Sweet Sundays: True, my book has well over 200 recipes, but I think it is something of a milestone when a blog exceeds 100 recipes - each with photo, story, and dedicated post. Since Go Dairy Free the website is a conglomerate of information and recipes from various sources (myself, other bloggers and authors, etc.), I decided a couple of years ago to set up a place to log just my dairy-free recipes that are published on the Internet - and One Frugal Foodie was born. Since writing Go Dairy Free: The Guide and Cookbook, I have come up with over 100 more recipes and posted them to this blog (at last count, the recipe index was up to 106 individual dairy-free recipes). Okay, there are quite a few more recipes in my arsenal waiting to be released, but more on that soon ...

For now, to celebrate this accomplishment, I thought it best to share one of the Sunday-worthy recipes from that I would classify as a "reader's favorite." This is one of the recipes on One Frugal Foodie that has received the most emails and comments from pleased viewers who have tried it. Like all of my recipes, I like to note what special diets it caters to, and these scrumptious Cinnamon Rolls are vegan (dairy-free and egg-free), nut-free, and optionally soy-free. Enjoy ...

"So, what do you do on a Friday night? Well, I bake cinnamon buns … half way. You see, all of those recipes that require you to make cinnamon buns from scratch in the morning seem ridiculous. I am hungry in the morning! I don’t want to wait for dough prep and two whole rising times before I can sink my teeth into those babies. No, a little forethought is in order.

As luck would have it, I was out of eggs. So these cinnamon rolls are vegan (dairy-free, egg-free), but don’t let that fool you, they are incredibly tender and delicious. You won’t know the difference between these and those fluffy store-bought cinnamon rolls. In fact, my husband swore that these were much better. As verified by the quantity he ate before I could even take a picture …

Plus, I suppose these could even be called “pantry cinnamon rolls” for their use of basic everyday ingredients that require no refrigeration … how cool is that?! Did I mention I found another way to use up overripe bananas?"

Overnight Double-the-Cinnamon Rolls

Inspired by a recipe on Don’t Eat Off the Sidewalk, this recipe is Vegan / Vegetarian, Dairy-Free, Egg-Free, Nut-Free, and optionally Soy-Free).

Dough:

• 1 Package Active Dry Yeast (or 2 1/4 teaspoons)
• 1/2 Cup Almond Milk (or other milk alternative), heated to lukewarm
• 3 Cups Bread Flour or All-Purpose Flour, plus more as needed
• 1 Teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
• 1 Teaspoon Salt
• 3/4 Cup Mashed Ripe Banana*
• 1/4 Cup Coconut Oil or Margarine, melted (I used coconut oil; can sub other oil if needed)
• 1 Tablespoon White Sugar or Evaporated Cane Juice

Filling:

• 1/2 Cup Firmly Packed Brown Sugar
• 2 Teaspoons Ground Cinnamon
• 3 Tablespoons Margarine or Coconut Oil (I used margarine)

Glaze:

• 3/4 Cup Sifted Powdered Sugar
• 1/4 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• Water as needed (1 to 2 Tablespoons)
• 1 1/2 Teaspoons Maple Syrup (optional)
• Margarine or Coconut Oil (optional)

In a large mixing bowl, combine the yeast and the warm milk alternative, and let it rest for 5 minutes. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cinnamon, and salt, and set aside. Returning to the yeast, mix in the banana, melted oil or margarine (I used coconut oil), and sugar. Add half of the flour mixture to your mixing bowl and stir to combine. Slowly mix in the rest of the flour until a nice dough forms.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead it for 10 minutes or so, adding more flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, as needed to keep it from sticking to your hands. You should end up with a fairly soft dough that is just slightly sticky. Place the dough in a greased bowl, cover and allow it to rise in a warm place for about 45 minutes, or until it has doubled in size. Tip: I actually mix the dough by hand in a round pyrex baking dish with a glass lid. When done making the dough, the bowl is still lightly floured/greased (I cheat and even knead the dough in the bowl), and I just pop the lid on and set it aside to rise.

Punch the dough down; cover and let rest for 5 minutes. While that is resting, combine the filling ingredients. If using chilled margarine, you should end up with coarse crumbles. If you are like me and use softened margarine, you will get big soft globs of sugar. Oil or shortening should work okay, but I do like margarine for the filling.

Roll the dough into a 12 x 10-inch rectangle on a floured surface. Sprinkle with brown sugar mixture (it won’t fully cover, just evenly spread it out in small pieces as much as possible). Roll up the rectangle tightly, from the long side, pinch the seam to seal, dabbing it with a bit of water if needed. Cut the roll into 12 even slices. Place the slices in a greased 9-inch square or round baking pan**, cut sides down. Give them a little bit of space, as they will rise. Cover with plastic wrap, and pop them in the fridge to rise overnight.

In the morning, pull the cinnamon rolls from the fridge and place them on top of the stove while you preheat the oven to 375ºF. Bake them for 20-25 minutes, or until they are a light golden brown (I like them on the less browned side).

Let those piping hot cinnamon buns cool while you whisk together the glaze. Really all you need to do is whisk the powdered sugar with the vanilla extract and start with just a tablespoon of hot water, adding more only as needed. I also added some pure maple syrup, which I thought mellowed out the powdered sugar and added nice flavor, and I also added about a teaspoon or so of coconut oil to help round it out. Do what you like best, taste-testing as you go of course!

Serve up the cinnamon buns and drizzle with as much glaze as you like, or for less of a sugar rush, enjoy them as is.

Yields 12 cinnamony buns

Notes / Options:

* No Banana? – Like the recipe from Don’t Eat of the Sidewalk, you can use pumpkin puree or sweet potato puree in equal amounts to substitute for the banana. Heck, you may even be able to use applesauce … or some dairy-free yogurt!

** Pan Size – I actually didn’t have any 9 x 9 pans, so I used an 8-inch cake pan, fit nine cinnamon rolls in it (giving them each a wee bit of room to expand) and popped the other three, cut sides down in three muffin tins. The ones in the muffin tins cooked up just a few minutes faster. Feel free to wedge these babies into whatever size pans you have available. Give them just a bit of room, but not too much; you want them to rise, but also to be smooshed together once they rise and bake for that tender, pull-apart affect.

For more of my recipes, see Go Dairy Free: The Guide and Cookbook for Milk Allergies, Lactose Intolerance, and Casein-Free Living and my personal recipe blog, One Frugal Foodie.