Pumpkin Sticky Buns

I set out this morning to bake cinnamon rolls, but thought these were more suited to a "caramel" topping. Caramel is a combination of sugar and cream, but I replaced those with dates and vanilla. I made mini-rolls because I didn't have large surface ready for the whole batch of dough, so I split it into two. Bonus: I feel less guilty when I eat a lot of them :)

Cinnamon Roll Dough
1/2 cup teff flour
1 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 & 1/4 cup pumpkin
4 tb palm oil, melted
1/4 cup agave

Combine the dry ingredients first, and then mash the pumpkin in with a fork. Combine the melted oil and agave first, then transfer onto the batter and combine. If the dough is sticky and hard to handle, it's too warm. I had to let it rest in the fridge for about 30 minutes. Flour a surface and lightly roll out the dough. It will stand up to rolling, which is fairly rare for a vegan gluten free dough.

Once you have rolled the dough into a rectangular shape, soften 2 TB of palm oil and mix in 3 TB of maple syrup to brush over the dough. I made the mistake of completely melting the palm oil, and ended up with a gooey mess, which you'll see below. Delicious, but gooey. A nice addition would be rough chopped pecans. Sprinkle a liberal amount of cinnamon on the dough, a small amount of allspice (just a pinch), and grate some fresh nutmeg on top. Note: Not all maple syrup is actually vegan, so it's best to research your sources. Sometimes they use fat to keep the syrup from bubbling over. If you would rather, you can use turbinado sugar, which to the best of my knowledge and research is never filtered with bone-char.


Roll the dough along the length of the dough (roll long end to long end - don't start at a skinny end, or you'll end up with the fattest cinnamon rolls ever) and cut them about at a length of about 1 1/2 inches. The second mistake I made while making these is not putting baking paper on the cookie sheet. These are gooey, and while cleanup wasn't impossible, it was a little longer than it could have been. The baking paper I use sparingly is unbleached and I reuse often before composting. It's a great way to keep things a little fresher than just sitting in the open.

These buns look a little dry on the outside when they are done (after about 25 minutes at 350 degrees F), but they are quite moist in the middle. They are so yummy.

"Caramel"
4 dates, soaked for a minimum of 45 minutes
3-4 TB of water
pinch of scraped vanilla bean
small pinch of salt

Blend the ingredients in a high speed blender and spoon over the top.