Sugar free and vegan chocolate orange cinnamon buns, filled with dates and made with whole-food ingredients. Cinnamon rolls that you can feel good about eating for breakfast (no judgement here).
Course Dessert
Cuisine Vegan
Prep Time 10 minutesminutes
Cook Time 30 minutesminutes
Resting Time 1 hourhour30 minutesminutes
Total Time 40 minutesminutes
Servings 12rolls
Ingredients
Dough
250ml/ 1 cup nondairy milkoat, almond
60ml/ 1/4 cup light-tasting oil*
2tablespoonsmaple syrup or honey
2 ¼teaspoonsactive dry yeast**
Zest of an orange
400 - 480grams/ 2 1/2 - 3 cups spelt flour***
1teaspooncinnamon
¼teaspoonsea salt
Filling
100grams/ 1/2 cup packed soft datessoaked if needed
3tablespoonscoconut oil
Juice of an orange~3 tablespoons
Zest of an orange
50gramsdark chocolate
Instructions
Dough
Add the milk, oil, and maple syrup to a small saucepan and heat on low until just warm to the touch. Pour the milk mixture into a large heatproof bowl and whisk in the yeast. Let it rest for about 15 minutes, or until foaming.
Stir in the orange zest, 1 cup of flour, cinnamon, and salt. Add the remaining flour in 1/2 cup increments, stirring between each addition, until it becomes too difficult to stir. Turn the dough out onto a well-floured countertop and knead, adding more flour as needed, until a soft and smooth dough forms, about ten minutes.
Oil a large bowl and place the dough in it. Brush a little oil onto the top of the dough, cover, and set the bowl in a warm place to rise until doubled in size, about one hour.
Line a 20 cm / 8 inch springform pan with parchment paper. Punch the dough down and place it onto a floured surface. Roll it out to about 2cm thickness and spread the filling equally over the dough, then top with the dark chocolate. Roll the dough up lengthwise and cut into 5cm wide pieces. Place the pieces into the prepared pan, cover, and set in a warm place to rise again for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 180C / 350F. Once the buns are finished rising the second time, place them on the centre rack in the oven and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until golden. Serve warm if you can and keep any extras in a sealed container at room temperature for up to three days.
Filling
Blend the dates, coconut oil, orange juice, and zest until smooth in a food processor or high speed blender. If it's not becoming smooth, add a tablespoon of nondairy milk.
Notes
• If the milk mixture gets too hot, just let it cool in the bowl until it's warm but not hot. • I always use a big dinner plate to cover the top of the bowl when I'm letting dough rise. It's better and preventing it from drying than a tea towel, and fuck plastic. • You can also use a square tin or a regular baking sheet for the buns, but the baking time might change slightly. * I did half sunflower oil and half hazelnut. You can use coconut or any light-tasting oil, but try adding some hazelnut if you have it! ** You can also use half a cube of fresh yeast. *** I know there are eleven buns pictured, but there are the two end bits that I had to bake separately because they didn't fit in the tin. They were photo fuel.