Maple Pecan Cinnamon Swirls

It’s another snowy, ice rain kind of day here in Ontario. I sure hope Winter will not stick around for too much longer ;))

In Switzerland you will find a pastry called Nusschnecken, a cinnamon bun style pastry filled with ground hazelnuts or almonds and are pretty flat compared to a traditional cinnamon bun. I think this is the first time I’ve tried copying the shape and I really liked how it turned out. Filled with ground pecans, maple syrup, orange zest and a touch of cinnamon-so good!

 

 

Maple Pecan Cinnamon Swirls

Ingredients:

• 400 g white spelt flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp quick instant yeast
• 1 tbsp maple syrup
• 80 g butter, melted (+ 80 g melted butter for brushing dough)
• 250 ml warm milk

Filling:

• 300 g ground pecans
• 5 tbsp maple syrup
• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 organic orange, zest only
• 200 ml milk

-For dough: In a large mixing bowl or your standard mixer, combine flour, salt and yeast, add melted butter, honey and warm milk. Knead to form a soft dough. Cover and let rise at room temperature for about 1 hour or double in size.

-For filling: Mix all ingredients together, set aside.

-Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 350F/180C.

-On a floured surface roll dough out thinly into a large rectangle. Brush with the melted butter, ( leave some for brushing the swirls before baking). Spread the filling evenly onto dough. Starting from the longer side, roll dough up tightly. Cut into 2 cm thin swirls/buns. Lay onto prepared baking sheets, leaving some space between. Brush with remaining melted butter, let rise another 15 minutes. Bake in preheated 350F/180C oven for 40 minutes or until golden brown.

-I brushed the warm swirls with a maple butter and orange icing. You can use a regular icing if desired (icing sugar and orange juice).

-Makes about 25 swirls.

-Ground hazelnuts, almonds, or walnuts can be used instead of pecans.

 

Have a wonderful week!

Ursula

 

 

 

 

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Caramel Apple Sticky Buns

I got the inspiration for these sticky buns from the October 2017 edition of the Canadian Living magazine. I’ve been waiting impatiently to try them. A pretty sticky bun situation, with an apple and pecan filling and sticky caramel made with apple juice and sugar.

As always I’ve made these completely refined sugar free, but I will write down the original ingredients as well. These are best enjoyed freshly baked and still warm.

 

Caramel Apple Sticky Buns

Yields: 12 buns

Dough:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour, I used white whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup sugar, I used honey
• 11/2 tsp quick-rising (instant) dry yeast
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp butter
• 2/3 cup milk
• 1 egg, lightly beaten

Glaze and Filling:

• 4 apples
• 1 cup brown sugar, I used coconut sugar
• 1/4 cup butter, cubed
• 2 cups chopped pecans
• 1 cup apple butter*
• 1 tbsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp ground ginger

To make the dough:

-In a large bowl mix together flour, sugar, yeast and salt. In a small saucepan, melt butter over medium heat, add milk and heat until warm, (not hot). Pour milk mixture into flour mixture, add egg. Stir until combined. Turn onto floured work surface and knead dough until soft and elastic. Place in greased bowl, turning to grease all over then cover with plastic wrap. Let rise until doubled in size, about 1-2 hours.

Glaze and Filling: Line a 13- x 9-inch baking dish with parchment paper.

-Meanwhile (optional peel) grate apples to measure 4 cups; strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a small bowl, pressing on solids with back of spoon to extract juice. Reserve grated apple.

-In a small saucepan, bring apple juice and brown sugar to boil over medium-high heat until thickened, about 5 minutes. Add butter; cook, stirring for 1 minute. Remove from heat. Reserving 3 tbsp, spread remaining glaze evenly over bottom of prepared pan; sprinkle with 1 cup of the pecans, In a bowl stir together apple butter, reserved 3 tbsp glaze, cinnamon and ginger.

Assembly:

-Preheat oven to 350F/180C.

-On a slightly floured surface roll out dough to a 16-x 12-inch rectangle. Leaving 1/2-inch border on 1 long edge, spread apple butter mixture evenly over dough; sprinkle reserved apple and pecans over top. Starting at the long edge opposite border, tightly roll up dough, pinching seams to seal.

-With a serrated knife, cut into 12 buns; arrange, cut side up, in prepared pan. Cover with a damp tea towel; let rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

-Bake until golden brown and buns sound hollow when gently tapped, 30-35 minutes. Let cool in pan for 5 minutes before serving.

 

*I’ve made these without the apple butter, because I did not have any at the time.

-Also I found the sticky buns were not really sticky after baking, maybe it depends how much juice you’ll get from the apples. I’ve made an additional simple maple glaze: In a small saucepan, bring 1 cup of maple syrup and 1 tsp cinnamon to a boil, then reduce to low heat, stirring until slightly thickens; add the butter, stir until melted, remove from heat and pour over baked buns.

 

Enjoy!

Wishing you all a great weekend!

Ursula

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Black Cherry Cinnamon Buns

Happy weekend everyone!

Have I ever mentioned that I love cinnamon buns?! Well, there is just something about it, I can’t help it. In Switzerland we make cinnamon buns with a hazelnut filling, which is amazingly good;) Checking online you can find cinnamon buns with all kinds of fillings and crazy toppings! It is certainly a treat to be indulged once in a while only-wright?

My husband and I have some trouble digesting wheat products. I personally had to cut back on eating bread (sniff) and pasta. We seem to have less problems mixing white or whole wheat flour with a greater amount of spelt flour, especially for breads and quiches.

Summer is such a great time for many reasons but also for all the berries that are growing. We have strawberries, raspberries, red currants, black currants, gooseberries, cherries, plums and apples in our garden. For now everything is growing great, except the black currants, plums and cherries, (well, there is one cherry growing! LOL) because of frost.

These cherry cinnamon buns were so good. It definitely makes it easier and quicker using frozen pitted cherries. Soft dough and sweet fruity cherry filling-yum!

 

 

You can find the sweet yeast dough recipe here: Almond Croissants I just changed the flour ingredients to 100g spelt flour and 200g unbleached all-purpose flour.

 

Black Cherry Cinnamon Buns

Yields: about 8

Sweet yeast dough:

Almond Croissants

 

Black Cherry Filling:

• 300 g frozen black cherries
• 2 tbsp honey
• 1 tbsp cornstarch

-In a small saucepan mix all ingredients together and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until thickened.

-Remove from heat. Let cool completely.

 

-Preheat oven to 350F/180C. Grease a baking dish or line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

-On a floured surface roll out dough into a rectangle. Spread cherry filling evenly, leaving a 2 cm space from the outside. Roll up gently, this might get a bit messy, and cut into even rolls. Carefully place onto prepared dish or sheet. Cover and let rise again.

-Bake for about 30 minutes or golden brown.

-I glazed the still warm buns with a mix of honey and milk. You could use icing sugar mixed with milk. Use a traditional cinnamon bun icing if desired.

 

Recipe by: a little Swiss, a little Canadian

 

Enjoy!

Ursula

 

 

You can find me on Instagram: @littleswisslittlecanadian