Maple glazed cinnamon buns (vegan)

Chief’s birthday party was coming up and it’s been a while since I’ve been able to touch my dough baby. I call my yeast doughs my dough baby because you have to put time and care into it to make it good. So I decided to make CINNNNAAABBBBUUUUNNNNSSS!!! I make cinnamon buns quite often but I never top them with anything so I decided to top these little lovelies with a maple glaze. I figured that a maple glaze would be a lighter way to add another dimension to the traditional cinnamon buns. Without further ado, here is the recipe for these delightful Maple glazed cinnamon buns!

Ingredients (makes 12):

• 3 teaspoons yeast
• 1 1/3 cup warm milk of choice
• 2/3 cup coconut oil
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 4 cups flour
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon  

Cinnamon filling:

• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 3 tablespoons coconut oil/butter  

Maple glaze:

• 1 cup icing sugar
• 3 tablespoons maple syrup
• 2-3 tablespoons milk

Let’s get rolling:

1. Prepare the dough in a bread machine according to your manufacturer’s instructions.

If you don’t have a bread machine, combine the yeast, warm milk, coconut oil and a teaspoon of sugar in a measuring cup; set aside to foam. In a large bowl sift together the flour, cinnamon and salt. Add yeast mixture to the large bowl and stir until combined. Knead the dough for 3-5 minutes on a lightly floured surface and let it rise for 30 – 45 minutes until it doubles in size.

2. While the dough is rising prepare the cinnamon sugar topping by combining the brown sugar and cinnamon together.  

3. Roll the dough out into a rectangle and spread the melted coconut oil/butter on top. Then sprinkle on the cinnamon sugar mixture and roll it up into a log. Slice the log into 1″ thick slices for the buns.

4. Let the rolls rise for 1 hour. Allowing the dough to rise again allows for a fluffier texture on the inside and the buns grow in size as well. If you don’t believe me as to what a difference letting it rise makes, look below!

Before rise:

After 1 hour of rising:

5. When the buns have risen, bake them in the oven at 350F for 25 – 30 minutes until golden brown.

6. While the buns are baking in the oven, prepare the maple glaze by stirring the icing sugar, maple syrup and milk together (if there are lumps, strain the glaze through a sieve to remove them).

7. When the buns are done, drizzle the maple glaze on top and munch!

I’m not sure as to how or why these cinnamon buns didn’t turn out as fluffy and soft as they normally are on the outside but maybe it’s because I used my larger oven instead of the smaller one I usually use and also because I ended up almost doubling the recipe because I was making 12 of them. But it’s no matter because they were still ooey gooey soft on the inside and I absolutely couldn’t wait to bite into one when they were done.

These maple glazed cinnamon buns just smelled so maple-y delicious and Grayson’s entire car ended up smelling like them on the way to Chief’s birthday. I think I’m going to stick with my previous cinnamon bun recipe  because I wasn’t a fan of how these turned out. But I’m definitely going to keep the maple glaze part about them in tact because it was a wonderfully fragrant edition to them!

Love cinnamon buns? Click here for my cinnamon pull-apart bread recipe!