Every summer my apple trees equally bless me and curse me with an over-abundance of apples, and sadly I never get around to making that cider that I promise myself I’ll make each year… (mind you, that might be a good thing!)

This recipe makes a small dent in the apple mountain at least, and is a delicious and easy bake for the weekend.

I opted for a simple icing sugar and oat milk glaze for these buns, but a cream cheese frosting would be utterly divine as well, of course…

Ingredients for the dough:

• 320ml plant milk (any will do)
• 50g vegan butter/spread
• 500g strong white bread flour
• 7g fast action yeast
• 2 tbs maple syrup
• a large pinch of salt

Ingredients for the filling:

• 3 large eating apples, peeled and chopped into small cubes
• knob of vegan butter
• 4 tbs of maple syrup
• 80g of coconut sugar, or light brown sugar
• 50g (ish) of softened vegan butter

For the icing:

• 150g icing sugar
• 2 tsp of oat milk

Method:

1. Prepare the dough first. Pour the milk into a pan with the butter and warm until the butter has melted and the milk is steaming. The milk must be just warm.
2. Put the flour into a large mixing bowl, with the yeast on one side of the bowl and the salt on the other side. Pour in the warm milk and mix the ingredients together until you have a soft dough. Tip the dough onto a lightly floured worktop and knead for around 10 minutes. (You can also do this in a stand mixer if you have one!) The dough should feel soft and stretchy when it’s done. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with a damp tea towel. Leave the dough to rise for 3 hours or until it’s doubled in size.
3. Next, make the filling by putting the cubed apples into a pan with the knob of butter and maple syrup. Cook the apples for around 5-10 minutes until they’ve softened and are sticky.
4. Once the dough has proved, knock the air out of it tip it out onto a floured worktop. Roll it out to around the size of a tea towel (around 50cmx40cm). With a pastry brush, brush over the softened vegan butter, and sprinkle over the sugar. Next, add the sweet, sticky apples on top.
5. Now roll up the dough, starting from one of the longer sides and try and get the roll as tight as you can. Cut the dough into 12 equal pieces, and place cut side up into a large baking tray (I used a large roasting pan) lined with parchment paper. Leave a little space in between each bun, as they will expand a little on the second prove. Loosely cover the buns with a damp tea towel and allow to rise for around 30 minutes until they’ve puffed up and are touching. Set the oven heat to 200C / fan 180C / gas mark 6.
6. Bake the buns for around 30-40 minutes until lightly golden. While they are cooling, make the sugar glaze by slowly mixing a little milk to the icing sugar. The icing shouldn’t be too runny and should still stick to the buns (but it’s very easy to add too much liquid to the sugar so add the milk very slowly). Brush or drizzle the icing over the buns while they are still warm, and leave for half an hour before devouring.