Recently, a Cinnaholic opened in Ottawa and sweet lord, they are fantastic. But OH SO HUGE! If you haven’t been able to try Cinnaholic, well I’ll let you know, they are 100% vegan – so you don’t have to worry about cross-contamination or staff mistake!!! They have giant, delicious, sweet AF cinnamon buns. As someone who grew up eating Saint Cinnamon buns, (and even found them in a basement food hall in the business district in Singapore!) I feel like I’m somewhat of an expert – and by expert, I mean, I’ve eaten a few people’s shares of cinnamon buns in my 40 years. You don’t get this body eating salad!

I recently made a batch of mini buns because I decided to only make half the dough into buns and then I created a nice, large, braided cinnamon twist (?). So you can take this recipe and make them into any shape you’d like! Tasty for a late night munchie attack or for a sweet breakfast.

Ingredients:

Buns

• 3 C all-purpose flour, sifted
• 2 tsp quick-rise instant yeast
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 1 1/2 C warm water
• 1 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 1/4 C brown (or cane!) sugar
• 1/4 C white sugar
• 1 Tbsp cinnamon
• 3 Tbsp vegan butter, melted (I use either MELT or Becel)
• 1/2 C chopped walnuts
• handful of vegan chocolate chips (optional)

Frosting

• 2 Tbsp vegan butter (softened)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 Tbsp soy milk
• 1 1/2 C icing sugar
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon (to sprinkle on top)

Directions:

1. Mix flour, yeast, salt and sugar in a large bowl.
2. Dig a hole in the middle and add the oil and water.
3. Form a sticky ball with the dough by folding the mixture over into itself repeatedly.
4. On a floured surface, with floured hands, knead the dough about 15 times (add more flour as it’ll get sticky quick!)
5. Cover with a tea towel and let sit for about 10 minutes.
6. In a small bowl, mix cinnamon and sugars.
7. Melt butter in small pot on stove.
8. Use your roller and roll out the dough til it’s as close to a large square as possible, and about 1″ thick.
9. Brush butter all across dough, but leave about 1″ on one side not buttered so the buns will rise and expand.
10. Sprinkle sugar/cinnamon mixture, covering the butter as evenly as possible
11. Sprinkle walnuts across.
12. Starting from the opposite side of the non-buttered side, roll dough up as tight as you can into a log shape.
13. Here’s where you decide! If you want to just make a batch of cinnamon buns, use a sharp knife to cut the log into pieces about 1 1/2 – 2″ wide. If you’d like to also make a twisty braid, cut 10 buns and then cut the remaining piece into 2 equal pieces.
14. Brush the remaining butter into the sides of a larger baking pan (buns) and a smaller one (braid).
15. Place the rolls in pan, ensuring they have a bit of space between them (and the sides of the pan) so they can grow!
16. For the braid, line the two pieces beside each other and squish the top of each piece together. Place each braid over the other, until you’ve reached the end. Press the ends into the braid.
17. Cover each pan with plastic wrap and tea towel and place somewhere dark/warm.
18. Let the dough rise until it’s doubled it’s size. Depending on the temperature, this could take up to an hour.
19. Once risen, heat oven to 350°F and bake for 30 minutes or until they are golden.
20. Remove them from the oven and allow to cool almost completely.
21. Make the frosting by mixing all ingredients in a bowl until well mixed.
22. Once cooled, spread the frosting across the buns
23. I added a bit to the braid while it was still warm so it melted across it and then topped with chocolate chips
24. SorryNotSorry!!!! Enjoy!