Vegan Blueberry Buns
*Fair warning: this recipe is a bit messy.
But it’s absolutely worth the mess. These vegan blueberry buns are packed with a delicious wild blueberry filling. And the dough has a hint of orange blossom water that pairs perfectly with it. It is taking everything in me not to eat another one as I’m writing this. The smell they’ve left behind from baking is worthy of being made into a candle. Simply making the filling had me excited to eat these. And, thankfully, they came out exactly as I’d hoped.
Why make these vegan blueberry buns?
The dough is so soft and pillowy! And the orange blossom is subtle enough not to be overpowering but strong enough to compliment the taste of the blueberry filling. And oh boy is that filling good. If you don’t want to have or make the dough, just make the filling and eat it on toast, ice cream, cereal, whatever. It’s basically blueberry jam but easier and less sweet. We’re lucky enough to have wild blueberries here, but you can use frozen ones if that’s all you have. Just make sure to boil the filling a few minutes longer to get rid of the excess water.
The dough is easy to make by hand since it’s supple and doesn’t require excessive kneading, just enough to form a smooth ball. And if it’s the mess you don’t want, you can simply make these like cinnamon rolls instead of shaping them like twists. Plus, if you want to go the extra mile, you can drizzle the glaze from the lemon cake recipe to really top the whole thing off! Either way they’ll make for an awesome unhealthy breakfast.
If you make this recipe please let me know in the comments! All feedback is very much appreciated and I would love to hear from you! You can also tag me on instagram @the.quaint.kitchen or use the hashtag #thequaintkitchen to share your creations!
Vegan Blueberry Buns
Ingredients
Blueberry filling
- 280 g fresh blueberries
- 35 g white granulated sugar, make sure it’s vegan
- 7 g tapioca starch
- 1/2 lemon, zested
- 1 tbsp water
- pinch of salt
Dough
- 400 g all-purpose flour
- 40 g white granulated sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 220 g lukewarm water, around 37C/98F, but no more than 48C/120F
- 2 tsp instant yeast or active dry yeast
- 50 g neutral oil, (grapeseed, canola, vegetable…)
- 1/2 tbsp orange blossom water
Instructions
Blueberry filling
- In a saucepan, combine all the ingredients and bring to a boil.
- Let it boil a few minutes until thickened, stirring constantly to avoid it sticking.
- Pour into a wide container (the thinner the filling is spread the faster it will cool) and cover directly with plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming.
- Stick it in the fridge so it cools while you make the dough.
Dough
- Combine the lukewarm water, yeast and 10g of the sugar and set it aside to let the yeast foam.
- In a large(ish) bowl, whisk together the flour, the rest of the sugar and the salt.
- Once the yeast has lightly foamed, pour it into the dry ingredients along with the oil and orange blossom water.
- Stir everything together until a rough dough forms then tip it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead a few times, about 5 minutes, just until it forms a nice smooth ball and doesn’t feel sticky.
- Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover it with a damp tea towel and place it in a warm place to proof for an hour or until doubled in size.
- Prepare a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone mat.
- Once proofed, roll or pat the dough out on a floured surface to form a 50cmx30cm rectangle.
- Spread the blueberry filling as evenly as possible all over the dough, then grab the 30cm side and fold it a bit further than the center. Do the same thing with the other 30cm side. Like folding a paper to put in an envelope.
- Once the dough is folded, place the longest side in front of you and cut 8 equal strips. To make it easier, cut the dough in half, then those halves in halves and those halves/quarters into halves.
- With each strip, grab both ends and pull lightly to extend it. Then with one hand twist towards yourself and with the other twist away. Spiral that twisted shape on itself and tuck the end underneath.
- Place them on the baking sheet with some space in between and let them rest for 20 to 30 minutes or until they’ve lightly expanded.
- In the meantime, preheat your oven to 190°C or 375°F and when the buns are ready, bake them for 18 to 20 minutes.
- Let them cool on the baking sheet for about 10 minutes to let the filling set, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
- *Disclaimer: I have a tiny not-so-great oven, so your bake time may vary from mine.
- I strongly suggest making recipes by weight, if you make them by cups I can’t guarantee that you’ll get the same results.
- You can use frozen blueberries and boil the filling a few minutes longer to get rid of the excess water.
- You can replace the tapioca starch with cornstarch, your filling just might not be as set since tapioca starch thickens at a lower temperatue. But they’ll still be good!
- For something extra, you can drizzle the lemon glaze from the lemon cake recipe over these!
- If you want less of a mess, you can bake these as rolls like cinnamon buns.
- These are best enjoyed the same day, but they will keep up to 2 days at room temperature. Or you can keep them in the fridge for at least a week and pop one in the microwave for about 20 seconds when you want to.
Good Morning!
I just stumbled upon your recipe and would love to make these for breakfast for my family. I’ve never worked with yeast before and I don’t use sugar because I am diabetic. Can I substitute the sugar for monk fruit sugar or another diabetic friendly sugar?
Hi Kristinia! Although I’ve never tested it, I don’t see why not! Monk fruit sugar should work just fine, especially in the blueberry jam, it shouldn’t make a huge difference. And the amount of sugar in the dough isn’t really large enough for it to have a significant impact on the texture if you replace it. I would give it a shot! Can’t be that bad😉
Hi!
I just stumbled on your blog. I’ve gained a couple vegan friends, and I’m trying to accommodate them when they come with their kids for a play-date. This recipe caught my eye, however, I’ve never used orange blossom water and can’t purchase it at the moment. Do you think it could be replaced with some orange zest?
You have an awesome blog, I bookmarked it.
Greetings from Sweden <3
Hi Adrienn! Sorry for the late response, thank you for the kind words! You can simply replace the 1/2 tbsp orange blossom with 1/2 tbsp of water, and yes you can add some zest (orange or lemon!) instead if you’d like, it’s not the same but it’ll be quite delicious that way too! Or you can also just leave the dough plain. Hope you and your friends enjoy the recipe, it’s very thoughtful of you to accommodate them 🙂
Greetings from Canada ❤️
Can these be frozen after baking?
Hi Emma! I haven’t tried freezing them, but I imagine it would work. They might just be slightly drier than freshly made. Let me know how it goes if you try it!