Vegan Coffee Rolls

I've been on an eggless/vegan kick recently. Honestly the idea of eggs is freaking me out slightly. I never really enjoyed making or eating eggs, but now I'm more inclined to bake without them than with them if I can.

We have a family recipe for Coffee Rolls, that is similar to this recipe. However I wanted to work with a separate recipe than my families, because I wanted these rolls to not be a vegan version of something great, I wanted this recipe to be great on its own.

Vegan Coffee Rolls
prep time:  3 1/2 hours
cook time: 15 minutes
oven temp: 400 degrees
yeilds: 35 coffee rolls

1 package dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1 cup soy milk (I used light soy because that is what I had.)
3 cups flour plus 1/4 cup flour for kneading
1/4 cup earth promise vegan butter
3 Tbsp sugar**
1 Tbsp ground flax seeds
3 Tbsp water
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 Tbsp earth promise vegan butter
1 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

 It does say that this recipe will take 3 1/2 hours from start to finish, and yes that is true but a lot of it is resting and rising time. This recipe is not as intense as it seems from first look. So I'd definitely recommend trying it.

Dissolve the entire package of dry yeast in warm water, then add the soy milk and stir. Add 1 cup of flour to the yeast and soy milk mixture-you are making a yeast sponge. Let sit for 30 minutes.

Cream the vegan butter, and sugar. Microwave the flax seeds with the 3 Tbsp water for 30 seconds until it forms a gummy texture. Add the flax seeds to the creamed butter and sugar, stir in the salt. 

Once the yeast sponge has sat for 30 minutes mix in the vegan butter, sugar and flax seed mixture. Add 2 additional cups of flour to make the dough soft. Turn out onto your kneading surface. I needed an extra 1/4 cup of flour to get my dough to the correct consistency, but just work your dough slowly until it is soft and no longer sticky.

Place the dough into a greased bowl, and put in a warmed oven, let the dough rise for about an hour. The oven should not be on. You can warm the oven prior to placing the bowl in by having the oven on 100 degrees for about 5 minutes. The dough should about double in size.

While the dough is rising you want to make the filling. Fork the 1/2 Tbsp vegan butter, sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. It will end up being the consistency of sand.

Punch the dough down, and let it rest for 5 to 10 minutes. Roll out the dough into a rectangle, should be about 12 inches by 18 inches. Spread the cinnamon mixture over the entire surface. Roll the dough tightly. Cut into about inch width pieces and place into a greased muffin pan. Let the rolls rise in the muffin tin for another hour.  

Bake at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes until golden brown. Let sit in the muffin tins for a few minutes then turn out onto cooling racks, and let cool.

**Please note that if you are making this recipe for someone who is vegan you should either check with them on if they eat refined sugar, or buy vegan sugar.

Recipe variations: The coffee rolls that my mom makes have raisins in the filling, so if you like raisins you could always add this to the filling. I prepared half the recipe without raisins and half with. I added 1/8 cup of raisins to the filling ingredients. You can also top these rolls with icing, but I don't think they need that extra sweetness.

Be careful, as you can see above. One of mine stayed in the oven for a minute or two too long, and these ended up going down the drain. The caramelizing of the sugar and cinnamon creates this sticky goodness, but it will burn if you leave the rolls in too long.

I really liked these coffee rolls, just enough sweetness paired with the yeast dough, makes them perfect for a snack or breakfast.

Eggless Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ever use your last egg for breakfast and need to make cookies? Or have you ever been 1 egg short and wonder can I still make this recipe? Well lately I've been trying to avoid eggs in my baking and have found a few different ways to substitute eggs. This is just one recipe you can't tell is eggless at all. There are a few different substitutes that can be used for eggs and a few are explained below.

Eggless Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 1/8 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter (salted, 1 stick)
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar (firmly packed)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 Tbsp ground flax seeds**
4 1/2 Tbsp water
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

In a bowl combine your flax seeds and water together, place in a microwave for 15 30 seconds. The flax seeds will absorb the water and turn into a thick, gel like substance. It will be the consistency of egg whites. Set this mixture aside. Cream together the butter, sugars and vanilla, then add in the flax seed and water mixture. Stir until combined. In a separate bowl combine the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, and salt.) Slowly add the dry to the wet mixture. Beat until the dough comes together. Add the chocolate chips and stir just until coated with the dough.

I use an ice cream scoop to make my cookies, this way they will all be the same size. Using an inch scoop I yielded 30 cookies from this recipe. Scoop your cookies onto a non-greased baking sheet and place in the oven for about 12 minutes, until golden brown. Let cookies harden on the warm baking sheet for a few minutes before moving them to cooling racks.

**Flax seeds are a great substitute for eggs. You can find them at any grocery store usually in the natural foods section. I usually buy the ground flax seeds, but you can also buy whole fax seeds, however if you want to use them as an egg substitute you will need to grind them either in a Cuisinart or coffee grinder. Flax seeds have Omega 3s and a ton of other good for you vitamins and minerals. Other egg substitues with measurements are listed below.
1 Tbsp ground fax seeds with 3 Tbsp water = 1 egg
1/4 cup applesause = 1 egg
Egg beaters (follow directions on container.)
For more check out this PETA link.

Also this recipe can easily be made vegan by using vegan butter, and carob chips as replacements. Some vegans do not eat regular refined granulated sugar (because of the refining process.) So you if you are making these for a vegan you should buy vegan sugar and use it instead of the sugar you have in your cabinet, usually found in a natural foods store.