Hi hi! I am coming at you with a super fun new segment that I’m really excited about - #fomobaking! While we were in Alaska with Bake from Scratch (best trip EVER), Brian, Becky and I decided that it would be really fun to take a new recipe and all put our own spin on it. And so here we have our first installment - a take on the Chocolate buns that we ate while we were at Two Sister’s Bakery in Homer. They are super simple but crazy delicious - it’s basically a big handful of chocolate shoved inside a piece of what they call their “white trash dough”, which is then rolled up, sprinkled with sugar, and baked to doughy, chocolatey perfection.
We each put our own spin on these bad boys - Becky made a S’mores bun, Brian filled his with caramelised banana and chocolate, and I went for a milk chocolate and cream cheese situation. I did a bulk supermarket order a while back and thought I ordered 3lbs of packets of cream cheese, only to discover when it arrived that I had ordered just one giant brick of cream cheese, so this was a great way to at least make a little dent in it. I love anything cream cheese and chocolate, and these guys certainly went down a treat.
The dough for these guys is super, super easy. We riffed on the Two Sister’s original white trash dough - I switched out the water for milk, and played around with the ratios of flour to liquid a little, and subbed in a little melted butter, but it’s a basic white dough that is super versatile to work with. I did an overnight rise on mine, but there is no need to do that if you don’t want to - it would work perfectly done all on the same day. Because the dough isn’t super enriched like a brioche dough, which is stuffed full of egg and butter, the rise on these is nice and quick, which makes them super quick to whip up.
You want to really stuff these guys with the filling (here is the original recipe from Two Sisters), but be aware that you may get a little bit of a blowout if you stuff them too full or have the filling too close to the edge. You can spread out the filling a little, taking it almost to the edge, leaving just a little seam for tucking the dough under to form a roll. The filling does sink down a little during the rising and baking process, especially with the cream cheese, so you may have a little bubble just above the filling but I promise that it won’t affect the taste. I have made just a few tweaks to how they were made when I shot them, the main one being that I’m going to get you to have the cream cheese at room temp rather than fridge cold, and spread it out a little more than I did, which should give you more of an even distrubution. Aside from that, the recipe here is exactly the same as how I shot them.
Feel free to play around with filling! If you feel like there isn’t enough chocolate, feel free to add more, if you want more cream cheese then go for it. These would be so good with maybe a jam filling in them too, or even a peanut butter and chocolate situation - they are super easy to make, so I can’t wait to have a play around with ideas.
We would love for you to use the hashtag #fomobaking if you make these buns so that we can see everyone’s results - I can’t wait for the next installment of Fomo Baking!
A few wee tips:
- Becky’s version of these is here, and Brian’s version is here!
- I did an overnight rise on these, but an hour or so at room temp works too. I like to use a clear bowl and mark on the side with a marker or tape where it is up to so that I know when it has doubled, or I use one of these bowls for most of my bread and I know that when it hits the plastic wrap on the top, we are good to go!
- I made 10 rolls here, but if you would like them to be a little smaller, then divide the dough into 12. You may need to increase the amount of cream cheese and chocolate for the filling.
- If you would like more chocolate, by all means, add more in!
- If you don’t like cinnamon these would be great sprinkled just with some regular sugar, or some swedish pearl sugar.
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Answers to your baking questions
Over the years, many of you have asked me questions about:
- baking in grams
- adjusting oven temperatures
- what kind of salt to use
- and many more!
I've curated and answered them all for your easy reference in this frequently asked questions post!
Cream Cheese and Milk Chocolate Stuffed Buns
- Yield: Makes about 12 buns 1x
Description
Cream Cheese and Milk Chocolate Stuffed Buns
Ingredients
Bread Dough
- 275g wholemilk, lukewarm
- 2 Tbsp sugar
- 2 ¼ tsp active yeast
- 450g all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
- 1 ½ tsp salt
- 1 Tbsp honey
- 45g melted and cooled butter
Filling
- 150g cream cheese, at room temperature, divided into 1 Tsbp portions
- 220g milk chocolate, chopped
Cinnamon Sugar
- 50g sugar
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- tiny pinch of salt
- About 25g melted butter to brush
Instructions
BREAD DOUGH
- Place the lukewarm milk, 1 Tbsp of the sugar, and the yeast in a medium sized bowl, and stir to combine. Leave for 10-15 minutes, or until foamy.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment, remaining sugar, flour, vanilla bean paste, salt, honey, and butter.
- Add the milk mixture to the dry ingredients, and mix on low for 2-3 minutes to bring the dough together. Increase the speed of the mixer to medium, and mix for a further 5 to 10 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic. Shape into a ball and place into a lightly oiled or buttered bowl.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in a warm place until doubled in size, 45 minutes to an hour.
FILLING AND ASSEMBLY
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide the dough into 10 balls by weight, and shape into balls by cupping your hand and using it to shape the balls by using the counter to create tension. Place under plastic wrap or a clean tea towel and leave to relax for 10 minutes.
- Line a sheet pan with parchment paper. To shape the buns, take a ball of dough and flatten it with your hand, then using a rolling pin or your hands, make it in to a circle about 3 inches in diameter. Place a tablespoon of cream cheese in the surface, spreading out a little toward the edges, then top with a handful of the chopped chocolate. Pinch together the dough at the bottom and then turn it over (seam side down), and roll around in your cupped hand again to form it into a bun. Place it on the prepared sheet pan.
- Repeat the process with the remaining buns, ensuring you leave adequate space between each on the sheet pan. Loosely cover with a tea towel or plastic wrap and leave to rise for a further 45 minutes to an hour. While the buns are rising, preheat the oven to 350°f / 180°c.
- Brush the buns with melted butter and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the buns are golden brown (check on the bottoms to make sure that they are brown too).
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the sheet pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to finish cooling.
- Serve slightly warm or at room temperature. Best eaten on the day that they are made. Zap leftovers in the microwave before eating.
Comments
I made these today 07/01/21. They were a bit faffy but tasted delicious; well worth the effort.
Ah yay so glad you enjoyed!
Hi Erin,
A small request if you can you please put up a video showing how you roll the buns and fill it.
A visual will be easier to understand .
The same for your baked cream buns with the vanilla cream, especially shaping of the roll.
Thank you,
Mayanka