last weekend I went to London and stayed with Kimberly from the little plantation, and on the Friday with silvia from silvia+limone we baked these vegan spelt cinnamon apple buns. we had been discussing this collaboration for ages and it was so great to finely do it. when we woke up on the Friday the weather was terrible and it was pouring with rain and Kimberly and i where worried about the lack of light for the photos, but luckily we managed. I really enjoy getting together and baking with other like minded people, I find that it can be a bit lonely some times living so far away from my foodie friends. I met Kimberly and silvia through Instagram and this is the second time the three of us have done a recipe together, last time we made a vegan macha tres leches cake. silvia managed to get some pink pearl apples, when you peel them they have a wonderful pink colour inside I was so excited to use them.

Preparation Time: 25minutes
Proving Time: 1-2 hours + 45 minutes-1 hour
Baking Time: about 30 minutes
Makes: 10-12 rolls

Ingredients for the rolls:
200g spelt flour
250g plain flour
4 tbs cane sugar
1 heaped tsp salt
1 sachet/7g fast acting yeast
250ml of almond milk + 3tbs of almond milk

1-2tbs of olive oil to grease your proving bowl

Ingredients for the apple cinnamon filling:
2 crisp apples, peeled and thinly sliced (ideally with a mandolin like this one)
7 tbs cane sugar
2-3 tbs cinnamon

Ingredients for the vegan cinnamon cream cheese frosting:
4tbsp coconut oil, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
4 ounces/110g softened, dairy-free plain cream cheese (we used this one)
1/4 tsp pure vanilla powder or extract
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Instructions:
To make the dough, mix together all the ingredients for the rolls (except the olive oil!) until just combined. If the mixture looks too dry, add a tiny bit mroe milk (you’d rather have it be a speckle too wet then too dry). Then knead the dough on a dry surface with a sprinkle of flour to avoid the dough from sticking. Knead for about 7-10 minutes. (We kneaded by hand.) Then grab a large bowl, cover lightly with the olive oil, place the kneaded dough inside, cover with cling film and leave to rest in a dry, warm place for about 1-2 hours or until the dough has doubled in size. (The length of time you allow the dough to rise depends very much on how warm it is in your home!).

As the dough is rising, start preparing the filling by peeling, removing the core and slicing the apples. We used seasonal pink pearl apples because they are quite crisp, tart and sweet. But it’s really up to you. You can sprinkle some lemon juice on the apple slices to stop them from browning, though this isn’t essential.

When the dough is ready, remove it from the bowl and roll it out with a rolling pin into a rectangular shape. Then sprinkle the sugar and cinnamon evenly over the dough and then neatly place the apple slices on top of the dough so it is completely covered. There may be some apple slices left. Next roll the dough as shown above. Cut the dough into 10-12 discs/rolls and place these in a baking tin. We used a round copper one, but a rectangular one should do the trick too.

Next allow the rolls to prove in a warm, dry place for another 45minutes to an hour. Then pop them in the oven for about 30 minutes at 180C/255F or until they are starting to brown.

As the rolls are baking, prepare the vegan cinnamon cream cheese frosting by sieving the powdered sugar to remove any lumps and combining it with all the other ingredients to create the frosting. If you’re still finding that the frosting is a bit lumpy, then you can mix it whilst placing the bowl in a bain marie, which is what we did.

When the rolls are ready, remoe them from the oven, let them cool and then smother them in the frosting. YUM! Enjoy!