Vegan Cinnabon Rolls

If I haven't mentioned it before, it is very difficult to be a vegan in Costa Rica. Being a vegetarian is hard enough, but being a vegan means pretty much cooking all your own food or being stuck with fries and salads when you go out. We recently got a Cinnabon at Multiplaza in Escazu, and damn, those things are EVIL! I had one, and felt extremely guilty afterwards. When I got home, I decided to try to find a recipe for the Cinnabon rolls and see what I could do to veganize it. I used a couple of clone recipes (1 for the rolls and 2 for the frosting) that are widely available on the net, put my own twists on them, and came up with this:

Dough (make in a bread machine):
1/4 cup warm water
1 cup soy milk -- room temperature
1 tbsp ground flax seeds mixed with 3 tbsp water (let sit for about 10 minutes)
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) margarine softened
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 cups all purpose white flour
1 package instant vanilla pudding mix (3 oz box)
1 tbsp bread machine yeast

Filling:
1 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) margarine softened

Frosting:
1/2 cup (1 stick) margarine softened*
2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 tablespoons hot water (add more if necessary)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
*if you have vegan cream cheese available, I'd use that instead of the margarine, but since we don't have any in CR...

Dough:
Add the dough ingredients, in the order listed, to the bread machine and prepare using the dough setting.

Separate into two halves; prepare each half separately. On a lightly floured surface, roll out one of the halves to a large rectangle.

Filling:
Spread half of the softened margarine over the rolled-out dough, then sprinkle with half the cinnamon and sugar filling. Starting at the long edge of the dough, roll up tightly. Mark the roll every 2 inches. With a thread, cut the roll by placing the thread under the roll at your mark, crisscross over and pull to cut. Place rolls into greased 8" or 9" baking pans 2" apart. Repeat with the remaining half of the dough and filling. If you use regular yeast, you may want to let the rolls proof for 15-30 minutes after assembly.

Cover rolls and let rise in a warm, draft free place until almost double, approximately 1 hour. After rising, rolls should be touching each other and the sides of the pan. Bake at 350 degrees F. for 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden brown.

Frosting:
Mix all frosting ingredients together in a bowl. Spread on warm rolls and serve immediately.

Nutritional information:
I have no idea, but they are likely to be highly fattening with all that margarine and sugar! However, you do get your omega-3s in there by using the flax seeds, right? I am not a vegan because I am trying to eat light (though I do try to eat healthy); I am a vegan because I care about animals. So this is some seriously good, not-terribly-healthy, cruelty-free muchies!

I am taking these to a lunch with the girlfriends tomorrow. I am not going to tell them they are vegan, so let's see if they're fooled...