Cinnamon Buns with Tahini Glaze

I don’t think there’s a single person out there who doesn’t love cinnamon buns. And the smell that fills the kitchen as they bake is almost reason enough to make these by itself! I have created many different types of cinnamon buns throughout the years but these are by far my favourite. There’s just something about the combination of fresh bread, cinnamon and tahini that wins my heart.

These buns are even more special since they include an edible souvenir I brought back from my recent food trip to Israel with Vibe Israel . You can read from my previous blog posts about all the amazing vegan restaurants we went to and the street food we ate, but on top of this we also visited the Al Arz tahini factory, which has some of the best tahini in the world (in my humble opinion :)).

It was a dream come true on so many levels - getting to taste hot tahini straight from the machine is something I’ll never forget. We got to see how tahini is made and bottled, taste different tahinis as well as pistachio and coffee halwa. And even though their tahini is SO GOOD that you can just eat it with a spoon, drizzle on veggies or mix with date syrup for a caramely sweet sauce, I had to create a recipe with it too as soon as I got home.

This recipe combines my love for cinnamon buns and tahini in a lip-smacking baked treat. I hope you love them as much as I do!

I am forever grateful for Vibe Israel for this eye-opening trip. You can follow their Instagram to see what else they’ve got going on - they organize exciting tours showing the best of Israel throughout the year!

1. To make the dough, place the lukewarm milk, sugar, salt and coconut oil in a large bowl and mix until the sugar has dissolved. Add the yeast, then start adding the flour bit by bit until the mixture comes together. You may not need all the flour. 

2. Dust a working surface and knead the dough for 6-8 minutes until uniform and springy. You can also do this with a mixer and dough attachment. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and let rise for 1-2 hours in a warm place, until doubled in size. 

3. While the dough is rising, make the filling by mixing together the vegan butter, brown sugar, ground cinnamon and cardamom. Set aside.

4. Preheat oven to 375F/180C. Roll out the dough into a rectangle on a floured surface, the spread the cinnamon mixture on top. Roll the dough up, creating a cylinder, then slice crosswise into rolls. 

5. Place parchment paper in a small baking tin and arrange the buns. Cook for 30-35 minutes, until lightly browned on top. Let cool. 

6. Make the icing by mixing together tahini and icing sugar. Drizzle on top of the buns. 

7. Best served when still warm. Enjoy!

Dough:

1 cup lukewarm unsweetened plant milk

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 tsp salt

1/4 cup melted refined coconut oil or vegan butter

1 tbsp fast action (instant) yeast

2 1/2 cups plain flour

Filling:

3 tablespoons vegan butter, melted

3/4 cup light brown sugar

1 ½ tablespoons ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground cardamom

Glaze:

2 tbsp runny tahini

1/2 cup - 1 cup powdered sugar

Vegan Lemon Poppyseed Muffins

Muffins have always been my favourite go-to, quick baked treat. These ones come together so quickly and they have a wonderful tangy flavour. Combine that with poppy seeds and you've got yourself a real winner! 

When I was growing up the poppy seed rolls were one of my favourite baked treats. I haven't eaten one in years now but baking anything with poppy seeds reminds me of a simpler time when young Anett could easily eat one or two of those pastries a day straight from the bakery. Those where the days, eh?

If you want more delicious vegan baked treats and other recipes then check out the Deliciously Vegan App - there's over 200 recipes there already and counting! Over the past months I've put most of my emphasis on creating more recipes for the app, and to be completely honest, this blog as been left a bit on wayside. But I am working on new recipes for you my blog peeps now, so hold tight!

View fullsize

View fullsize

Ingredients

makes 6 big or 9 small muffins

• 2 cups plain flour

• 2 tsp baking powder

• ¼ tsp baking soda

• 3 tbsp poppy seeds

• 1/2 tsp powdered vanilla (sub vanilla extract)

• 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp organic brown sugar or coconut sugar

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 1/3 cup melted vegan butter or avocado oil

• zest & juice of 1 lemon

• 1 cup soy milk

• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar

for the glaze:

• ¾ cups powdered sugar

• 1-2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

Method

Preheat oven to 180C. Line a cupcake tray with muffin liners.

In a medium sized bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, soda, poppy seeds, vanilla, sugar and salt. Mix well.

In another bowl, combine the melted butter, lemon juice, soy milk and apple cider vinegar. 

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ones by folding the batter gently until smooth and incorporated. Spoon into cupcake liners and bake for 15-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cool completely before icing.

To make the icing, combine the powdered sugar and lemon juice until you reach the desired consistency. Pour over muffins. Enjoy!

Vegan banana chocolate chunk muffins

Fluffy muffins, sweet banana & slightly bitter chocolate chips. Ready in next to no time and perfect with a cup of tea or coffee.

This muffin recipe is another one made with the magic of aquafaba aka chickpea water. It is best to use a can of good quality organic chickpeas (make hummus from those!), drain into a jar and keep in the fridge. You can also freeze it in ice cube trays to use whenever you need it!

I find that the combination of banana and aquafaba creates the most perfect moist muffins, which is why I come back to these again and again. I've also added walnuts and blueberries to the mix and it tastes amazing! So feel free to play around. 

Vegan banana muffins

Ingredients

2 small ripe bananas

3 tbsp aquafaba

3 tbsp almond milk 

3 tbsp maple syrup

2 tbsp almond butter

1/2 tsp salt 

2 tbsp coconut oil, melted

1 cup plain flour

1,5 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract or vanilla powder

40 gr dark chocolate, roughly chopped or dark chocolate chips

Method

Preheat oven to 180C. 

Combine the bananas, aquafaba, almond milk, almond butter, salt and coconut oil in the jug of a blender and blend until smooth. 

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, vanilla and and dark chocolate chunks/chips. Fold in the wet ingredients until you get a smooth consistency. Line a muffin tray with cupcake liners and scoop the batter into the pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until browned on top and a toothpick inserted comes out clean. 

PEAR GALETTE with a rooibos glaze

 

South African supermarkets have the tendency to sell big bags of pears, which in the beginning are all super unripe and within a couple of days every last one of them is so ripe and juicy that it must be eaten NOW.

That’s what happened this morning. A bag full of ripe pears – half of them I blended into a smoothie and half of them are here, in their full delicious glory.

This recipe is a complete dream, if I may say so without tooting my own horn too much. I ate a piece, texted my boyfriend a picture captioning “Omg I made something reaaaallllyyyyy tasty” (exact words btw) and continued to eat two more slices without having a single regret. (Still none :)))))) )

I’m pretty sure that this dough recipe will work with any fruit, but these pears were just perfect. Place a couple of tablespoons of coconut whip or ice cream of top and you are in heaven!

Ingredients

150g unbleached all-purpose flour

25g whole wheat flour

1 tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

115 ml coconut oil, cold

approximately 30 ml water

150 ml rooibos tea

3 tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla seeds

3 tbsp maple syrup, for brushing

2 pears, cut in half length-wise, seeds removed and thinly sliced

Icing sugar, for dusting

Coconut whipped cream, to serve

Method

Preheat oven to 200C.

Place the flours, sugar and salt in a food processor and pulse to combine. Add the coconut oil and pulse until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Start dripping in cold water while the machine is running until the dough comes together. Take it out, form a ball, flatten it into a disc, wrap in cling wrap and place in the fridge for 15 minutes.

Now make the rooibos glaze by bringing the tea, sugar and vanilla to a boil and reducing it until the consistency of syrup.

Roll out the dough between two sheets of baking paper. Arrange the pears on top, fanning them out and leaving a bit of room from the sides. Bring the sides of the dough over the pears, smudging together any bits that tear. Brush the pears with the rooibos glaze and the dough with the maple syrup. Place in the oven at 200C for 15-20 minutes until slightly golden. Serve warm with coconut whipped cream. Enjoy!

CINNAMON, MAPLE & BLUEBERRY ROLLS

 

This recipe is for all the people who say they find it hard to think up tasty vegan desserts. These sweet cinnamon, maple and blueberry rolls are ideal for a quick, easy breakfast, or just for a small bite on–the–go. And because they’re 100% vegan, they don’t leave you feeling as heavy as their dairy-based counterparts. And nothing really beats the smell of freshly baked cinnamon rolls when these babies are cooking in the oven. MMMMMmmmm.

Ingredients

150ml almond milk, lukewarm

1 tsp white/light brown sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp powdered vanilla

1/4 tsp ground cardamom

5 g instant dry yeast (2 tsp)

15 ml coconut oil, + more for brushing

175 g unbleached all-purpose wheat flour, more for dusting

3 heaped tbsps of brown sugar

3 tbsp of maple syrup

2 tsp ground cinnamon

70 g blueberries

150 ml icing sugar

1-3 tbsp almond milk

Method

In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine the almond milk, sugar, salt, vanilla powder, ground cardamom, coconut oil and yeast. Mix with a wooden spoon. Add the flour bit by bit until the dough comes together, then turn out on a floured surface and knead for 8-10 minutes until smooth and springs back. Place in a lightly oiled bowl, covered with cling wrap and leave to rise in a warm place until doubled in size.

In another bowl, mix together the brown sugar, maple syrup and cinnamon.

Turn the dough out on a floured surface and roll into a rectangle, approximately 30 cm on each size. Brush the dough with coconut oil, then spread the sugar-maple-cinnamon mixture all over. Dot the dough with blueberries, roll up tightly and the cut into equal-sized rolls, about 5 cm thick. Place the rolls in an oiled baking dish and bake at 180C for 25-30 minutes or until golden. Remove from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes, then coat with a mixture of almond milk and icing sugar. Serve warm. Enjoy!

FRESH COCONUT, MACADAMIA & BANANA LOAF

 

I woke up to 3 very ripe bananas this morning. Spots all over, almost mushy. And yet so sweet. I knew I had to make something with them TODAY or leave them for the fruit flies.

The answer was in this semi-tropical banana bread, full of fresh grated coconut and macadamia nuts. It’s like the most perfect moist sweet bread, delicious just as is and with a little bit of coconut whip and berries. So good.

Ingredients

3 ripe bananas, mashed (should make up about 250ml)

250ml plant-based milk

2 tbsp white wine vinegar

300g plain flour

pinch of salt

1/2 tsp powdered vanilla

100g sugar

1 tbsp baking powder

25 ml coconut oil

150g fresh coconut, grated

50g raw macadamia nuts, coarsely chopped

+ extra macadamia nuts and coconut flakes for topping

Method

Preheat oven to 180C and grease a loaf pan with oil.

In a bowl, whisk together mashed bananas, plant-based milk and vinegar. Leave aside for 10 minutes.

In another bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, vanilla, baking powder and salt. Add the liquids to the dry ingredients by folding them in with a spatula. Add the grated coconut and macadamia nuts and mix thoroughly. Pour the batter into the tin and spread out evenly. Sprinkle macadamia nuts and coconut flakes over, then place in the oven for about 1h or until a toothpick/knife inserted comes out clean. Cool completely before cutting. Enjoy!