rolls into 9 pieces so that they fit nicely into 3 rows of three!

Place the rolls onto the center rack of a hot oven and bake for 15 minutes with a piece of tin foil draped over the top of the baking dish. This doesn’t need to be sealed on the edges, just lay flat onto the top. The crescent dough will brown faster than it cooks so you want to guard aganist the tops of your rolls getting too brown, too quick!

After 15 minutes remove the foil and bake for another 10 to 15 minutes until light golden brown and fluffy!

I like to frost these rolls with cream cheese that I have added just a pinch of powdered sugar and vanilla extract. Personally, I don’t like my frosting to be too sweet because there is so much sugar in the rolls. The tang of the cream cheese is the perfect balance to all the sweetness and butter inside the rolls!

Let sit for 1-2 minutes after baking before frosting.
Enjoy!

Sauteed Sweet Onion and Sundried Tomato Avocado Toast with Pistachios

Avocado Toast. Call me a hippie, call me granola, either way I love it. Pseudo healthy, super trendy, foolishly expensive, and something that yes, I happen to eat way, way too much of. I’ll be the first to admit that avocado toast at home tends to get a little boring but not with this recipe! Perfect for a lazy Sunday brunch the entire dish takes about 15 minutes to make…but only about half that time to wolf it all down!

So, full disclosure…this recipe is a bit of a hack job that I may or may mot have ripped off from a local joint in my neighborhood! They have an avocado toast on their menu that, to the best that my taste buds can determine, is served with caramelized onions and sun-dried tomatoes. (All things that I happen to love.) I also love this recipe because so many avocado toast recipes these days seem to be either served with cheese, in some form or fashion, or an egg but this one is sans both and with the complexity of flavors, I promise that you won’t miss either…even if you aren’t plant-based.

What you are going to need to buy:

Your favorite loaf of crusty bread

Sun Dried Tomatoes - (We love California Sun Dried jarred tomoatoes)

Minced Garlic - (we like these jarred options from Spice World!)  

1/4 Small Sweet Onion, Sliced

Olive Oil

Avocado, medium

Salt & Pepper

Lime Juice

Pistachios

What you are going to need to do:

This is the kind of recipe that feels a little silly to even type out and post…but here we go.

In a small skillet saute onions and garlic on medium heat until onions begin to turn translucent and take on a caramel color (6-8 minutes) After the onions have cooked 5 minutes or so, reduce heat to low and add in 2 or 3 tablespoons of the sun dried tomatoes (along with a little of the oil they are packed in) Cover skillet and let cook another 3 minutes or so. Stir occasionally. Be careful not to let the tomatoes burn.

Open and remove pit from your avocado.

Take one half of the avocado and gently mash with a pinch of salt and a teaspoon of lime juice until soft enough to spread.

Toast your bread.

Srpead the mashed avocado on the toast and top with the warm onion and tomato mixture.

Using the second half of the avocado, gentle slice in strips and fan over the top of the tomatoes and onions.

Garnish with crushed pistachios, a little more lime juice. Any oil left in the skillet can be drizzled over the top of the finished dish.

Enjoy.

Vegan Walnut Banana Bread

Vegan baked goods are actually much easier and tastier than you might imagine and this Vegan Walnut Banana Bread is a perfect example. Moist, with plenty of lift, and a crunchy brown sugar crust it’s sure to become a family favorite.

Homemade breads are the kind of comfort foods that I can never resist! One of the best things about Vegan Banana bread is that you don’t need to stress out over trying to figure out an egg substitute because the bananas do that heavy lifting for you! This delicious recipe is the perfect way to use up your over-ripe fruit and can be totally customized with whatever mix-ins that you love! As with a lot of vegan baking, the trick to this banana bread is cooling time. Make sure to let this loaf cool completely before slicing or it will be crumbly and want to fall apart. Even letting it sit overnight, covered, isn’t a bad idea.

What you are going to need to buy:

3 Over-Ripe Bananas (The more brown and spotty, the better: I have, in a pinch used two over-ripe bananas mixed with one regular one and the recipe has worked out just fine.)

1/3 cup of White Sugar

1/3 cup of Brown Sugar (+ 1/4 cup to sprinkle on the top before baking)

1/3 cup of Vegetable Oil

1 tablespoon of Vanilla Extract

2 cups of All Purpose Flour

1 teaspoon of Salt

1 teaspoon of Baking Powder

1 teaspoon of Cinnamon

1 teaspoon of Nutmeg

1/2 cup of Walnuts, chopped

What you are going to need to do:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

To begin, mash your overripe bananas together in a mixing bowl until smooth.

To your banana puree add your oil, sugar, and vanilla and mix until well incorporated.

In another bowl sift together dry ingredients (minus the walnuts) and then add slowly to the banana/sugar/oil mixture.

Do not overwork the mixture. Gently fold in flour until just incorporated. Batter will be thick.

Fold in walnuts (or whatever other mix-ins you prefer. (Chocolate chips, cranberries, etc…)

Spoon batter into a loaf dish that you have oiled and floured

Using the back of the spoon smooth batter into pan making sure mixture is worked into all corners.

Sprinkle 1/4 cup of brown sugar onto the top on the batter for a crunchy top crust (Don’t sip this step…is it a lot of sugar…yes! Is it the best part? Also, yes!

Bake on the center rack of your oven for 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.

Remove from oven and let cool completely before serving (several hours, if not over night)

Enjoy!