Vegan German Curd Cheese Buns (Quarkölteig)

    reading time: 3 min

We have a long history of baking and "decorating" Easter buns with my parents on Easter Monday. It's a tradition that we take very seriously 😉 Several years back I shared our tried and trusted recipe (yeast buns) that we have been using for the past ten years or so. However, before switching over to a yeast dough we always used to make our Easter buns using a German Quarkölteig, a dough made with curd cheese / quark and oil.

So for some reason I really felt like doing a vegan "curd cheese" & oil dough this year instead of our usual yeast dough. This recipe makes for smaller and oilier buns than the yeast version, but doesn't require any rising time, so it's quicker to make and you don't have to get up at the crack of dawn on a Sunday to prepare the bread rolls for breakfast 😉

These curd cheese buns are:
egg-free
dairy-free
wheat-free
sweet
soft
fluffy
moist
easy
& satisfying

These cute little buns are also a fun addition to any Easter or Ostara breakfast, to celebrate spring and its corresponding symbols like rabbits, eggs, chicks, lambs, flowers, butterflies, beetles etc. (Though my signature bun became the Cheshire cat for some reason, haha!) But they are of course also perfect for just any regular Sunday breakfast.

VEGAN CURD CHEESE BUNS

Preparation time: 30 minutes
Main ingredients: flour, non-dairy yogurt, oil, sugar
difficulty level: easy
makes: 8 - 16 buns
suitable for: vegan, dairy-free, wheat-free, nut-free, yeast-free

Ingredients

wet ingredients:
150 g soy-based Greek-style yogurt or quark (I used a vanilla flavoured Greek soy yogurt by Alpro, and therefore used less vanilla extract later!)
6 tbsp (90 g) plant-based milk (soy, almond, oat...)
6 tbsp (60 g) safflower or canola oil
50 g raw cane sugar or brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

dry ingredients:
200 g + 14 heaping tbsp spelt flour (type 1050)
100 g + 3 tbsp whole-grain spelt flour
1 package baking powder
pinch of salt

2 tbsp plant-based milk for glazing

Optional:
raisins
vegan dark chocolate
sunflower seeds
chopped almonds
...

Mix all wet ingredients for the curd cheese dough in a big bowl. Add dry ingredients and knead thoroughly using your hands, until a smooth, soft, thick dough forms.

Roll dough into a log and divide into 8 to 16 even pieces. You can very the size of your buns – we baked 16 mini buns, but you can also make 8 larger rolls out of it, which then take a few minutes longer in the oven. You can also fold a handful of chopped nuts or chocolate into the dough, which we did for part of the dough.

 

Form each piece into a round bun – or get creative like us, and form your dough into various Easter shapes like rabbits, birds, sheep, braids, or even Cheshire cats, lol. Use raisins, sunflower seeds, chopped nuts and chocolate to garnish. This is such a fun Easter activity to do with your kids – or just as childish grown-ups, like in our case :)

Place the buns onto a baking sheet lined with baking paper, and lightly glaze with plant-based milk. Bake for 20 minutes at 180 °C / 360 °F (fan-forced).

Store in a sealed container at room temperature. Reheat buns for about 15 seconds in a microwave or for about 4 minutes in a pan on low heat before serving them.

Or place them into a ziploc bag and pop into the freezer. Thaw at room temperature and microwave for 15 seconds or heat in a pan on low heat for about 4 minutes before serving.