Gooey Hazelnut Praline & Chocolate Milk Buns
Soft, tender milk bun swirled with a hazelnut praline and chocolate filling, finished with a generous blanket of brown butter cream cheese frosting and chopped chocolate. The brown butter frosting is spooned on top of the buns while they’re still warm from the oven so that it nestles into all of those empty spaces, mixing with that indulgent nutty filling. The chocolate chunks melt slightly while the buns cool so you’re left with the most decadent and sticky dessert bun.
Ingredients - makes 8
Milk Bun Dough:
Tangzhong:
25g strong flour
55ml whole milk
55ml water
Dough:
340g strong flour
7g active dried yeast
25g caster sugar
5g salt
1 egg
100ml whole milk
55g unsalted butter, room temp
Filling:*
100g blanched hazelnuts
100g caster sugar
15g cocoa powder
100g unsalted butter, room temp
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
a large pinch of flaky sea salt
Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting:
100g unsalted butter
150g cream cheese, room temp
170g icing sugar, sieved
1 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt
dark chocolate, chopped - to garnish
*Please be careful while making the hazelnut praline as it requires making a dry caramel and will be extremely hot.
Method
The day before
For the milk bun dough, you’re going to start with the Tangzhong. Place all the Tangzhong ingredients into a saucepan over low heat. Stir everything together and continue to cook until a paste has formed. Remove from the heat and set aside.
Into the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with a dough hook, place all of the milk bun dough ingredients apart from the butter. Add in the cooled Tangzhong. Mix on medium speed until the dough has come together. Continue to knead on medium-high for 5 minutes. The dough should be smooth and elastic. On low speed, gradually add in the butter a few small pieces at a time. Once all the butter has been added, scrape down the bowl if needed and knead on medium-high for 5-10 minutes, until the dough is smooth and slapping the sides of the bowl.
Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl, cover and leave to prove for 1 hour at room temperature or until doubled in size. Knock back the dough, recover and refrigerate overnight.
For the filling; pre-heat your oven to 160°C. Spread the hazelnuts on a baking tray and roast in the oven for 5-10 minutes until golden. Turn the oven off and keep the hazelnuts warm inside. Prepare another baking tray with a silicone mat and set aside.
Place the sugar into a saucepan over low heat. Cook the sugar to a golden colour, being careful to only gently move the sugar in the pan but never stirring or this will cause it to clump up. Once golden, take the caramel off the heat and quickly add in the warm toasted nuts. Stir together and dump out onto the silicone mat. Push the nuts into an even layer and leave to cool completely.
Once completely cool, break the hazelnut caramel into shards and place into a food processor. Blitz the hazelnuts until they become a liquid praline. It will go through a stage of looking like dry sand but just keep scraping down the bowl and blending. Add in the cocoa powder, butter, cinnamon and salt. Blend until smooth. Pour the filling into a container, place clingfilm on the surface and refrigerate overnight.
The next day
Take the filling out of the fridge to warm up a little. Line a baking tray with baking paper.
Tip the milk bun dough onto a floured surface and roll into a 40x30cm rectangle. Pop the filling in the microwave for a few seconds if its not completely spreadable. You’ll need it to be the texture of softened butter. Spread the chocolate hazelnut filling on top of the rolled dough in an even layer. Cut the rectangle into 5cm strips along the 40cm side so you have 8 strips. I find using a pizza cutter the easiest way to do this as the filling can be quite sticky. Roll each strip up into a swirl and place onto the lined baking tray. Cover and leave to rise for 1 hour at room temperature or until doubled in size.
While the buns are proving, place the butter for the frosting in a saucepan over medium heat. Whisk every now and again until the butter starts to brown. A nutty foam should appear on top with lovely brown specks. Pour the browned butter into a bowl and leave to cool.
Just before your buns are proved, pre-heat your oven to 175°C. Bake the buns for 20-25 minutes or until golden.
While the buns are baking, you can make the brown butter frosting. Place the icing sugar into a mixing bowl and add in the rest of the ingredients, including the browned butter. Beat together until you have a silky smooth frosting. If the frosting seizes slightly because either the browned butter or cream cheese are too cold, pop it into the microwave for a few seconds at a time until it is smooth and spoon-able.
Once the buns are baked, remove from the oven and leave to cool for 5 minutes before spooning the brown butter cream cheese frosting over the top. Push the frosting into all of the crevice’s between the spirals. Sprinkle over some chopped dark chocolate and leave to cool before serving.