Upgrade your traditional cinnamon rolls by adding in blueberry compote. This adds both nutritional value and flavor to this yummy dessert or breakfast. The blueberry compote is made with fresh or frozen blueberries, chia seeds and maple syrup. I spread it on top of the cinnamon and sugar mixture before rolling. When baked, the blueberries ooze out of the tightly rolled dough and is all light, creamy and delicious!

I took my original cinnamon roll recipe and adapted it to make these blueberry cinnamon rolls. There is no dairy in this recipe making it suitable for a vegan lifestyle. I used regular flour for this recipe, but if you wanted to make it vegan I would suggest using bob’s red mill 1:1 gluten-free flour.

Ingredients in blueberry cinnamon rolls

Now , if you have never made cinnamon rolls from scratch you may think this is going to be a long and strenuous effort, but to your surprise you will see that this recipe is anything but that. From start to finish these cinnamon rolls will be ready to eat in less than 45 minutes. This recipe is yeast-free, and instead I use baking powder to make these nice and fluffy. There is a small wait time of 15 minutes to allow the baking powder to really work with the dough, but that is all the rising time you will need.

blueberries– fresh or frozen will work for this recipe.

chia seeds- you can omit this if you don’t have any on hand, but I personally love chia seed jam and think it adds nutritional value to this recipe.

maple syrup– I add only a small amount of maple syrup to the jam to give it a sweeter taste rather than a tart one. You can omit this if you like a tarter jam.

non-dairy butter– I love to use Country Crock non-dairy butter, but you can use whichever brand you prefer. If you aren’t vegan or non-dairy you can sub regular butter.

almond milk– you can also use any nut milk or non-dairy milk that you prefer. You may also use regular milk and it will all work the same.

baking powder- this will act as the yeast in this recipe.

coconut sugar- I like to use coconut sugar in replace of brown sugar. These two are interchangeable in recipes so please use whichever you prefer!

cinnamon– ground cinnamon that will be mixed with the coconut sugar for the filling.

Kitchen tools needed to make blueberry cinnamon rolls

Since these are yeast-free cinnamon rolls, you won’t need any fancy kitchen tools like a mixer or dough roller. But instead, we will need a handful of everyday kitchen tools.

• two saucepans
• two mixing bowls
• rolling pin
• baking dish
• spatula
• measuring cups

How to make blueberry cinnamon rolls

This recipe will start by making the blueberry compote. In a small saucepan, add in fresh or frozen blueberries and allow to simmer over medium to low heat for about 5-7 minutes. The blueberries will start to break down and juices will start to flow. Once you reach this point, reduce heat to low and stir in chia seeds and maple syrup. Mix well and set this mixture aside.

In a mixing bowl, combine flour and baking powder. Set aside.

In a separate saucepan, melted vegan butter and then add in almond milk. Allow these two to heat and mix together, but don’t let the mixture start to boil. If this mixture is too hot, it will kill the yeast in the flour and the cinnamon rolls won’t rise.

Pour this mixture into the flour and mix with a spatula until a dough start to form. Sprinkle a clean surface with flour and bring the dough out of the bowl and start to kneed. Roll the dough into a ball and place back into the bowl. Cover with a damp towel and leave alone for 15 minutes to allow the dough to rise.

After the 15 minutes are up, bring the dough back onto the flour surface and start to roll out with the rolling pin until you reach a large rectangle.

In a small bowl, combine coconut sugar and cinnamon and set aside.

Melt the rest of the butter in the saucepan, then pour over rolled out dough and spread evenly throughout. Then, sprinkle the dough with the cinnamon and sugar mixture and spread until evenly dispersed.

Add the blueberry compote last, and once again spread until evenly dispersed throughout. You can use a brushing tool or a spatula. The spatula worked best for me.

Then, tightly start to roll the dough until you have a long tube or log. Using a knife, cut evenly all the way across. You can discard the end pieces or bake them. I always like to bake them, they might not look as pretty as the rest, but they still taste good!

Lightly grease a baking dish with non-stick spray, then add the cinnamon rolls to the baking dish. They can be close in proximately to one another as they will spread during baking time.

Bake in the oven for 18-20 minutes. Allow to cool slightly before icing.

To make the icing, simply combine powdered sugar and almond milk in a bowl. Option to add vanilla for more flavor.

Pour icing over cinnamon rolls and enjoy!