Cookie Butter Cinnamon Apple Sticky Rolls

It should be FALL, right? Even in Miami, it should be fall. It should be more like 80º, not 90º, but it isn’t. So to give Mother Nature a hint, I decided to bake Cookie Butter Cinnamon Apple Sticky Rolls. Tonight is also the beginning of another 7-day Jewish holiday, Sukkot. Since my mother is making a meat-based dinner, I decided to make these sticky rolls non-dairy.

Tamarin Spread * (no, not tamarind-the-fruit) is named for a small monkey in the Brazilian rainforests, and is a creamy, slightly cinnamon-y concoction cookie spread that’s making it’s way here from Belgium, where it’s known as speculoos (or spekuloos, or biscoff). Kind of. And it evolved from a Christmas wafer cookie. I’m still not sure how that happened. But now, it’s a smooth spread that’s lighter than peanut butter, and ever so flavorful. I won a jar of Tamarin Spread at Elle’s New England Kitchen about a month or so ago, under the condition that I develop a recipe using it. I’ve owed Elle this post for, oh, about 3 weeks now, and there’s no time like the present!

The Jewish holiday Sukkot (or Succos), translates as “Feast of Tabernacles”, and commemorates the Jewish people’s 40 years of wandering in the desert between being released from bondage in Egypt to finally being permitted to enter Israel, their new permanent home. We are supposed to build a kind of impermanent dwelling outdoors, with a roof made of branches or palm leaves (depending on what’s available in your area), so you can still see the sky through it, and eat all of our meals during the next week there.

Sukkot is also a harvest holiday, akin to Thanksgiving, and fruit and/or nuts in some form is usually on the table. Tying all three events together is a piece of cake (no pun intended – sort of ) with this version of sticky rolls, spread first with a layer of Tamarin Spread, and then with a buttery chunky layer of apples cooked with brown sugar and cinnamon.

Cookie Butter Cinnamon Apple Sticky Rolls

For the Dough:

1 envelope (or 2-1/4 tsp.) yeast
1/2 cup lukewarm soy milk
1/4 cup natural cane sugar
4 Tbs. vegan butter substitute, margarine, or coconut oil
2 eggs, lightly beaten
4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract

I mix this with my stand mixer, fitted with the dough hook, but you can certainly mix it by hand if you care to.

Preheat the oven to 350º F.

Put the yeast in a large bowl and pour the warm (between 110º-120ºF) soy milk over the yeast. With the mixer running on low speed, add the sugar, Smart Balance, and eggs. Start adding the flour, one cup at a time, followed by the salt and vanilla, and mix until a soft, cohesive dough is formed. The dough should not be sticky, but feel smooth and silky. This should take about 5-7 minutes.

With either a bit of oil or non-stick cooking spray, grease the bowl and form the dough into a smooth ball. Put the dough ball into the bowl, turning it over a bit, so the surface is completely oiled. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel, and put it in a warm, draft-free spot to rise. Allow to rise till nearly doubled, about an hour.

For the Filling:

6 Tbs. vegan butter substitute, unsalted margarine, or coconut oil
6 Tbs. organic brown sugar
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1-1/2 cups apples (peeled, cored, and chopped in roughly 1/4″ dice)

1/2 cup Tamarin Spread (biscoff or cookie butter spread)

Melt the fat-of-choice in a small frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the brown sugar and cinnamon, stir to combine, and heat till bubbly. Add the chopped apples, toss to coat, and reduce the heat to medium. Allow to cook for about 15 minutes, or until the sauce thickens and makes “strings” when you lift your spoon out of it. Remove the pan from the heat and allow to cool.

To Assemble:

Grease a 9″ x 15″ baking pan and set aside.

Roll the dough out to a 15″ x 10″ rectangle. Spread the Tamarin Spread evenly over the surface of the dough, to within about 1/2″ from the edges.

Spread the apple-brown sugar mixture evenly over the Tamarin layer. With the long side facing you, carefully roll the dough over the filling mixture, jelly-roll style. Slice the roll into 12 (relatively) even slices and place in the prepared pan, touching each other. Cover the pan with plastic wrap, and put it in your warm, draft-free spot. Allow to rise for another 30 minutes.

Remove the plastic wrap and bake for 25 – 30 minutes, until golden brown. Allow to cool in the pan for about 10 minutes before serving.

*Notes:

Can you make these babies with dairy milk and butter? Hell, yeah! As I may have mentioned before, I keep a kosher kitchen and so does my mom. If she were making a dairy or neutral meal, I would have used milk and butter in a heartbeat. Using the soy milk and Smart Balance Light has the dual benefit of making this non-dairy and vegetarian. Can you make this recipe without the Tamarin Spread? Of course. The filling just won’t have that subtle creaminess.

*Disclosures: I won a jar of Tamarin Spread in a giveaway on the Elle’s New England Kitchen blog. Everyone entering the giveaway did so with the proviso that if they won, they would commit to creating a recipe using the product. I have received no other consideration and all opinions are my own, as always.

*Tamarin Spread is a brand-name for a particular brand of biscoff spread. This post was originally written when biscoff was largely unknown in the U.S.  Now, you can find biscoff spread (cookie spread) just about anywhere. Look in the peanut butter aisle, first.