GBBO 2019 Week 3 - Bread - Tear & Share Cinnamon, Apricot and Apple Rolls (Vegan)

I know...I'm quite late with this post. My defence is that I attempted the first batch of cinnamon rolls, which were a bit of a disaster, and then episode 4 of GBBO was on, and I got very annoyed with the theme (Dairy week for a vegan is NOT much fun!).
However, I picked myself up yesterday and had another go at some vegan cinnamon rolls. To the filling I added, as weird as it sounds, a small jar of apricot and apple puree (like that found in the baby food aisle). This gave the rolls a wonderful fruity flavour. Before placing the rolls in the tray I also poured in a simple vegan caramel. After baking, this leaves a gorgeous caramel stickiness to the bottom of each bun.

This is the jar of apricot and apple puree (125g) I used. It has no weird ingredients in it, just 60% apricot and 40% apple, so seemed perfect for this bake.

The dough was really easy, lightly spiced with cardamom, and I kneaded the dough using the dough hook in a stand mixer - you could knead by hand, but the dough is a sticky one, so if you can, I'd recommend following my method.

Makes 9 cinnamon rolls

Ingredients:

For the dough:

• 475g strong white bread flour, plus an extra handful for dusting
• 25g cornflour
• 7g dried fast-action yeast
• 50g light soft brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 300ml soy milk
• 75g dairy-free (I used a soy-based) margarine

For the caramel:

• 45g golden syrup
• 45g light soft brown sugar
• 75g dairy-free margarine

For the filling:

• 2-3 tbsp ground cinnamon
• 30g light soft brown sugar
• 125g apricot and apple puree (you could blitz your own apricots and cooked down apples if needed)

Method:

1. Tip the bread flour and cornflour into the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with a dough hook. To one side of the bowl add the yeast, and to the other side add the sugar, cardamom and salt.

2. Heat the soy milk in the microwave for 30 seconds - 1 minute, until warm but not hot to the touch. Pour over the flour and add the margarine.

3. Turn on the stand mixer and leave to knead for around 8 minutes, until it is very soft.

4. Cover the bowl with cling film and leave to rise in a warm place for about 1 hour, or until the dough has at least doubled in size.

5. Meanwhile, make the caramel by pouring the syrup, sugar and margarine into a small saucepan and bring the mixture to a boil. Stir whilst boiling for around a minute, then take off the heat.

6. Grease and line a 20cm springform cake tin with baking parchment, then pour caramel into the base of this tin.

7. To make the filling, simply stir together the cinnamon, sugar and puree, and set aside.

8. Once the dough has at least doubled in size, tip out onto a lightly floured surface and knead briefly to knock the air out. Roll to about 50 x 40 cm rectangle. Spread over the filling evenly. From a long end, roll the dough tightly.

9. Evenly slice into nine rolls, and then carefully place in the prepared tin, cut side facing up.

10. Cover the tin with clingfilm and then leave for around another 45 minutes, until well risen.

11. Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 180c (160c fan)/355f/gas mark 4.

12. Bake the cinnamon rolls for 25-30 minutes, until golden on top and firm to the touch. Check after around 20 minutes, and if they are browning too much, cover with foil.

13. Enjoy warm or at room temperature!

GBBO 2019 Week 2 - Biscuits - Vegan Fig Rolls

For biscuit week, I was tempted to bake all three challenges - the chocolate biscuit bars looked amazing and would have been technically difficult, but required a lot of research to make something delicious and vegan. The showstopper as well, the 3d biscuit sculpture would have been a great challenge but could easily have ended in disaster!
So, to play it a little safer, I baked the technical challenge of fig rolls.

Of course, I then made my life more difficult and researched how to make them vegan, and changed up a few other ingredients as well.

I've used ground flax seeds in the past as an egg replacer (there's a vegan chocolate cake recipe I'm yet to write about that used them), so I decided to use these to replace the egg in the cakey biscuit dough surrounding the fig filling.
The dough turned out well and although a little less cakey than Paul would have liked, the end fig rolls are really tasty. I spiced the filling quite heavily with cinnamon and ginger, but you could turn these spices down to your own liking.

Makes 12

Ingredients:

For the biscuit dough:

• 175g plain flour
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• 50g vegan margarine (e.g. vitalite)
• 40g light soft brown sugar
• 1 tbsp ground flax seeds
• 3 tbsp water
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

For the fig filling:

• 200g dried figs, roughly chopped
• 25g light soft brown sugar
• 50ml water
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground ginger

To finish:

• Icing sugar, for dusting

Method:

1. Cream together the margarine and brown sugar in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment (beating with a wooden spoon in a mixing bowl would also work fine), for a couple of minutes, until pale and fluffy.

2. Combine the ground flax seeds and water and stir. Leave for around 5 minutes.

3. Pour the flaxseed mixture and vanilla into the mixing bowl and stir well. Sift over the flour, baking powder and salt, and bring the dough together with a spoon or your hands. As soon as it is one ball of dough, cover in cling film and place in the fridge for 30 minutes.

4. Whilst the dough is chilling, make the filling by adding the figs, sugar and water to a small saucepan - the water should just about cover the figs. Bring to a boil and simmer for around 5 minutes, or until most of the liquid has been boiled off and the figs are soft.

5. Leave the fig mixture for a few minutes to cool slightly, and then blitz in a food processor until smooth. Add the cinnamon and ginger and beat in. Place the fig paste in a bowl and chill for at least 10 minutes.

6. Preheat the oven to 200c (180c fan)/400f/gas mark 6. Grease and line the base of a 20x30cm baking tray.

7. Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface until it is around 20 x 25cm. Slice down the short-end, so that you end up with two 10 x 25cm rectangles.

8. Divide the fig paste into two and place on sheets of cling film. Lightly wrap the fig paste in the cling film and use this to easily roll the fig paste into 25cm cylinders. Unwrap and place along the centre of each rectangle.

9. Dab a little water along one long edge of each rectangle. Pick up the opposite end of the rectangle and fold this over the fig paste, and then continue the roll to seal against the other end of the dough. (so you end up with dough encasing the fig paste). Repeat with the other rectangle.

10. Evenly slice 6 biscuits from each roll (to end up with 12 biscuits). Transfer to the baking sheet. Use a fork to press the rolls slightly, and then lightly score each on top.

11. Bake for around 12 minutes, or until very lightly golden on the corners. Remove from the oven and after a few minutes, gently transfer to a wire rack to cool fully.

12. Dust lightly with icing sugar to serve, and store in an airtight container.

13. Enjoy!