Birthday Brunch Buns

This week my sister-in-law e-mailed me requesting a non-cake dessert for my niece's 1st birthday brunch party.  I instantly thought Sticky Finger Buns! because I make them for my own daughters' birthday brunches and other special breakfasts during the year.  The party was today, so I did most of the labor last night, not having time to spend this morning in the kitchen, and to make sure the buns would be nice and fresh. 

The recipe comes from the book 'How it all Vegan!' by Tanya Barnard & Sarah Kramer.  It's a good go-to cookbook for some basics, that can then be revamped.  I've decreased/changed some of the sugar and fat and made a few other minor changes...but what's left is more than enough to please any sweet tooth.  My niece would agree - she ate her whole bun! 

I doubled the recipe this time so I could make a pan with walnuts and a pan without, and simply to make sure there would be enough for all the guests.  But the single recipe is below. 

Buns:
2-1/2 tsp dry active yeast
1/4 cup warm water
1 tsp maple syrup
1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk, room temperature
2 Tbsp maple syrup
1/4 cup sunflower oil
1/4 cup ground flax seeds
1 tsp salt
2 cups AP flour
2 cups white whole wheat flour

In a mixer bowl, stir together the yeast, 1/4 cup warm water, and 1 tsp maple syrup.  Let set for 10 minutes so the yeast can activate and get foamy (perfect opportunity for some mother-daughter bonding over micro-organism digestion). 

"I see it moving!"

Add milk, syrup, oil, flax seeds, and salt to the yeast.  Mix.  Gradually add in flour a cup at a time.

I let my KitchenAid do the mixing but then take dough out to knead by hand on a lightly floured surface until smooth and elastic, 3-5 minutes (opportunity for lesson in elbow grease and work ethic).

Oil the mixing bowl and put the ball of dough back in it, turning once.

Cover with plastic wrap or a towel and let rise for an hour or until doubled.  We keep our house on the cool side, so I like to set my oven to 200 degrees and put whatever I'm rising, elevated by another pan, on top of the range.

Meanwhile prepare the bottom of a 9 x 13-inch baking dish:

Bottom:
1/3 cup Earth Balance butter
3/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup walnuts, finely chopped (optional)

Add all to pan, mixing with a spatula so it's evenly distributed.

(sometimes you feel like a nut; sometimes you don't)

When the dough has risen, punch it down to remove air bubbles and then roll out into roughly an 18 x 9-inch rectangle.

In a small bowl, mix up the Center ingredients.

Center (the shmear):
1/4 cup Earth Balance butter
2 Tbsp maple syrup
1 Tbsp cinnamon

Spread the shmear all over the rolled-out dough, leaving about 1/2 an inch vacant on the sides.  Starting on the long edge farthest from you, roll the dough tightly into a log. 
Slice the log into sixteen pieces (I find a bread knife works well). 

Place the slices into the prepared pan. 

Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for another hour. 

Bake in a preheated oven (375 degrees) for 25 minutes.  Let cool on a wire rack.

If you're overnighting this like me, put it in the fridge after the second 1-hour rise.   In the morning I like to let the pan acclimate for at least 30 minutes on the counter before I put it into the oven.  Then bake as above.  I'm not sure there's any science to this...it's just what I do.

When the buns are mostly cool, prepare the Glaze.   

Glaze:
1 cup confectioner's sugar
2 Tbsp unsweetened vanilla almond milk (for the glaze of the no-nuts pan, I used half and half cranberry juice and milk to give a pinkish hue for the birthday girl, but maybe using only juice would get it darker so as to be more noticeable...next time)

Just whisk the ingredients in a small bowl with a fork until smooth and lumpless.  Then drizzle on top of the buns.

You know what to do next.