No Animals Were Harmed in the Making of this Bun Stuff

Battle of the Vegan Buns for Meat Free Mondays (is that a thing? probably)

I was off work this past week, and ended up going a bit all-out on the remainder of the “easy” places on my cinnamon roll checklist, which led to seven tastings and brought the total number of officially rated rolls to 72. I even ended up with too many rolls, a situation that surprisingly hasn’t happened yet but due to some nuance with ordering ahead from two bakeries I have, in my freezer, 13 rolls that I’ll have to mete out over the coming weeks.

But also! I went to four vegan bakeries this past week, which combined with the four I visited prior makes for eight total vegan places (one of them also gluten-free) to get your plant-based pastry fix at. Most of them were pretty good, and some of them were very good, but I’ll give you the goods below so you can be properly informed before engaging in any animal-free bun stuff.

Beyond Sushi

I know what you’re saying - John, this is a sushi restaurant, it says so in the name, why are you including them because a) sushi is fish and b) sushi is not buns. Well, Beyond Sushi is a plant-based sushi and other foods restaurant chain that appeared on shark tank (the irony) and also happens to have a cinnamon roll. There’s several around the city, but I stopped by the one in the East Village to investigate more. They advertise their cinnamon roll as coming with caramel sauce, shaved roasted coconut, and serving of coconut ice cream on the side. Those things are true. What they don’t tell you is the rolls are basically the same rolls they use for their garlic knots just dusted with cinnamon instead of garlic, and cooked a little too long. The star of this show is the coconut ice cream though, which is very good. Not the rolls though, skip those.

Body & Soul

If you’re feeling hungry, like, spiritually, and happen to be at a Greenmarket, definitely check out Body & Soul. Also if you’re normal hungry. They have a sweet potato cinnamon roll the size of your face that has a surprisingly strong cinnamon filling. The sweet potato dough has a nice tang and texture, and there’s technically some frosting on there but not a ton, but that’s ok. Pop over to Union Square or one of their other locations and feast on this elephant ear of a roll (again, vegan so no actual elephants or ears):

Brooklyn Whiskers

Shoutout to Alyssa for informing me of this cat-named, but not cat-themed cafe and bakery with various locations in Brooklyn (I visited their HQ in Bushwick). Their cinnamon roll comes with a few candied pecans on top, which are nice but really only show up once you get to the middle. I’m including two pictures here, a top and side view, because whatever dark magic they do this roll is incredibly sturdy without being hard to bite through. There’s almost no deformation to the remainder as you try to gnaw through it like an apple. If you’re here and in the mood, it’s worth getting but their other pastries look tastier (and the pop tart I can confirm is a very good choice).

Cinnamon Girl

Cinnamon Girl is a vegan shop and bakery with a few locations around Brooklyn. Their cinnamon rolls come with some unique toppings, the day I went the only option was a maple frosting. The frosting, was good, and I can confirm that maple is a great option for regular cinnamon rolls that more places should start to use. Their frosting also had a lovely, creamy texture. The rest of the roll was OK.

Clementine Bakery

Their cinnamon rolls are a work of art. Just look at this beautiful thing.

I was literally the first person to purchase one the day I went (I came to late a previous adventure and was stuck with their chocolate chip cinnamon roll which I cannot recommend), so this thing was still hot and dripping fresh from the oven. The dough was thick and airy, with just the right amount of chewiness, and the filling was dripping out everywhere. Get you some.

Erin McKenna’s Bakery

Erin McKenna’s is a gluten- and many-other-things-free bakery with locations on the LES and LA. Their cinnamon roll is quite unique. The texture is like a cross between a scone and a crumb cake, with some cinnamon filling mixed up in there. The dough and syrup is quite sweet, although since it’s agave based it’s much more smooth than a regular sugar sweetener. This one is very hard to compare to any of the other rolls here, but if you’ve got a gluten thing it’s not a bad choice. You do have to pre-order (in multiples of 6), but they ship nationwide. This is part 1 of what got me into trouble.

Happy Zoe

This is part 2 of what got me into trouble. Happy Zoe is a bakery in Greenpoint, which also requires pre-ordering (in multiples of 5), and they also have a delicious looking raspberry roll. I went ahead and ordered both, and lo and behold these things are monsters.

That’s a standard issue cake box barely fitting 5 of them in there. The dough is quite good, if a bit dry, and there’s no shortage of cinnamon filling. The frosting is a bit sweet, but balances the strong flavor of the filling well. All the parts combine to make this a pretty excellent roll. The raspberry variant adds raspberries into the roll, which has the benefit of fixing some of the dryness in the dough (and is in my opinion, the better option). Order a box and bring some friends.

Seitan Rising

Second shoutout to Alyssa for informing me of Seitan Rising in Bushwick, who’s roll is so good it's almost sinful. On my visit, they were serving pumpkin cinnamon buns. The dough was nice and mild albeit a bit chewy, with the pumpkin giving it a lovely orange tint (with a dash of sparkles on top). The frosting was very smooth and tasty, but the filling is the standout here with the right amount of gooeyness and just a hint of the bitter cinnamon filling. There's good ratios on everything, and there's not much left wanting. Also, this was the most commented on Insta story I’ve had in a while. This is the real apple in the Garden, watch your step.

…and the winner is

Hail Seitan, because they take the cake (er, roll) with this. It’s got all the right components and ratios, plus you’ll get all the likes on Instagram. What more could you want? Clementine’s comes in a close second, but really Seitan’s Rising is setting a new bar for all bakeries with those gold sprinkles.

Seriously, send me some fan mail

I know you’ve all got some pastries out there, what are you chomping on? This year has set me on an insatiable course that will likely only end with the diagnosis of Type 2 diabetes, in which case I’ll need to rely purely on the experiences of others. Help me avoid that fate and send me some things before it comes to that!

Thanks again for reading this long edition of bun stuff, see you next time 💖