with Homemade Chocolate Spread
I love homemade breakfast buns. And while I usually lean towards fruit and/or nut fillings or a simple cinnamon sugar filling, sometimes one just needs a little hit of chocolate. Super delicious and not overly sweet, these Chocolate Swirl Brioche Buns are the perfect breakfast accompaniment.
You can absolutely use any bought chocolate spread of your choice for these. Nutella, Lindt chocolate spread or a chocolate nut butter would work wonderfully. I made this chocolate spread from scratch though. And I must confess that it wasn’t born out of trying to be industrious. I simply ran out of the bought variety and had the ingredients for this one in my pantry cupboard. So I decided to give it a try.
I can’t believe how simple this was and I will definitely use this chocolate spread recipe for a variety of uses in future.
Chocolate Swirl Brioche Buns with Homemade Chocolate Spread
Ingredients
Chocolate Spread
- ¼ Cup Water
- 1 Tbsp Good quality cocoa powder
- ½ Cup Castor or granulated sugar
- Pinch of salt
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- ⅔ Cup Good quality dark chocolate Finely chopped
- ⅔ Cup Unsalted Butter Cubed and softened to room temperature
Dough
- ⅔ Cup Warm Milk Not hot as it will kill the yeast
- 3 Tbsp Castor or granulated sugar or 5 Tbsp Honey
- 2 tsp Instant dry yeast (1 x 10g package)
- 4 2 Large Eggs + 2 egg yolks
- 6 Tbsp Unsalted Butter Softened to room temperature
- 3½ Cups White bread flour Can substitute with all purpose/cake flour
- 1 tsp Salt
Instructions
Chocolate Spread
- Combine the water, cocoa powder, sugar and salt in a small saucepan and place on medium heat. Stir frequently until all the ingredients have dissolved and it is just begins to simmer
- Remove from the heat and add the vanilla, chopped chocolate and cubed butter while whisking. Continue whisking until the chocolate and butter have melted and the mixture is smooth. The mixture will have the consistency of hot fudge sauce
- Pour the mixture into a clean glass jar and place a piece of plastic wrap directly onto the top of the chocolate to ensure a skin doesn't form. Place the jar aside to cool a little. Once it's around room temperature or just above, seal with the lid and place in the fridge to cool further and thicken
- When serving, if the mixture is too cold or thick to spread, just give it a couple of minutes at room temperature to soften
- Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to two weeks
Dough
- Place the warm milk and sugar (or honey) into a large mixing bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer. Sprinkle the yeast over the top and let sit for around 5 minutes white preparing the rest of the ingredients
- After the yeast has bloomed, add the eggs and egg yolks and mix through, then sift in the flour and salt. Mix until the flour is just starting to incorporate, then start working the softened butter in a quarter at a time
- Knead for a few minutes until all the butter is incorporated and you have a smooth slightly sticky dough. If the dough is too wet, add a tablespoon of flour at a time, until the dough comes together (maximum half a cup more)
- Kneading: if using a mixer with a dough hook, knead for around 5 minutes. If kneading by hand it could take a few minutes longer
- Place the dough into an oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight
- In the morning, grease a standard 12 hole muffin pan with non-stick cooking spray and set aside
- Remove the dough from the fridge and place on a lightly floured surface. Using a rolling pin, roll into a large rectangle
- Spread evenly with the chocolate spread, leaving a small rim around the edge
- Next, fold one end towards the middle, then fold the other side over, like an envelope
- Roll the envelope with the rolling pin to form a longer rectangle. Don't push too hard as not to squeeze out all the chocolate spread
- Spread more chocolate spread over this rectangle
- Then lengthways, roll the dough into a long even log shape (If the ends are not great trim them slightly)
- Now slice the log down the middle, then divide each half in half to have four pieces
- Cut each of these four pieces into 3 so that you have 12 equal pieces
- Place each piece of dough into a hole of the prepared muffin pan with the spiral side top and bottom
- Loosely cover with a tea towel and place in a warm draft free place to rise for around 30 – 45 minutes while you preheat the oven
- Preheat the oven to 180°C
- When the buns have risen, bake for around 30 minutes or until golden
- Remove from the oven and let the buns cool in the muffin pan for 5 – 10 minutes, then remove and place on a wire cooling rack to cool further
- Sprinkle with icing/powdered sugar if you wish and serve
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