Vegan Oreo Cruffins (Episode 3)

EPISODE 3 RECIPE + NOTES

In this episode of The Sustainable Baker podcast, we learned that bakers can lower their carbon footprints by baking vegan. But can that be done deliciously?! Spoiler alert – yes. Just one example is the recipe plant-based pastry chef Juan Gutierrez was kind enough to share with us: these vegan oreo cruffins. 

If you make them, take a picture and tag @sustainablebaker on Instagram!

Photo credit: Juan Gutierrez

Juan Gutierrez's Vegan Oreo Cruffins

Oreo cruffin dough filled with Oreo cream and Oreo glaze

INGREDIENTS

Pre-ferment

  • 225g bread flour
  • 263g water
  • 8g fresh yeast (*note: Caroline tested these with active dry yeast, which worked well.)

Dough

  • 60g ground Oreo cookies (not the cream)
  • 472g bread flour
  • 80g sugar
  • 30g agave
  • 18g salt
  • 18g yeast
  • 70g water
  • 80g vegan butter* (Note: Caroline tested with Earth Balance, which worked well)

For the lamination

  • 280g vegan butter

“Egg” wash

  • 50g oat milk
  • 10g agave syrup

Cream filling

  • 300g Silk heavy whipping cream
  • 50g Oreos (both cookies and cream filling)

INSTRUCTIONS

  • Mix pre-ferment ingredients and let rest overnight. This will give a better flavor but also will help with the mixing of the dough.
  • Mix ground Oreo, flour, sugar, and salt in a bowl
  • In another bowl, add agave, yeast, water, vegan butter, and the pre-ferment
  • Add dry ingredients to wet and mix for ~10 minutes
  • Let the dough rest for 30 minutes
  • Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out into a rectangle measuring 45cm x 30cm
  • Let the dough rest one hour in the refrigerator
  • Meanwhile, spread vegan butter into a 30x30cm square share (this is most easily done on wax or parchment paper). Chill in the refrigerator 30 minutes if necessary; should be cold for the next step.
  • Once dough has chilled, add the square sheet of butter to the dough to make the first single fold.
  • Roll to 8mm thick.
  • Make another single fold and roll until the dough is 30cm wide, then rest for an hour in the fridge. 
  • Roll dough to 8mm thick. Make another single fold, then roll until the dough is 30cm wide. Rest again in the fridge for an hour. 
  • Remove from fridge and roll dough to 6-7mm thick. 
  • Cut lines of 23x4cm and roll them into a cylindrical shape. 
  • Place in cylinder molds if you have them* (Caroline just used two greased cupcake tins), and let proof for 3 hours at 26 Celsius. 
  • Once the cruffins double in size, brush with wash and bake at 175C for 15 minutes (*or up to 25 minutes depending on your oven).
  • While cruffins are cooling, make the cream filling. 
  • Separate cream from Oreo cookies. 
  • Grind the cookies and set aside in a bowl.
  • Whip the Silk heavy cream until stiff peaks form, and then fold in the ground-up cookies. 
  • Mix Oreo filling into the cream.
  • Fill a piping bag with the cream. 
  • Fill cruffins in the middle with the cream and finish with some Oreo cream on top and, if you’d like, some crushed Oreos. 
  • And finally and most important, enjoy!!!!

 

Don't forget to eat a few while you're baking
Before the rise
After the rise. Should be puffy and jiggly to the tocuh
Caroline's version – tada!

Episode summary

We’ve all heard red meat is bad for the planet. But what about baked goods? In this episode, host Caroline Saunders talks with Kari Hamerschlag from Friends of the Earth to learn about the carbon impact of common baking ingredients like flour, eggs, and that holy grail of all things that flake – butter. And what we learn may require a new way of baking. We follow vegan pastry chef Juan Gutierrez through the practice of plant-based pastry, and come out the other end with some tips for low-carbon baking and a recipe for vegan oreo cruffins, available on www.sustainablebaker.com.

More resources

Art by Megan Woodruff