Vegan Cranberry Orange Sticky Buns

Instructions

Making the dough

1. Begin by adding your warmed almond milk, vanilla bean paste/extract, orange juice, and orange zest from the bun dough ingredients to a large mixing bowl. Stir to combine. Add the packet of active dry yeast to the mixing bowl and stir in. Let sit for 5-10 minutes. You will know the yeast is active if frothy bubbles form during this waiting period.
2. Once you are sure the yeast is active, add in your melted butter and sugar from the bun ingredients and whisk to combine.
3. Sift the all purpose flour, pastry flour, and and salt into a separate mixing bowl and stir to evenly mix. Gradually add this mixture of dry ingredients to the large mixing bowl containing the wet ingredients and mix until a sticky dough is formed.
4. Now, you will knead the dough. If using a standing mixer, use the bread hook to knead the dough for 5-10 minutes until an elastic and firm, yet slightly sticky dough is formed. If kneading by hand, turn the dough out onto a well-floured surface and knead until the same desired dough consistency is reached.
5. Form the dough into a large ball and place it in a well oiled bowl. Cover and place the bowl of dough in a warm place to rise for 1-2 hours until the dough has doubled in size.

Making the cranberry filling

1. While the dough is rising, make your cranberry filling. Please note that you'll want to make this at least 30 minutes before you are ready to roll the buns so the filling has time to cool.
2. First, whisk together the cornstarch and water together in a small bowl to form a slurry. Then, add 1 cup of your cranberries, ½ cup of the sugar, the cornstarch water slurry, zest, orange juice, and vanilla bean paste/extract from the cranberry filling ingredients to a small saucepan.
3. Bring the pot of ingredients to a boil and stir to combine. Let boil 5 minutes until all the cranberries have burst. Stir and let cook 1 more minute. Remove the saucepan from the heat and let cool. Once cooled, add in the additional ½ cup of additional fresh cranberries remaining. You will save the additional ¼ cup of sugar under the filling ingredients for later.

Forming the buns

1. Once the dough has doubled in size, turn out onto a well-floured surface. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough into a ½ inch thick rectangle.
2. Use a spatula to spread the cranberry filling over the dough evenly over the dough, leaving a ½ inch border around the outside of the dough. Pour the additional ¼ cup of sugar set aside from the filling ingredients on top of the cranberry filling.
3. Starting from the longer end of the dough, roll the dough into a large log. Make sure to tuck the filling and large cranberries as you go so no filling escapes. Seal the dough end together by pinching the dough.
4. Cut off the ends of the dough and discard. Use a very sharp knife to cut the bun into 10 evenly sized slices. Add the slices to a buttered/ well oiled 10" pan or cast iron skillet. Cover the buns with plastic wrap (or bees wrap) and place in the fridge to rise overnight.

Baking the buns & making the glaze

1. In the morning, remove the buns from the fridge and preheat the oven to 350F.
2. Once preheated, add the buns to the oven and bake for 40-45 minutes until just slightly browned on top and cooked all the way through. I like to test if my buns are done by sticking a toothpick into the middle bun. If no raw dough comes off the toothpick, the buns are good to go!
3. Remove the cooked buns from the oven and set aside to cool.
4. While the buns are cooling, make the orange glaze by adding the powdered sugar, orange juice, and orange zest from the glaze ingredients to a medium bowl and whisking until a thick but smooth glaze is formed. If you want a thinner glaze, you can add more orange juice or even a tsp of almond milk, however, a thick glaze works best once on the buns.
5. Pour the glaze over the cooled buns and serve immediately. Enjoy!
6. *Please note the cooked buns will keep in the fridge up to 5 days and in the freezer up to 1 month, but will need to be reheated for optimal taste. You can microwave them, but I recommend turning your oven to 200F and heating 10-15 minutes to warm the buns if you have time*