Yeast Free Vegan Cinnamon Buns

These bad boys are really YUMMY. And super simple. I think I might be in trouble because they took so little time to whip up and were awesome. Normally I make a biscuit dough base cinnamon bun that comes from Get it Ripe. They are delicious but the dough can be a bit finicky.

I came across this recipe over at this lovely blog called Smith & Ratliff (Go check them out- the photo's are stunning). It was pretty easy to turn them into vegan cinnamon buns.

They rolled out beautifully and cooked up really well. Soft and pillowy with lots of cinnamon sugar flavour. (Yikes - I am in trouble!).

Vegan Cinnamon Buns
Adapted from Smith & Ratliff

For the dough:
2 3⁄4 c. all-purpose flour
2 tbsp. sugar
1 1⁄4 tsp. baking powder
1⁄2 tsp. baking soda
3⁄4 tsp. salt
1 1⁄4 c. "buttermilk" (Mix 1 Tbsp vinegar with just less than 1 1/4 cup of soy milk. Let sit for 5 minutes)
6 tbsp. melted vegan margarine

For the filling:
2 tbsp. melted vegan margarine
2 tbsp. sugar
1 tbsp. cinnamon

For the glaze (Optional)
2 tbsp. water
3/4 to 1 c. powdered sugar

First, make your "buttermilk". Measure 1 Tbsp of white or apple cider vinegar into a 2 cup measuring cup. Fill the measuring cup to 1 1/4 cups with soy milk. Let sit for 5 minutes.

Mix all of dry ingredients together in a large bowl, then add in the melted margarine and the "buttermilk".

Kneading it for a few minutes, it should become a bit smooth and more elastic than wet. If it still seems wet, go ahead and add some more flour.

Once it’s a bit neater, roll it out into a roughly 12″ x 9″ rectangle, about a 1/2″ thick. It doesn’t need to be perfect. After that, top the dough rectangle with melted margarine and your mixture of cinnamon and sugar and roll it up.

Cut the roll into 8 pieces. (Smith and Ratliff had a great tip which was to use some dental floss to cut the rolls. Just wrap it around the roll and pull the two ends across and it will cut the rolls very nice and neatly.)

Put your perfectly-cut rolls in a greased baking pan and bake at 425 degrees for about 15 - 17 minutes.

While they’re in the oven, you can mix your glaze with however much powdered sugar you want, thinned with just a bit of water. Pour it over the rolls while they’re fresh out of the oven, so it gives them a nice caramelized layer and absorbs into the roll. (I didn't use the glaze and the rolls were still delicious, up to you if you want!)

Roasted Butternut Squash Pasta Sauce

I was walking through the pasta sauce section at the grocery store and a jar of butternut squash sauce caught my eye. I knew I had some squash at home so I thought I would try my own version. Super simple and delicious and I love the colour.

Vegan Butternut Squash Pasta Sauce

1 large butternut squash
1 Tbsp of olive oil
1 onion, finely diced
4 cloves of garlic, finely diced
2 orange bell peppers, diced
1 small can of tomato paste
1 1/2 cups of soy milk
Salt and pepper to taste

Firstly roast the butternut squash buy cutting it into quarters lengthwise. Take out the seeds and place the quarters on a baking sheet. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes or until tender.

In a pan heat the olive oil and cook the onions until translucent. Add the garlic and red pepper and cook for another 4 - 5 minutes until the peppers are tender.

In a blender add all of the ingredients including the butternut squash flesh. Blend until smooth. Return to the pan to heat and add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with pasta and roasted tomatoes.

Vegan Coconut Lemon Bundt Cake

Firstly just a note to say sorry for having been an absent blogger. P and I were back in our home town over the holidays for a very special event...Our Wedding! Anyway I thought I would have more time to blog but it was so busy so here is a belated post. At some point I will post pictures of the day but I will say it was so AWESOME.

Anyway back to regularly scheduled programming:

Our office holiday party is always a pot-luck (actually most celebrations at work are pot-luck style - which I love). I had been feeling like gingerbread so I thought I would try making some gingerbread cupcakes. But they failed miserably and it was to late in the afternoon to go shopping for new ingredients. I did have a few fresh lemons and some shredded coconut in the freezer though so I whipped up this bundt cake from Epicurean Vegan. It was really yummy (Although mine did not come out of the bundt pan). I served with a simple lemon glaze. Not very wintry I'll admit but tasty indeed.

Vegan Coconut Lemon Bundt Cake
From Epicurean Vegan

1-1/2 C granulated sugar
2/3 C canola oil
1 (14-oz) can coconut milk
1/4 C soy milk
1/4 C lemon juice
3 Tbs lemon zest
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 C flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1-1/2 C shredded unsweetened coconut

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease an 8 or 10″ Bundt pan. In a large mixing bowl, combine the granulated sugar, oil, coconut milk, soy milk, lemon juice, lemon zest, and vanilla. Stir to combine.

Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into the wet ingredients in batches, mixing well after each addition. Stir to combine, then stir in the coconut.

Pour batter into the Bundt pan, Bake 1 hour or until a knife inserted through the cake comes out clean.

Lemon Glaze

2 cups confectioner's sugar
3 - 4 Tbsp lemon juice
Lemon zest from one lemon

Mix all ingredients and pour over cooled cake.