First Day of Autumn + Vegan Cinnamon Buns
Happy second day of Autumn friends! Is it just me or is this time of the year is just pure magic?
Just like clockwork, planet earth knew that it was the autumn equinox this weekend and sent us a whole lot of rain, with temperatures below 10 degrees celcius, and I LOVED every minute of it.
I made peace with the fact that summer had ended a couple of weeks ago, and I was fully ready for it. Bring it I thought. Bring me the crisp autumn mornings, the crunchy leaves, the endless hot chocolates, the evening baths (I miss baths in the summer! it’s way too hot for them..), the dark evening bathed in candlelight, the knits making an appearance again, all things pumpkin spice, Halloween plans, ALL OF IT.
This season bring so much change and feels so beautiful in so many ways. I started my new course to become a health coach last week, my best friends are having babies anytime now, we’re planning for the year ahead, new work opportunities, plenty of creative ideas coming our way, and finally feeling truly at home in our new flat.
It’s pure bliss and I wouldn’t want to change any of it.
On Sunday morning we woke up to rain tapping on the window, which meant a couple of things : we would stay cosy inside (apart from the couple of excursions to the park to walk Molly) & we would bake our hearts off, starting with : CINNAMON BUNS!
I had never made them before (WHY, HOW?!) They aren’t very ‘French’ so I didn’t grow up with a “Cinnabon” around the corner (like many of you maybe have?) and I don’t think I truly had a good cinnamon bun until my early twenties. So it took some time to discover the wonders of these warm spicy, sweet buns… and now that I have, I am hooked!!
It took a little convincing to get out of bed, mostly on Molly’s part. but the promise of a decadent breakfast made it all easier. We started off by jumping into our boots, and raincoats (which by the way, I received my new raincoat just in time, and it is truly perfect, if anyone is on the look out for one this is the one I got!) and braved the rain out at the park to chase a few tennis balls.
I actually LOVE this part of having a dog (Molly isn’t ours, she’s Freya’s dog!) they get you out of the house, moving and breathing in fresh air first thing in the morning! I know I might not say this once I actually own onr, and have to do this day in day out, but I find it truly invigorating and it does wonders to my soul.
After a very wet walk, and a swift stop at the local shop to buy more flour, and vanilla extract (essential part of the icing!) we came home, wiped our wet paws, hung the coats to dry, played some Aretha Franklin in the kitchen and started with the baking!
These buns take a little patience. 2 hours or so of patience to be exact. but oh how they’re worth it! The dough, like any good bread, needs love, time and warmth to rise and get all cloud-like.
I found this recipe on Pinterest after endless browsing (if you don’t follow me on there, you should! I’m pinning every day, because I’m totally addicted!) so this is The Almond Eater’s recipe, and oh boy did she nail it!
The dough was slow rising, because it was actually a little cold over the weekend, but after moving it to our airing cupboard it worked just fine! Don’t panic if it doesn’t actually “double” in size, it didn’t matter too much for me.
The dough isn’t that sweet at all, which is why the icing is ESSENTIAL to this recipe! If you’re not an icing fan, maybe add a bit more sugar to your dough.
Actually scratch that, just make the icing, and make it really vanilla-ey. I actually halved the icing, and it was a mistakes, we all wanted more to dip the inside of the buns!
If this isn’t a money shot, then what it?!
You better believe I am making these again this weekend, I will probably cook them a little less (so they’re more doughy), I will make more icing, and I won’t panic too much about the proofing time. (I am also eyeing up this recipe, which seems a little faster?)
If you need any motivation to get you though the week, this should be it! I would go as far to say that these would be a great addition to a Sunday ‘batch cooking session’ so you wake up every day to a soft sweet homemade cinnamon bun… although I dare you to not eat the entire tray in one go.
