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Happy Monday!
Do you like sweet potatoes? I do! Very much so! Mostly because they are 100% versatile and I use them in all sorts of recipes, both sweet and savory. Orange, purple, white… they’re all different. Orange: sweet and velvety. Purple: sweet and slightly more fibrous. White: less sweet with a chestnut-like flavor. They are all amazing. For me it’s very hard to find the purple ones, so whenever that happens I buy looooots.
In the past I had already made cinnamon rolls (Sweet potato cinnamon rolls w/ an orange glaze, Pumpkin cinnamon rolls w/ choc chips) but I decided to try them using purple sweet potatoes as an experiment, to see if they would keep their color – and the answer is yes! And to make it pop even more I added a glaze made with sweet potato puree.
I suggest eating these rolls fresh from the oven (let them cool first) because they are oh so soft. They keep for quite a few days. maybe you could heat them up in the over or microwave (and glaze them afterwards).
UBE (PURPLE SWEET POTATO) CINNAMON ROLLS {vegan}
by Marta Giaccone
Recipe
10-12 rolls
prep time: 15 mins, cook time: 30 mins, total: 45 mins + 2 hrs rising time
Cinnamon rolls
¼ cup / 4 tbsp / 60 ml light vegetable oil
3 tbsp maple syrup or other liquid sweetener
1 cup / 250 gr sweet potato puree (any color — about one medium sweet potato)
¼ cup / 4 tbsp / 60 ml plant-based milk
2 + ¼ tsp / 7 gr active dry yeast
pinch sugar
¼ cup / 4 tbsp / 60 ml warm water
3 cups / 400 gr flour
pinch salt
Filling
1 tbsp light oil
¼ cup / 50 gr brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
80 gr dark chocolate, roughly chopped
Glaze
80 gr powdered sugar
50 gr plant-based milk
30 gr sweet potato puree
Method
- Wash, peel, chop and steam the sweet potato until fork-tender, about 10-15 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool for a few minutes in the colander (this is important). Weigh it (you will need 250 gr).
- Transfer it to a bowl, add oil, sweetener and milk. Blend.
- Add yeast, water and a pinch of sugar to a small bowl, stir and let sit for about 10 minutes or until frothy.
- Prepare a floured work surface.
- Sift flour into a large mixing bowl together with salt, stir, then add the cooled sweet potato mixture and the frothy yeast. Stir, then, when all the ingredients are combined, start mixing with your hands.
- When a rough ball has formed, transfer it to the work surface. Knead for a few minutes until it is elastic. Add more flour, if needed (I didn’t need any), 1 pinch at a time, just until the dough is no longer sticky. Don’t add too much flour!
- Clean out the large mixing bowl (or use another one), lightly oil it, then transfer the dough ball inside it. Cover with plastic wrap and leave to rise in a warm spot (I just left it on the counter) until it doubles, about 1 hour. If your house is cold you can put it inside the oven (turned off!).
- In the meantime prepare the filling: combine sugar and cinnamon.
- Transfer the dough over a floured work surface. Roll out the dough and form a rectangle (or try to!). Brush it with 1 tbsp oil. Spread the cinnamon sugar evenly. Add chopped chocolate.
- Starting at one long end, tightly roll the dough into a log, then cut into 10-12 even rolls.
- Lightly oil a round or square/rectangular baking dish (or a jumbo muffin pan for individual rolls). Transfer rolls to dish/pan (leave plenty of room; use two pans if necessary), cover with plastic wrap and leave to proof for 1 hour.
- Prepare the glaze: combine all glaze ingredients and let sit in the fridge.
- Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F. Optional: brush rolls with a tiny bit of oil mixed with a tiny bit of milk.
- Bake for 30 minutes, turning the tray around halfway. Remove from oven and let cool almost completely before digging in. Glaze them before serving.
- Store rolls in an air-tight container or individually wrapped, in the fridge or at room temperature. They can be frozen too – in this case, glaze them afterwards.
These rolls are what I would consider a lightly sweet, hearty breakfast roll if you ve ever had sweet potato challah or sweet potato pancakes, you will love these purple yam rolls! Drizzled with a coconut glaze, it s kind of hard to resist, and between you and me, making it vegan was a bonus, since it was a treat we could all enjoy!