These vegan pumpkin cinnamon buns are a perfect fall dessert, and just the thing for a weekend project as the weather starts to cool down. Total comfort food, made healthy(ish).
½cupcoconut milkonly the cream, none of the watery stuff
Juice of half a lemonabout 2 tablespoons
2teaspoonsmaple syrup
½teaspooncinnamon
Instructions
In a small saucepan, heat the coconut milk, pumpkin puree, maple syrup, and coconut oil over low heat. You want it to be just warm to the touch.
Pour the liquid ingredients into a large bowl (or the bowl of a stand mixer, if you have one) and stir in the yeast. Let it sit for about ten minutes, or until it looks foamy from the yeast.
Stir in one cup of flour, the cinnamon, and the salt. Add the remaining two cups of flour 1/2 cup at a time, kneading when it gets too hard to stir with a wooden spoon. With a stand mixer, switch to the kneading attachment when you start adding the other two cups of flour.
Knead on a lightly floured countertop until all the flour is incorporated and the dough is no longer sticky. It will be quite soft. Place it in a large, greased bowl and cover with a kitchen towel. Let it rise in a warm place for about an hour or until doubled in size.
After it's risen, place the dough on a floured countertop and roll it out to a large rectangle about 1.5cm (.5in) thick. It will be easy to roll, and shouldn't tear. If it does just patch it.
Spread the filling over the whole dough, then roll it lengthwise (the shorter bit should be vertical to you, and the long part should be horizontal to you). Cut into rounds about 7cm (3in) thick. Place into a greased high-sided baking dish, and let them rise again for about half an hour, or until doubled in size again. Don't worry if they seem small, as they should rise significantly in the oven.
Bake at 350F/180C for about 40 minutes, or until golden. Wait until cool before adding the glaze if you don't want it to melt, but it's good melty too.
Filling
Combine the coconut oil and pumpkin puree. If your coconut oil is very hard, heat it to a spreadable consistency. Spread this mixture on the rolled out dough, then sprinkle the coconut sugar and cinnamon over it.
Glaze
Combine everything in a small bowl, and whisk with a fork until thickened. I whisked for a couple of minutes, but it depends on how thick you want it. It's not chilled beforehand, so it won't whip up like coconut whipped cream (and promptly get hard as a rock in the fridge).
Pour it over the buns if it's room temperature, or throw it in the fridge and spread it on instead. Top it all off with pecans for extra fun.