Vegan Date Pecan Cinnamon Buns with Maple Almond Butter Glaze

These vegan date pecan cinnamon buns with maple almond butter glaze are the cinnamon buns from heaven. Don’t believe me? Try them for yourself.

Behold the cinnamon buns of every man, woman, and child’s dreams–vegan or not. These are the buns you won’t mind waking up a few hours early to prepare. Even if you fall into the ‘not-a-morning-owl’ camp (that would be me!), these are entirely worth rousing yourself from a deep slumber for.

Now, before I get into the recipe, it’s STORY TIME! I spent the first few years of my life in a small town in Alberta, Canada, which was home to a coffee shop that made the absolute best gooey cinnamon buns. Getting a cinnamon bun the size of my head and a hot chocolate heaped with whipped cream every week was probably the highlight of my childhood. I’m not kidding. Those cinnamon buns graced my dreams for years and years, until one day in the not too distant past, I couldn’t handle being taunted with happy food memories any longer. Hence, I became determined to re-create those cinnamon buns from heaven, in vegan fashion.

These buns are gooey to the max, thanks to a filling made with Medjool dates, pecans, vegan butter, cinnamon, and coconut sugar. But that’s not all: an almond butter maple glaze imbues their every nook and cranny with another layer of sweet, creamy deliciousness.

Even if you don’t consider yourself a baker, I encourage you to give these cinnamon buns a try! Contrary to what you might think, yeasted dough is incredibly simple to master. I’ve included detailed instructions that you should be able to follow, even if you are a beginner. 🙂

to make these vegan date pecan cinnamon buns, you’ll:

1. Combine warm water and maple syrup; then add the yeast and let it proof until foamy.
2. Warm up almond milk until small bubbles form around the edges. Whisk in vegan butter and coconut sugar.
3. Meanwhile, stir together flour and salt. Add the milk mixture and the yeast mixture to the flour and mix to form a shaggy dough.
4. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for a few minutes to form a smooth, elastic dough. Place the dough in a clean, lightly greased bowl and cover with a towel or, preferably, a zero-waste food wrap such as Abeego or Beeswrap, in a warm, draft-free area of your kitchen. Let it rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 ½ hours.
5. Punch down the dough and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead a few times.
6. Flour the surface again and roll the dough into a 8-inch by 7-inch rectangle, with the longest edge closest to you.
7. Spread melted vegan butter, cinnamon/pecans/coconut sugar, and chopped Medjool dates over the dough and roll up. Cut into 8 rolls and place in a greased 8×8 or 9×9 pan, cut side up.
8. Cover and let them rise for 1 hour.
9. Bake at 350 degrees F for 20-25 minutes, or until tops are golden and the buns sound hollow when tapped.
10. Let them cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Then, invert them onto a wire rack and flip them onto a serving plate or board. Prepare the glaze in a small saucepan and drizzle it all over the buns. Or, just leave the buns in the pan and pour the glaze over top.

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a few things to remember:

• From start to finish, these cinnamon buns take just over 3 hours. While making them is totally worth it, they do require some planning ahead.
• If you don’t have almond butter, use any other nut or seed butter. Peanut butter, cashew butter, and sunflower seed butter should all work fine.
• If you don’t have cacao butter for the glaze, use coconut oil instead.
• The vegan butter that I used in this recipe is Miyoko’s brand. I prefer it because it is free from palm oil and certified organic. It is commonly available at many health food stores in Canada and the U.S. I imagine that coconut oil would also work as a replacement for vegan butter in this recipe. Or, if you aren’t vegan, regular organic butter will work, too.

serving and menu ideas:

If you are serving these cinnamon buns as part of a vegan brunch spread, I think they would pair very well with my Tahini Tofu Scramble and either a smoothie, such as my Blueberry, Almond Butter, and Cardamom Smoothie, or a fancy coffee, such as my Vegan Bulletproof Mocha or Dirty Chai Latte. Or, keep it simple and serve them with coffee/tea and fruit and yogurt.

Well, I hope you love these vegan date pecan cinnamon buns. A tray of these gracing your Easter breakfast table this weekend could be just what your family needs. <3

If you make them, let me know how you enjoyed them by leaving a comment and rating below. If you share a photo to Instagram, tag @upbeet.kitchen and #upbeetkitchen, too!

Enjoy!!!

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