“Anyone who gives you a cinnamon roll fresh out of the oven

is a friend for life”

-Lemony Snicket-

Did anybody say cinnamon buns! Oh, you marvelous cinnamon bun! Gorgeous baked goods, you got to pay respect to. In my opinion, they are perfect. Doughy without being too much of the good stuff, evenly filled with cinnamon and brown sugar rolled into the bun. It’s visionary beautiful and there are so many ways to eat it. Warm or cold, with or without glazing on it. Just bite into it or carefully unroll it before devouring it. Topped with a sweet glaze of choice. Even though it’s a classic you ought to pay respect to there’s ways to work on it to make it different and that with keeping its dignity. You see there’s always a way you can put your signature on a dish so many love, in a gratefully and simple way. Wanna know what my secret is? Then please keep on reading.

Cinnayamyumbuns came to life from a wish to surprise my best friend with his favorite cake or baked goods on his last day at work, which happens to be cinnamon buns. My mom came to me and asked if I wanted to make something for him as they work together. Something I of course accepted. So I decided to create a new recipe for him.

Combining his love for cinnamon rolls with a delightful memory of the best cinnamon bun I have ever tasted. A sweet potato cinnamon bun bought in San Francisco. At first, it just seems weird to mix a vegetable with baked goods. But seriously it’s extremely clever! You see the sweet potato adds a sweet and moist component to the bun. Something which in return let us minimize the sugar and oil level in the dough to a bare minimum. Genius in my mind! I even made the dough oil-free as for the topping I chose to add a lime zing to the glazing in the attempt to neutralize the overwhelming sugar feeling some people get from them. Keeping it balanced is key. Also using sweet potato gives it some extra nutritional value and that of course without tasting like sweet potato!

Ingredients

Dough (for 12-15 pieces)

240g (1C) roasted sweet potato

50g (2 ounces) yeast, dry or fresh

1tsp cane sugar

200ml (3/4C + 2tbsp) plant-based milk after choice

340g (3C) all-purpose flour

55g  (1/4C) cane sugar (or coconut blossom sugar)

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder

1/2 tsp salt

Filling

55-65g (4-5tbsp) vegan margarine, preferable non-hydrogenated

75g (6tbsp) brown sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

Icing

175g (1 1/2 C + 1tbsp) icing sugar

1-1.5tbsp water

1tsp squeeze of lime

Direction

Dough 
  1. Preheat the oven to 200-225 degrees Celcius (390-430 degrees Fahrenheit) Wash the sweet potato, poke some holes in it with a knife and place it on a tray lined with parchment paper. Place the tray in the middle of the oven. Bake for about 45min or until tender. Let cool down and use only the flesh for the dough.
  2. Lightly warm up the milk to luke-warm temperature (when you dip your finger into the liquid and you don’t feel if it’s warm or cold it’s luke-warm). Add the yeast and 1tsp sugar. Stire and let sit for about 5 min.
  3. Add all of the dry ingredients into a bowl and stir them together.
  4. In a blender blend the sweet potato with the liquid. Blend until smooth.
  5. Make a sort of volcano in the middle of the dry ingredients. Now pour in the liquid into the volcano.
  6. With a light grip on the ladle stir it all together while trying to keep it as the shape of a ball. Be gentle and don’t kill the dough! 
  7. The dough ball has to let go the edges of the bowl. If it’s still sticky then add some more flour and incorporate this gently to the ball.
  8. Cover the dough with a clean dry towel and let it rise in a lukewarm/warm room for about 30 minutes until it gets to twice its original size.
  9. Put some flour on a bench or a table. Now pour out the dough to the surface and knit the dough for a moment. You will want to fold the end of the ball that is closest to you over to the side longest away from you. Then turn the dough to get the longest edge near you to be able to keep on folding it in the shape of a ball. Repeat the whole action for about 2-3 minutes.
  10. Put some flour on the bench and roll the dough out evenly into about 1/2cm (1/4″) thick square. Be careful to turn it over time to time so that you get to roll on both sides, in so being sure it doesn’t stick to the surface. If you feel it’s sticking add some flour to the bench. So that it won’t stick to the surface when you’re rolling it together later on.
  11. Spread the margarine on the surface of the dough. Mix the cinnamon with the brown sugar and sprinkle it over.
  12. Evenly start rolling the dough together into a cylinder. 
  13. Then cut out 12-15 evenly sized pieces.
  14. On a mold lined with parchment paper place the pieces one by one with about 1 cm (1/2″) space in between each of them (The same mold you use for lasagna, gratinated pasta etc). Optional bake separately on a tray with parchment paper with a lot of space in-between them so they won’t stick to each other.
  15. Cover them with a towel and let rise for about 20min. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius (390 degrees Fahrenheit)
  16. Bake in the middle of the oven for about 20 minutes.
  17. Let cool down before adding the frosting.

Frosting

Mix all of the ingredients.

When the cinnamon rolls are chilled down, decorate with the icing. Using a spoon does wonder.

“Thank you so much for the cinnamon buns!

They are the best I have ever tasted!!”

-Merethe-