26. Chocolate Orange Chelsea Buns
I’m back!!!!!!
Sorry for the delay in any recipes, reviews, life updates, blogging in general. Christmas was a bit manic and I have just started a new job which is taking up nearly all my waking hours at the moment, so not a lot of extra time for baking unfortunately! I hope you all had a good Christmas and are surviving the cold.
Here’s a hearty winter warmer to help. Slightly spiced chocolate orange chelsea buns, based on my Chelsea Bun recipe. Filling and delicious. Enjoy!
Makes 9 buns
Ingredients
For the dough
400g (14oz) plain or strong white flour
50g (1.75oz) cocoa powder
14g (0.5oz) dried yeast (2 sachets)
50g (1.75oz) caster sugar
Pinch of salt
150ml warm milk
1 egg
50g (1.75oz) butter, melted
For the filling
25g (1oz) butter, room temperature
100g (4.5oz) raisins
50g (1.75oz) chocolate chips
Zest of one large orange
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
25g (1oz) caster sugar (or light brown sugar)
Method
Mix all the dry ingredients for the dough together in a bowl. Make a well in the middle and add in the milk, butter and egg. It can help to beat the egg before you add it, but it’s not really much more work if you don’t. Mix it together well, until it starts to form a dough and then use your hands. If once it has formed a dough it feels a bit dry, add a little splash of water, or if it feels too wet add a bit more flour.
Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface until it starts to feel smooth and elastic. When done, form into a ball and set in a lightly oiled or greased bowl to prove. Cover with cling film and leave in a warm spot for an hour until it doubles in size.
Knead the dough a couple of times to knock out the air and then form into a rectangle, about 30cm by 20cm. Spread over the butter and then sprinkle on the raisins and chocolate chips. In a bowl mic together the sugar, spices and zest and then sprinkle that over the dough too.
Roll the dough starting at the long edge to get a 30cm long sausage. Slice this into 9 equal sized rounds. Grease an 8”x8” square tin and arrange the slices in the tin. Cover with a damp tea towel and leave to prove for half an hour. Preheat the oven to 180C during the prove.
Bake the buns for 10 minutes at 180C and then decrease to 160C and bake for another ten minutes.
To make the glaze mix the caster sugar together with a tablespoon of water. Once the buns are out of the oven, brush on the glaze immediately. Allow to cool a bit before serving warm or leave them to cool and serve cold. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.
