Cinnamon Buns with Vanilla Glaze

Well, Happy New Year to you all!! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas as well. We had a fantastic time in the new house. I had 9 people over for Christmas Eve dinner - my first time cooking for so many and it went really well. Everyone loved the vegan dinner (I hope!) I made my Tourtiere with mushroom gravy as per last year but this time made it with puy lentils instead of soy mince and you know what? It's even better that way! I will definitely be making it every Christmas now with lentils. With that we had stuffing, maple roasted parsnips and carrots, mashed potato and brussel sprouts and petite pois in a lemon hazelnut 'butter'. For dessert I did a traditional Danish almond rice pudding then laid out a smorgasbord of desserts - marzipan mince pies, hot toddy cupcakes, nanaimo bars and mint chocolate thins. Phew.... It was a lot of work but I thoroughly enjoyed it :-)

Now, after all that the diet has commenced :-) Seriously, I am no longer a UK size 6/8 and NOT happy!! This should come as no surprise if you've seen my past few posts ;-) So why the decadent Cinnamon Buns? Well, I made these well before Christmas but never got the opportunity to post them and they are so amazingly good it would be a crying shame not to share the recipe!!

I have made cinnamon buns before and was very happy with the recipe but I did use egg replacer in those (which I am phasing out of my baking) and I really wanted to try and veganize my mom's cinnamon bun recipe - which is the world's best ;-) Her's called for Jello brand vanilla pudding mix and it really makes a light, moist, perfect textured cinnamon bun. Now, that stuff may or may not be vegan, I have no idea as you can't even buy it here so I replaced that with Alpro Soya Vanilla pudding. It's not a mix but pre-made so was able to just omit the eggs and alter the dry/wet ingredients a bit. They turned out perfect! Reminded me just of my mom's - lovely flavour and light, moist texture. Now, I always find that the icing drizzle on cinnamon buns is never enough so dipped these entirely in a vanilla glaze while they were warm giving an all over yummy glaze. Damn, hating that I'm on a diet now!!

Cinnamon Buns:
1/4 cup (60 ml) warm water
1 sachet (7g dry yeast)
1 Tbsp sugar
1/2 cup (125ml) rice milk
1/2 cup (125ml) Alpro Soya Vanilla Pudding
1/4 cup (60ml) vegetable oil
about 4 cups (550g) plain flour
1/2 tsp salt
Filling:
melted vegan margarine
3 Tbsp cinnamon
1 cup light brown sugar
Glaze:
250g icing sugar
3 Tbsp hot water
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Dissolve the sugar in the warm water then sprinkle over the yeast and let sit until frothy - about 10 minutes. Whisk well. Mix the pudding, rice milk and oil together then whisk it into the yeast mixture. Mix the flour and salt together then add that to everything and mix with a wooden spoon until it comes together. Knead gently for 4 minutes add more flour if it's sticky, form into a ball then place in a warm oiled bowl, cover with cling film and place in a warm place to rise - about 1 hour. When doubled in bulk place on a floured surface and roll out into a large rectangle - about 12 " long. Brush with melted marg then sprinkle the cinnamon/sugar mixture generously over the top (you may not need all of it). Now, roll it up from the long side and seal the edge. Slice into 9 slices and place on a baking sheet lined with baking paper. Bake at 350F/180C for about 20 minutes or until puffy and slightly golden. Let cool on a wire rack for a little bit then glaze while still warm but no longer hot. For the glaze simply whisk everything together until smooth then take each bun and dip entirely into the glaze, make sure each one is thoroughly coated then place back on a wire rack with baking paper underneath for the glaze to set. They are good at any time but especially good once the glaze has set but they are still warm :-)

Now, I haven't tried this yet but I know this recipe would make fantastic doughnuts!! After rising, roll out the same and cut out rings with a doughnut cutter or something that would give you that shape. Deep fry in hot vegetable oil until golden on both sides and drain on paper towels. Dip in the same glaze while still warm and leave to set. Or you can ice them with any of the ones I used in my last doughnut post :-)

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