Vegan Chocolate Hazelnut Star Bread

Incredibly easy vegan chocolate hazelnut star bread that’s a festive dairy free holiday breakfast that’s like warm cinnamon buns!

Have you ever had star bread before?

It’s basically like a cinnamon bun (most people make their star breads with cinnamon, so then it really is like a cinnamon bun!), except twisted and shaped into a star for the holidays!

I believe star bread actually originates from Sweden. I’ve made it twice in the past, but this year, I decided it would be fun to put a vegan and dairy free “twist” on it, if you will 😉

Don’t worry, this recipe has been tested more than once! It’s insanely simple and easy to follow, and the results are just incredible.

Warm sweet and vanilla-y bread twisted with a vegan chocolate hazelnut spread (I like to use Artisana Organics or make my own vegan chocolate hazelnut spread) and sprinkled with a little granular sugar.

It is heaven. Especially served warm fresh out of the oven on Christmas morning!

How to make Vegan Chocolate Hazelnut Star Bread

Making vegan star bread is quite similar to how we make my vegan pumpkin cinnamon rolls.

If you know how to make cinnamon rolls, you’ll do just fine! If you don’t, you’ll still do just fine 🙂

Let me walk you through all of the steps!

Step 1: Make the star bread dough

First we’re going to start with making the dough. I like to use quick-rise yeast here because I’m not that patient, but regular rise and quick rise do just fine- just know that if you use just activated yeast, it will take a little longer.

To start, we’ll make the dough much like cinnamon rolls:

1. Heat the coconut milk or dairy free milk to 110F. Too hot will kill the yeast, and too cool won’t activate and therefore the dough won’t rise.
2. Combine the heated coconut milk, yeast, and coconut sugar in a bowl and let sit for 5-10 minutes. The yeast should start to foam, and this is how you’ll know that the yeast is activated and working. It will also smell like yeast!
3. Next, sift in the flour, and start to mix the dough, either in a stand mixer with the bread paddle attachment or with a spoon. Add in the vanilla extract, apple cider vinegar, and coconut oil/vegan butter, and continue to lightly knead or mix until it’s well combined. Round the dough into a ball.
4. Grease a large glass bowl with a little bit of coconut oil or olive oil, and place the vegan star bread dough into the bowl, cover with a kitchen towel, and place in a warm area or set your oven to “proof” if you have that option! Let the dough rise for 30-45 minutes. It should be double in size, like the photos below.

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Now you’re ready to make your vegan star bread!

Step 2: Roll out the dough

Next, we’re going to roll out the dough into 4 sections.

Cut the dough into four equal pieces, and set aside. We’ll be rolling them out into 10″ in diameter circles.

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Lightly dust a clean surface, as well as your rolling pin, and roll one piece of the star bread dough into a circle, about 10″ in diameter. If you can’t get it exactly 10″, don’t worry. Just make sure that your circles are all equal in diameter.

Repeat for the remaining pieces of dough, and set each aside nearby for the next step.

Take one piece of rolled dough and place it onto a flour-dusted baking sheet. Lightly brush it with melted coconut oil and 1-2 tbsp of vegan chocolate hazelnut spread.

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Place another circle of dough on top and repeat the coconut oil and chocolate hazelnut spread assembly. Place the third circle of dough on top and repeat. 

For the last circle of dough, do not add the coconut oil and chocolate hazelnut spread on top, but do place the dough on top of the third piece of dough, as you did the others.

Now we’ll move on to shaping and cutting your chocolate star bread!

Step 3: Shape and cut the star bread dough

This part is not as tricky as it seems.

First, press the edges of a 3″ bowl lightly into the center of the stacked star bread dough. This is where you’ll slice from the outside in and stop at the light line.

Next, use a pizza cutter to slice 16 slices into the dough to create 16 equal strips. I suggest first making quarters, then eighths from there.

Now for the fun part. Take two pieces of the sliced star bread dough, twist away from each other once then pinch the tops together to create an oval, as seen below. Repeat for all of the pieces of sliced star bread dough.

Once you’ve finished that step, brush the star bread with the remaining melted coconut oil and add the optional sprinkled sugar on top.

Cover the star bread and place in a warm area to rest while the oven preheats to 350F.

Step 4: Bake!

When the oven is preheated and the dough has rested enough, place the baking sheet into the oven (without the cover) and bake for 35 minutes, or until lightly golden brown.

Then all you need to do is serve with a little dusted powdered sugar, and you’re done!

Now, if you and your guests haven’t finished your vegan star bread all in one sitting, the bread will last for 2 to 3 days at room temperature, or 4 to 6 days in the fridge.

If you’re reheating it, I suggest warming it up in the oven at 300F for 5 minutes, then immediately spreading with a little extra chocolate- because who doesn’t love more chocolate?!

I hope you love this vegan star bread as much as I do! If you give it a go, let me know down in the comments section, as well as any questions you might have!

As always, I love to see your beautiful creations on Instagram and Pinterest, so be sure to tag me there!

Happy kneading, twisting, and baking!

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