Cinnamon buns, cinnamon swirls or cinnamon rolls – whatever you want to call them they’re my favourite sticky bun and a fantastic bake to add to your repertoire.
This is a simple cinnamon bun recipe – I prove and bake these buns in my air fryer. This makes it quicker to produce a lovely batch of fresh buns as the air fryer is so hot and fast, with no preheating required. I use my Ninja air fryer instead of my big cooker for most of my cooking now. I only bought it 9 months ago but it’s paid for itself in terms of energy saved already. And it’s useful for cooking quickly and efficiently during hot weather as it doesn’t heat your kitchen up like a big oven. I love it!
If you don’t have an air fryer, you can prove your buns in a warm place and bake them in your oven at 180 fan for 15 – 20 minutes.
Baking these buns in your air fryer will give them a softer bottom, compared to baking them in the oven but I think that’s a tiny compromise for the time saved making these gorgeous fluffy buns.
This recipe is free from dairy as it uses plant butter and oat milk, but you can use dairy instead if that’s what you have. I will be sharing another recipe for cinnamon buns in a future blog that will contain dairy and eggs. Those buns will be smothered with my signature creamy vanilla frosting too, so keep a lookout!
There is a spoonful of cardamom in the dough for these buns, which I love to pair with cinnamon. The cardamom makes these buns a little more Scandinavian but you can leave it out if you prefer. You could add a spoonful or two of vanilla extract in its place if you like, or a little more cinnamon.
Ingredients:
- 400g strong white flour
- 50g caster sugar
- 1 sachet instant yeast (7 grams)
- 1 tsp ground cardamom
- 200ml milk – I used oat milk
- 70g vegan butter
For the filling:
- 120g vegan butter, softened
- 120g sugar – I used dark brown but you can use light brown or white sugar instead
For the icing:
- 50g icing sugar
- pearl sugar (also known as sugar nibs) to decorate
Put the flour, caster sugar, yeast, and cardamom in your mixing bowl and stir together.
Warm the milk and the butter gently until the milk is lukewarm and the butter is more or less melted.
Add the warm milk and butter to the dry ingredients and mix together using a dough hook for 5 – 10 minutes. Alternatively you can knead the dough by hand. The dough will look rough and ragged at first.
Knead the dough until it forms a smooth dough. If you’re using a mixer and the dough doesn’t look smooth, take the dough out of the bowl and fold it by hand a few times. If it’s smooth, leave to prove. If it’s a bit rough still, knead for another minute or two.
When your dough is smooth, pop it into a large, lightly oiled bowl. Cover with a clean tea towel and leave in a warm place to prove for around an hour until doubled in size. It’s worth setting a timer to check on your dough so you don’t forget it!
While your dough is proving, prepare the filling for your buns. Mix together the softened butter, sugar and cinnamon until well combined.
Once your butter is ready, dust your worktop and rolling pin with a little plain flour to roll out your dough.
Keep your butter at room temperature as you need to be able to spread it easily.
Roll out your dough into a rectangle measuring 35 x 50 cm or thereabouts.
Try to roll straight back and forwards, rotating your dough by 90 degrees between rolls, for an even layer.
Spread your cinnamon butter all over your dough. You can use the back of a spoon for this, or a palette knife if you have one.
I drop small spoonfuls all over the dough first, then gently smooth them all out until they join up.
Roll your dough up into a swiss roll starting with the long edge facing you. Take your time and try to keep the rolling even as you go, so you have a long sausage shape that’s mostly the same width from one end to the other.
Cut your sausage of dough into eight even pieces. I like to cut the dough in half first, then cut each half in half and so on.
The buns need another prove to double in size and I do this in my air fryer. Line the base with baking parchment paper and add your buns with the swirls on top. If you’re using your oven, put your baking paper and buns onto a baking tray at this stage.
I like to put the fatter buns at either end and the smaller ones in the middle, as when it comes to baking the buns on either end will bake faster.
I use the prove function on my air fryer – prove at 75 degrees for 45 minutes.
Once the buns have proved they’ll have doubled in size and look ready for baking.
I bake the buns in my air fryer which is so easy as they’re already in the drawer & there’s no preheating required.
Bake at 160 degrees for 20 minutes. Or bake them in your preheated oven at 180 fan for 15 – 20 minutes.
Once your buns have baked they should be lovely and brown. Bake them for a little longer if necessary.
Because I used dark brown sugar in the cinnamon butter, my filling is very dark in colour. Remember if you use a light brown or white sugar it will look a little different. All versions are equally delicious!
Wear oven gloves to slide the baking parchment with the buns on it out of your air fryer and onto a cooling rack.
Mix your icing sugar with a little bit of water, add the water a spoonful at a time until you have a thick icing that drops happily when you lift the spoon.
Drizzle the icing back and forth over your buns using the spoon. Sprinkle with pearl sugar to decorate.
Your cinnamon buns are best enjoyed on the day of baking.
Store any leftovers in an airtight container.
Enjoy!
Abi – The Brownie Lady
