Vegan Cinnamon Cardamom Buns

A healthier, vegan version of Swedish cinnamon or cardamom buns – folded, twisted, & knotted to create a beautiful layered roll. These are made with spelt flour, coconut oil, and coconut sugar.

Cinnamon buns are a big thing around here, in Northern Europe, but also in my family. I seem to make them for every special occasion and at least once or twice a month otherwise, but I’ve never shared my standard recipe here on the blog. This is my personal favourite, with an even mix of cardamom alongside the cinnamon, coconut sugar, and maple syrup or honey to add a little extra caramel flavour and that trademark stickiness. These cardamom knots have been universally adored by anyone I’ve ever given them to so I hope that if you add them to your kitchen, your friends and family will love them just as much.

Usually when I have posted a cinnamon bun recipe, it’s been more of a creative take on a standard recipe. There are chocolate orange and date cinnamon buns, an apple cinnamon bun cake, and a pumpkin spice version all floating around. They’re all great and I love them, but this is the recipe I turn to the most, and I hope it can become a staple that you return to as often as I do.

When I make them I follow a loose recipe, starting with a certain amount of milk, oil, and yeast, then adding flour while kneading until the dough reaches the right consistency. I’ve outlined that below alongside a more concrete recipe, but the important thing to note is that the dough shouldn’t be sticky any longer once it’s ready to go for its first rise. It should be soft but shouldn’t stick to your finger if gently poked.

The whole point here is to be a little messy when you’re making these, so don’t worry if some of the filling comes out when you’re folding/twisting/rolling – I always use any that gets squished out to coat the rolls a little more before setting them out for their second proof. Some of the filling will melt out as they have their second rise, as well, but that caramelizes as they bake and it’s all around a good thing.

And if they look like too complicated of a shape, it’s really pretty straightforward and I explain in the recipe notes, but you can also make standard rolls instead. They’ll taste just as good. Due to the shape and general nature of sweet yeast doughs, these are best eaten the day they’re made, still warm from the oven if you can!

I’ve included recipe instructions assuming that most people don’t have a stand mixer, but if you do, guidelines for that are under the tips. The trick with spelt is to avoid over-kneading because it’s lower in gluten, but you can also make these with regular wheat flour and they’ll turn out perfectly.

Since I wasn’t able to photograph how to form the buns, here’s a link to a recipe with a similar shape so that you can see what I mean by folding into thirds and cutting. Really twist as much as possible to get that beautiful pretend lamination here, it’s part of what makes these knots so delicious. If you’re really interested maybe I’ll pull myself together and make a video for these at some point.

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