Sweet Dough Swirl Buns With Chocolate Date Tahini
A few things that I apparently never get tired of: Hallmark Movies, clean sheets and any kind of swirly bread concoction.
I actually happened upon this recipe/idea because my life is crazy right now. Mother of 4, with remote learning and my husband working at home. Most days I feel like a corrections officer making sure everyone is behaving. I rarely sit down because someone always needs me or is getting into trouble. But I digress..
Last week I had intentions of making some buns (rolls for Americans) for dinner. I ran out of time and popped the dough into the fridge to have to be made into something another day. The next day I saw my beloved chocolate date tahini and this dough in the fridge and knew they would be amazing together. SO, with toddlers as my sous-chefs we made a batch. And they were good. Not overly sweet, but just indulgent enough, I knew I had to find the time to make sure I had the recipe right and share.
I love this way of rolling them up because you can see so many layers of filling and it is just a little different, but a traditional cinnamon roll would work too. Also, this dough would be amazing for orange rolls (add a little orange zest), or cinnamon rolls or whatever else your heart wants to roll into dough (cheese or garlic butter?).
Sweet Dough Swirl Buns
(Makes 8-10)
Ingredients
1 ½ cups milk, warmed to about 110ºF (I use almond milk)
4 tbsp melted butter (vegan butter works)
1 tbsp yeast
⅓ cup coconut sugar
1 ½ tsp salt
3 ½ cups all-purpose flour
Filling of choice (I like chocolate date tahini, recipe below, but you can fill with cinnamon sugar and butter)
Optional: Swedish pearl sugar
Directions
In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together warm milk and sugar. Sprinkle the yeast on top and let it sit until it looks foamy. Add melted butter and salt.
Add 3 cups of the flour and mix with the dough hook until it starts to get incorporated. Add the remaining half a cup of flour and mix for 4 minutes. The dough should feel sticky and tacky but should not stick to clean/dry fingertips. If it is still sticky, add another tbsp of flour and mix again for a minute and then check, you can add up to another ½ cup of flour if needed, but only in small increments.
Knead the dough with the dough hook for a total of about 10 minutes. Put the dough into an oiled bowl. Cover and let it rise until doubled in size. This takes about 1 ½ hours.
Once the dough rises, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough into a rectangle, about 15 x 20 inches. With the long edge of the rectangle facing you, spread the filling over two-thirds of the surface. Fold the clean part of the rectangle towards the middle and then the other end of the dough (with filling on it) on top of that.
Use your rolling pin to flatten the rectangle out and stretch it.
Using a pizza cutter (or a knife), cut the dough into 8-10 long strips of dough. Roll each strip of dough up and tuck the end underneath.
Put the rolled strips onto a parchment-lined baking sheet about 3 inches apart. Sprinkle with Swedish pearl sugar.
Cover the rolls and let them rise another 30-60 minutes in a warm place. Bake at 375F for about 18-20 minutes or until the edges start to get golden.
Store in an airtight container for a couple of days (if they last that long) and warm them up a bit because that just tastes the best.
*Note: you can also fill and roll like a standard cinnamon bun, like the extra layers of dough and different look this way provides.
Chocolate Date Tahini with Hazelnuts
Ingredients
100g of dates (about 10-12)
⅔ cup hot water
100g of tahini
70g of toasted hazelnuts
20g cocoa
8g of vanilla bean paste or vanilla
Pinch of salt
Directions
Pour the hot water over the dates and set aside for at least 10 minutes.
Drain the dates, but keep the water, you will use this to get a good consistency.
Put the dates, tahini, hazelnuts, cocoa, vanilla, salt and 4 tbsp of water in a food processor and blend.
Add remaining water 1 tbsp at a time until you get your desired consistency. I like it to be like a soft peanut butter.
Mix until it is well blended and smooth.
Store in an airtight container for up to a week in the refrigerator.
*You can make this without the hazelnuts, just use less water and if you want it sweeter, use maple syrup in place of water.
SWEET DOUGH SWIRL BUNS WITH CHOCOLATE DATE TAHINI
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups milk, warmed to about 110ºF (I use almond milk)
- 4 tbsp melted butter (vegan butter works)
- 1 tbsp yeast
- ⅓ cup coconut sugar
- 1 ½ tsp salt
- 3 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- Filling of choice (I like chocolate date tahini, recipe below, but you can fill with cinnamon sugar and butter)
- Optional: Swedish pearl sugar
- 100g of dates (about 10-12)
- ⅔ cup hot water
- 100g of tahini
- 70g of toasted hazelnuts*
- 20g cocoa
- 8g of vanilla bean paste or vanilla
- Pinch of salt
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together warm milk and sugar. Sprinkle the yeast on top and let it sit until it looks foamy. Add melted butter and salt.
- Add 3 cups of the flour and mix with the dough hook until it starts to get incorporated. Add the remaining half a cup of flour and mix for 4 minutes. The dough should feel sticky and tacky but should not stick to clean/dry fingertips. If it is still sticky, add another tbsp of flour and mix again for a minute and then check, you can add up to another ½ cup of flour if needed, but only in small increments.
- Knead the dough with the dough hook for a total of about 10 minutes. Put the dough into an oiled bowl. Cover and let it rise until doubled in size. This takes about 1 ½ hours.
- Once the dough rises, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough into a rectangle, about 15 x 20 inches. With the long edge of the rectangle facing you, spread the filling over two-thirds of the surface. Fold the clean part of the rectangle towards the middle and then the other end of the dough (with filling on it) on top of that.
- Use your rolling pin to flatten the rectangle out and stretch it.
- Using a pizza cutter (or a knife), cut the dough into 8-10 long strips of dough. Roll each strip of dough up and tuck the end underneath.
- Put the rolled strips onto a parchment-lined baking sheet about 3 inches apart. Sprinkle with Swedish pearl sugar.
- Cover the rolls and let them rise another 30-60 minutes in a warm place. Bake at 375F for about 18-20 minutes or until the edges start to get golden.
- Store in an airtight container for a couple of days (if they last that long) and warm them up a bit because that just tastes the best.
- Pour the hot water over the dates and set aside for at least 10 minutes.
- Drain the dates, but keep the water, you will use this to get a good consistency.
- Put the dates, tahini, hazelnuts*, cocoa, vanilla, salt and 4 tbsp of water* in a food processor and blend.
- Add remaining water 1 tbsp at a time until you get your desired consistency. I like it to be like a soft peanut butter.
- Mix until it is well blended and smooth.
- Store in an airtight container for up to a week in the refrigerator.
Notes
- *You can make this without the hazelnuts, just use less water and if you want it sweeter, use maple syrup in place of water.
- You can also fill and roll like a standard cinnamon bun, I like the extra layers of dough and different look this way provides.