Vegan Polish sweet cheese rolls with berries
Vegan Polish sweet cheese rolls with berries
Happy Wednesday! And I hope you like cheesecake as I’m in a cheesecake mood these days. After my last recipe, I’ve developed a hankering for cheesecake filled buns with juicy raspberries and strawberries. I don’t normally publish sweet recipes on a Wednesday (a self-protection mechanism mainly 😉 ), but it was a craving I could not shake off.
And then I realised that Duncan was heading off for a two day kayaking trip this morning so I had a perfect excuse to bake. I got to make them, which made me happy, and he and his fellow kayakers will get a nice treat after a long day on the river – everyone wins. I hope they go down well.
They are one many traditional Polish bakes I grew up on, alongside their plain versions and bilberry filled rolls. They remind me of summers back home and I am feeling a little nostalgic and homesick lately, perhaps because I have not been able to see my mom for a year and a half now, so I thought I would make something that transports my senses back home. It did smell like a bakery here when they were in the oven last night.
These fluffy rolls are really simple to make and very portable – perfect for a picnic or a trip. They are delicious with a cup of strong black coffee or on their own. In Poland, they often work as a ‘on the go’ breakfast, our equivalent of a French croissant if you like. Not the healthiest, I’ll admit, but darn tasty!
The filling is really versatile – they can be topped with any berries you like or anything a little tart like sour cherries, rhubarb or even gooseberries will work well with the sweet cheesecake filling underneath. Just keep sourness of your fruit in mind when seasoning the filling with lemon juice. I like my filling with quite a decisive tang but if you don’t simply replace some of the lemon juice with plant milk to your preference. Also, they are not meant to be doughnut-sweet, but if that’s what you prefer feel free to add more sugar to my recipe – your call. I hope you’ll enjoy them if you decide to give them a go.
- 250 g / 2 cups AP wheat flour*, plus extra for dusting
- ¼ tsp fine salt
- 7 g / 2¼ tsp instant dried yeast*
- 35 g / 3 tbsp sugar (coconut sugar if refined sugar-free)
- approx. 160 ml / 2/3 cup lukewarm plant milk
- 30 g / 2 heaped tbsp mild coconut oil (or vegan butter)*
- vegan ‘eggwash’ – 2 tsp plant milk + 1 tsp maple syrup
FILLING
- 135 g / 1 cup raw cashews, soaked in boiling water for minimum 20 minutes
- 1 lemon, zest + 2-4 tbsp juice (I like 4 tbsp)*
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 80 ml / 1/3 cup maple syrup or sugar (see method)
- 80 ml / 1/3 cup plant milk, if using sugar
- 15 g / 1 heaped tbsp mild coconut oil or vegan butter
- 150 g / 5.25 oz ripe berries
- Place all the liquids at the bottom of your blender. If using vegan butter or hardened coconut oil, soften it a little first. If using sugar (other than icing sugar), dissolve it in 80 ml / 1/3 cup plant milk first. If using maple syrup, you may need to add an extra 1-2 tbsp plant milk to loosen the cream.
- Blend in drained and rinsed cashews until the mixture is silky smooth. As opposed to other cashew creams I made on here, this mixture needs to be fairly loose as this allows for some of the moisture to evaporate during baking and prevents the filling from drying out too much.
DOUGH
- Mix the flour, salt, instant yeast and sugar in a large mixing bowl.
- Pour in most of the plant milk (hold back 1 tbsp). If using maple syrup instead of sugar, adjust the amount of plant milk accordingly. Bring all the ingredients together with a wooden spoon.
- When the mixture has mostly stuck together, turn the mixture out on to a work surface. If the mixture feels dry, add the rest of plant milk. The dough should be a little sticky initially but quite easy to work with.
- Knead the mixture by holding one end of the dough in one hand and stretching it out with the other hand. Reform the dough, turn it 90 degrees and start again. Repeat this for about 5 minutes.
- Work the coconut oil (no need to melt it) into the dough. To begin with the dough will be slippery and will look like it’s been ruined. Keep working it and eventually all the fat will get absorbed by the dough and it will become elastic and smooth (it takes about 10 minutes) .
- Put the dough in a large clean bowl, coat it in a thin layer of oil and cover the bowl with a clean kitchen towel. Set aside, in a warm (but not too warm) place for 1-1½ hours, until the dough doubles in size.
- Once the dough has doubled in size, punch all the air out of it and divide it into 6-7 identical portions.
- Roll each portion into a ball, place them in a lightly oiled baking tray and cover with a kitchen towel. Set aside for about 30-45 minutes, until the balls rise again slightly.
- Heat up the oven to 180° C / 355° F.
- Flatten each ball with your hand then press a lightly oiled glass bottom into each ball to create a deep indent for the filling. If the dough springs back (which it should), use your fingers to perfect the shape of the indent. Fill with the sweet ‘cheese’ mixture you’ve made earlier and top with berries.
- Brush the dough (not the filling) with a mixture of plant milk and maple syrup. Bake for about 20 minutes. Brush with a little maple syrup (or sugar syrup) while still hot for that bakery shine.
*YEAST: make sure you use the right kind of yeast. I used instant yeast (which gets added directly to the flour), but if you have dried active yeast, for example, it will need activating in the liquid (allocated for this recipe) first. Please follow the instructions on the packet.
*FAT: for a softer & more indulgent result, you can add more coconut oil / vegan butter into the dough – traditional recipes use closer to 50 g / 4 tbsp but I don’t think that’s necessary.
*LEMON JUICE: adjust to taste but be sure to compensate for with plant milk if using less than 4 tbsp.
Question: if doubling the ingredients to make more, should I double the yeast?
I am not super familiar with yeasted doughs or pastry, so if it wasn't for the note in the directions that said it will look like you are ruining your dough when you first add the coconut oil, I would have despaired. It feels and seems extremely weird. Also, I only had dry active yeast, so it took a little effort to match the directions on the packet with the liquid/sugar measurements in the recipe (you have to set aside liquid and sugar etc.) My bake time was 25 minutes to get them a bit brown.
All that said, these turned out amazing. They are sooooo good. A lot of effort but I will make them again! Next time, I might experiment with a vegan cream cheese filling, that has bit more sourness like farmer's cheese. I liked the cashew creme though. I also might measure out the dough differently so I can get 8-10 pastries rather than 6. They're quite large!
Would I need to freshen them up in the oven?
They should be okay, but like with most baked goods they are most delicious on the day. Store them in an air-tight container after cooling (!) so that they don't go stale. Hope this helps! Ania
Her name is Ania! :-)
Cheers
Kerry
PS: you could shape the buns and leave them to prove overnight in the fridge, then bring to room temperature, fill with cheesecake cream and bake on the day.
Also, this is a traditional Polish Christmas cake - the only difference is that typically cranberries aren't used - some people use plum jam, rose jam or sour cherry jam (my family). It needs 2-3 days curing time but it is often made outsdie of Christmas too (for NYE, or 3 Kings on 6th Jan) so you could make it for another occasion and I am sure everyone will enjoy it - it's gingerbread after all...
I have just tried making these now :-) although I have used blueberries. They look & tastes amazing.
I was wondering, what is the Polish name for these? I am looking forward to trying with different fruits as well.
Best,
Daniel
Mehrnaz
Very excited to be making these this morning! I couldn’t see when to add the 1 tsp of vanilla extract to the dough - I just put it in with the plant milk so hopefully that’s right.
I find your recipes easy to follow and extremely delicious, several sweet and savoury options are favourites in our house. Thank you!
It doesn't need to be coconut oil per se, it could be vegan butter for example. I would personally not risk using avocado oil as it has a pretty strong flavour. You may be okay with something neutral tasting like grapeseed or sunflower oil though - I haven't tested either of them but I don't see why they would not work. Ania