Glorious Vegan Cinnamon Buns

Here’s another recipe people have asked me about and I’m happy to finally share it with you: my glorious, seriously addictive vegan cinnamon buns!

These buns don’t just look fabulous, they’re also super tasty and easier to make than you might think. What I love about this recipe is that the technique is very forgiving, so even the wonkiest buns will come out of the oven looking super cute. Their gorgeous shape also helps keep them moist for longer. Yes, you heard me: moist, moist, moist!

The below recipe is for seven buns only but that doesn’t mean you can’t double, triple or quadruple it. Although vegan, these buns go down like butter so you want to plan accordingly!

Ingredients

Dough for 7 buns

300g plain white flour

7g (2 1/4 tsp) fast-action yeast

45g granulated sugar

2g (1/4 tsp, heaped) salt

150g soya milk

55g vegan spread (margarine)

Filling for 7 buns

100g vegan spread

80g soft light brown sugar

7g (3 1/2 tsp) cinnamon

If you’ve tried my cinnamon buns before and want to recreate that particular flavour, have a look at my notes at the bottom of this page for more info on ingredients as well as my tips for multiplying the recipe.

Method

Step 1 Measure your dry ingredients (flour, yeast, sugar, salt).

Step 2 Add soya milk into the mixing bowl of a stand mixer. Then, one after another, add the flour, yeast, sugar, salt and vegan spread.

Step 3 With a dough hook, mix the ingredients on the lowest speed until the dough comes together (3-5 minutes). Then, increase the speed to medium and let the dough knead for another 5 - 7 minutes. After a total of about 10 minutes, the dough should come away from the sides of your mixing bowl, looking smooth and shiny. If you knead by hand it will take longer for the dough to reach the same consistency.

Step 4 Take the dough out of the bowl to form a smooth ball. If you’re multiplying the recipe, now is the time to divide the dough into equal portions. Have a look here for tips on multiplying.

Step 5 Sprinkle a little flour into your mixing bowl, put the dough ball back inside and sprinkle its surface with a little flour, too. Seal the bowl with clingfilm or silicone wrap or simply cover it with a clean kitchen towel and leave it in a warm place to rest for 45 - 60 minutes (or until it has at least doubled in size).

Step 6  Now it’s time to whip up your cinnamon-butter filling. Simply mix the vegan spread, soft brown sugar and cinnamon powder with a paddle beater until the mixture is light, fluffy and easily spreadable. Refrigerate it while the dough is resting.

Step 7 When the dough has about doubled in size, take it out of the bowl and put it on a lightly floured surface. It should feel soft and bouncy. Use your fingertips to flatten the ball.

Step 8 With a rolling pin, roll out the dough into a square of roughly 50cm x 50cm. You don’t have to be precise here, but 50cm x 50cm is a good ballpark measure to get the dough to the right thickness.

Step 9 Evenly spread the cinnamon-butter mixture onto the 50cm x 50cm sheet of dough. Make sure to give some extra love to the edges as they are particularly prone to drying out during baking. We’re not here to make dry cinnamon buns!

Step 10 It’s almost time to make the buns but before you do, have a look at the sketch below and read the instructions on how to put them together. It should give you a good idea of how to go about folding and braiding them.

Step 11  You will fold the sheet of dough twice, once from the bottom and once from the top. First, fold the lower third of the dough up. Then fold the upper third of the dough down, on top of the first, to end up with three layers. You should now be facing the long side of a rectangle that’s around 50cm wide and roughly 16cm high.

Step 12  With a long, sharp knife cut the dough into seven strips, each measuring around 7cm in width.

Step 13 Lengthwise, cut each strip twice so that you end up with three braidable strands, leaving around 1cm at the top to keep it in one piece (see below).

Step 14 This next part will most likely be a bit messy and that’s okay. To shape the buns, braid the strands together loosely, then slightly squish the loose ends to make them stick together. Then, starting at the top, roll the braid into a little bun and pop it — pretty side up — into a non-stick (or lined) muffin tin. These buns are super forgiving, so don’t worry if they don’t look perfect!

Step 15 Once all the buns are braided and resting in the tins, it’s time for proving. Ideally, pop them in a container with a lid that’s high enough for them to double in size and leave them in a warm place for around 60 minutes. If you don’t have a suitable container, you could simply cover them with a clean, damp kitchen towel.

Step 16 When the buns have about doubled in size, preheat your oven to 185ºC (fan.) Once hot, bake the buns for around 15 minutes on the middle rack and turn the baking tray halfway through to ensure a nice, even bake.

Step 17 After 15 minutes (or when the buns have achieved your preferred shade of brown), take them out of the oven and let them cool on a wire rack. Don’t worry if they appear a bit doughy or even slightly undercooked, that’s how it’s supposed to be. They taste fantastic while still slightly warm and I highly recommend eating them on the day (which shouldn’t be a problem). If you must hold on to them for longer, keep them in an airtight container, preferably unrefrigerated.

Notes on Ingredients

Cinnamon

I like to use pure cassia (or ‘sweet’) cinnamon for this recipe as opposed to ceylon (or ‘real’) cinnamon. The type of cinnamon is not always specified on the packaging but if you have the choice, I recommend going for pure cassia cinnamon. Especially if you’ve tried my cinnamon buns before and want to recreate that particular flavour.

Flour

My personal choice of flour for this recipe is Tesco’s Organic Plain Flour. It’s labelled plain flour but has a slightly higher amount of protein than other ‘plain’ or ‘all-purpose’ flours, which helps give the buns structure and makes them softer and fluffier. If you’re not using the above, I would opt for a ‘strong white’ or ‘bread’ flour with up to 13g of protein.

Milk Alternative

Traditionally, cinnamon buns are made with eggs, which add protein to the dough and give structure to the buns. Because this recipe doesn’t use eggs, I use soya milk as opposed to oat or nut milk to sneak some extra protein into the dough. My favourite, easily-available (read: cheap) soya milk is Lidl’s Unsweetened Soya Drink by Vemondo but I have used other ‘unbranded’ soya milks and achieved the same results. Because I’ve only ever made my cinnamon buns with soya milk, I can’t recommend any other plant-based milk alternatives.

Multiplying the Recipe

If you choose to multiply the recipe, I recommend kneading all the ingredients into one dough and then separating the dough into several smaller balls for the resting process. For example, if you double the recipe, double the ingredients to make the dough, then divide the dough into two balls of the same weight. If you triple the recipe, triple the ingredients to make the dough, then divide the dough into three balls of the same weight and so on. For the cinnamon-butter filling, multiply your ingredients accordingly and divide the mix into equal portions.

It will be easier to work the dough and shape the buns in smaller batches, where one batch makes seven buns. This way, you’ll be able to stick to the above instructions for rolling out the dough, folding it and shaping your cinnamon buns. Starting with Step 7, follow the instructions from start to finish for each ball of dough before getting started with the next.

When working with a conventional oven, I recommend baking the buns one batch at a time. You can bake several batches at once on the same baking tray, but only ever do one tray at a time. Otherwise, the buns won’t bake evenly.

Vegan Spread or Margarine

My go-to vegan spread for this recipe — the dough as well as the filling — is Flora Original Spread, because it has a neutral flavour and the spreadable texture makes the dough come together easily. I’ve also made this recipe with Vitalite spread before and I reckon any similar vegan spread should work just as well.

The vegan spread I use is slightly salty, so if your choice of vegan spread or butter is unsalted, it might be worth adding an extra pinch of salt to the dough as well as the filling. Salt is important to balance out the sweetness and bring out the cinnamon flavour.

Yeast

I like to use fast action yeast (also sold as ‘quick’, ‘easy blend’ or ‘instant’ yeast) in my recipes because it’s so easy to work with — you can add it straight to the recipe.

However, you can also use regular ‘active’ dry yeast or fresh yeast for this recipe. When using active dry yeast make sure you reactivate it according to package instructions. This usually means whisking it with some warm milk and a pinch of sugar, then letting it sit until it turns foamy. Once activated, add it to the soya milk and proceed with the recipe.

When using fresh yeast, you need to double the amount of yeast in the recipe. You can simply crumble the fresh yeast into little pieces and throw it into the mixing bowl with your flour and the rest of your ingredients. If the yeast has been sitting in your fridge for a while and you want to make sure it’s still active, you can ‘proof’ it first. To do this, warm up the soya milk to 35ºC - 45ºC first. In a small bowl, mix your fresh yeast, a pinch of sugar and a few tablespoons of warm soya milk to make a smooth batter. Set aside for 5-10 minutes or until bubbles form. This means the yeast is still alive and good to use. Add it to the bowl with the other ingredients and proceed as per the original recipe.