Amazing Vegan Nutella Star Bread Recipe

Incredibly easy vegan chocolate hazelnut star bread that’s a festive dairy free holiday breakfast! Easy to prep the day before and rise overnight, this star bread recipe is the perfect Christmas morning breakfast or brunch!

What is Christmas star bread?

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! This festive Christmas star bread is incredibly 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, Regioni di Assagio’s dairy free nocciolata, 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 (overview)

For the full written instructions and ingredient measurements, see the bottom of this post in the recipe card. You can also hit the “jump to recipe” button at the top of this post! Here, we’ll go over a brief overview of the steps, along with providing visuals for a better understanding of the recipe.

If you know how to make cinnamon rolls, you’ll do just fine making this star bread! The dough is quite similar to our vegan cinnamon rolls. The only difference is in how we shape it.

Let me walk you through all of the steps!

Step 1: Make the star bread dough

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 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 remaining wet ingredients and mix. Then add in the flour, and start to mix the dough, either in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment or with a spoon. Knead the dough for about 7-10 minutes, until it’s not as tacky.
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 60 minutes. It should be double in size, like the photos below.

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 equal portions.

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

Lightly dust a clean surface, as well as your rolling pin. I find it’s easiest to work on parchment paper so that you can just transfer the finished star bread to your baking sheet. 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.

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 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.

Since we’re not using a real egg wash, I use a vegan “egg wash” by mixing together maple syrup and soy milk. Brush the vegan egg wash onto the top of the bread before baking, and you’ll achieve very similar results. Then sprinkle on the sugar!

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?!

Star bread fillings:

If you don’t want to use a vegan Nutella or chocolate hazelnut spread as the filling for this, you can of course fill it with other sweet or savory options! Here are a few of my favorites:

• Classic cinnamon sugar (much like a cinnamon roll!)
• Cranberry jam or raspberry jam
• Vegan pesto, like my friend, Francesca, from Plantifully Based
• Garlic and herb filling, like in my cheesy garlic pull apart bread
• Apple or pumpkin butter
• Mixed dried fruits and date puree

Can you freeze star bread?

Absolutely! You can easily freeze this star bread once baked, and store it in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 3 months. When you want to reheat a piece, simply preheat the oven to 300F, and line a baking sheet with parchment. Place your desired amount onto the baking sheet and heat for 5-7 minutes, until warm.

You are just going to absolutely love this amazing vegan Christmas 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!

Want to save this recipe for later? Add it to your favorite recipe board on Pinterest!

If you make this recipe, please be sure to leave a comment and a rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ below. This helps others to find the recipes! As always, I absolutely love to see your beautiful creations on Instagram and Pinterest, so be sure to tag me there as well!

Print