You know, I’m not sure these are even technically a chelsea bun. Chelsea buns are a type of currant bun, and I don’t think these buns would know a currant if they saw one.

BUT they are tasty. And use my previous chelsea bun recipe as a base for it’s chocolatey goodness.

I don’t really know why I was in the mood for baking these, but I was definitely craving chocolate, so that was a good starting point. After a couple of weeks of very little baking (bit hard to bake on holiday unfortunately!), I went all out this weekend, so you can expect a midweek recipe and plenty more coming up.

I hope the chocoholic in your life enjoys these as much as I did!

Makes 9 chelsea 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
150g (5.25oz) assorted chocolate chips
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. 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 chocolate chips. In a bowl mic together the sugar and spices 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.
Allow to cool slightly before removing from the tin and serving warm or cold.