Blueberry Cheesecake Buns

These are soft, pillowy yeasted buns — gluten-free and vegan — topped with two fillings instead of one. A quick vegan cheesecake swirl goes down first, then a jammy blueberry filling on top. Tapioca and potato starch give stretch, oat and rice flour give body, and psyllium is the structure.

The cheesecake filling is as simple as it is delicious: vegan cream cheese, a little sugar, and coconut milk to loosen it. The one addition is a spoon of cornstarch. Cream cheese and coconut milk are both mostly water, and without a binder, that water weeps into the dough. The cornstarch sets as it bakes and holds the swirl as a distinct layer.

It all gets topped off with my no-cook blueberry pie filling. Psyllium grabs the berry juice and gives body while it’s still raw and cold; cornstarch sets it firm during the bake so the swirl holds instead of bleeding. Lemon and salt keep the berries from tasting flat. Let it sit a few minutes after mixing so the psyllium can grab. This also makes a pie-sized batch, more than you’ll need for the buns, so you can keep the rest for about one week in the fridge.

Blueberry Cheesecake Buns

Yield

12 buns

Prep

40 min

Proof

~1.5 hr

Bake

20–25 min

Equipment

Mixing bowls
Whisk
Stand mixer with dough hook
4 in round cookie cutter
Baking tray

Ingredients

Dough

216g Tapioca flour
198g Potato starch
168g Rice flour
108g Oat flour
30g Psyllium husk powder
8g Xanthan gum
7.5g Fine sea salt
300g Water (for the psyllium)
96g Water (for the dough)
288g Coconut milk (full-fat)
95g Sunflower oil
100g Maple syrup
7g Vanilla
9g Instant yeast

Cheesecake Swirl

300g Vegan cream cheese
55g Cane sugar
60g Coconut milk (full-fat)
12g Cornstarch
5g Vanilla

Blueberry Filling

580g Frozen blueberries (4 cups)
156g Maple syrup (1/2 cup)
100g Cane sugar (1/2 cup)
40g Cornstarch (1/3 cup)
30g Lemon juice (2 tbsp)
9g Psyllium husk (1.5 tbsp)
6g Vanilla extract (1.5 tsp)
1.5g Salt (1/4 tsp)

Instructions

Gel the psyllium. Put the 300g lukewarm water in a bowl first, then sprinkle the psyllium over it while stirring — it gels fast and will clump if you’re too slow. Immersion-blend until smooth and set aside.
Mix the wet ingredients. Combine maple syrup, sunflower oil, coconut milk, vanilla, 96g of the water, and yeast. Mix well.
Mix the dry ingredients. Whisk tapioca flour, potato starch, rice flour, oat flour, xanthan gum, and sea salt until uniform.
Bring the dough together. Add gelled psyllium, wet, and dry ingredients to a stand mixer with the hook. Mix until incorporated. It should be slightly sticky.
Hydrate. Rest the dough 10 min, then refrigerate for at least 1 hour (overnight is better).
Make the cheesecake swirl. Beat cream cheese with cane sugar until smooth. Beat in coconut milk, cornstarch, and vanilla until thick and spreadable. Keep cold.
Make the blueberry filling. Let the frozen blueberries defrost for about 20 min. Add all the filling ingredients to a small mixer and mix on low for 3 min. Scrape the sides and beater, then mix again on medium for 2 min. Let it sit a few minutes to thicken.
Roll out the dough. On a well-floured counter, roll into a rectangle about 24 × 12 in.
Cut out your buns. Use a 4 in circular cookie cutter to cut out buns and space them out on a greased baking sheet.
Add the toppings. Use the back of a spoon to create a circular indent in the center of each bun. Scoop or pipe the cheesecake filling into each indentation. Spoon a generous amount of the blueberry filling on top of each bun.
Proof. Cover loosely (not airtight). Rise at room temp until puffy, about 1.5 hours.
Bake. Preheat 350°F for 20 min. Bake the buns 20–25 min until golden and set. Tent with foil if the tops brown too fast.
Cool. Let the buns cool completely, at least 35 min. Warm, they taste gummy.