We all need a treat once in a while don’t we? But we also need to control ourselves because how easy is it to lose control and fall off the healthy eating wagon? For us if we start an unhealthy eating approach we struggle to get back to healthy eating again so we make sure we still enjoy our treats whilst still remaining in control.
These buns are a great treat to share with friends and family and best of all they can be frozen too. You can bake the buns individually if you wish but we recommend baking them like the recipe suggests and either tear them apart or evenly slice it as if its a cake, it prevents the buns from drying out and remaining light and fluffy.
Some recommended items from our kitchen to make this dish…
- Double sided dry and liquid measuring spoons for times when you need to measure both liquid and dry ingredients.
- Mixing bowls are always wanted in this household and these stackable ones save so much space in our cupboards.
- Rolling pin, we use a stainless steel one as I make a lot of pastry and it can be put in the fridge to prevent pastry from getting so warm from warm hands and being handled so much. Best purchase I ever made for pastry.
- Silicone whisks in varying sizes, much prefer silicone to metal as it rusts.
- Cake cooling racks, so handy to have.
- A 10 inch springform cake tin
- We have a Kitchen Aid mixer, the best mixer we have ever owned, highly recommend investing in one of these if you love baking.
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Makes 14
INGREDIENTS:
For the dough:-
- 420g strong white flour
- 50g caster sugar
- 7g sachet fast action yeast
- 100ml whole milk
- 40g unsalted butter
For the filling:-
- 25g unsalted butter, left at room temperature
- 50g soft brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 30g dried mixed fruit
For the cream cheese drizzle:-
- 35g Philadelphia light
- 2 tablespoons fat free quark
- 25g Flora light
- 35g icing sugar
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
- Cold water
METHOD:
- First make the dough. Add the flour, sugar and yeast to a mixing bowl from a standing mixer with dough hooks (we have a Kitchen Aid mixer, one of the best mixers we have owned).
- In a saucepan gently heat the milk, 100ml water and the butter until the butter is melted and the mixture is lukewarm. It must be lukewarm in order to activate the yeast, too hot or too cold and it won’t work.
- Turn the mixer on a low speed and slowly add the milk mixture. Allow the mixer to “knead” the dough for about 5 minutes or until a dough has formed.
- Transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl, cover with cling film and leave the dough to rise in a warm place for 2 hours.
- Lightly flour your work surface when the dough has over doubled in size and tip the dough onto the floured work surface and knock the air out the dough by lightly kneading to release the air.
- Lightly grease a 10 inch springform cake tin.
- Roll the dough out to a long rectangle about half a cm thick.
- Make the filling by mixing the sugar, butter and spices together to make a smooth paste.
- Spread the filling all over the dough, scatter over the mixed fruit.
- From the long side of the rectangle roll the dough up like you would a swiss roll, slice into 14 even slices and place in the greased cake tin with the swirls cut side up. Don’t worry too much about gaps or squishing together.
- Place a tea towel loosely over the tin and leave to rise for 30 minutes or until doubled in size again and the cake tin has no gaps showing.
- Preheat the oven to 180°C fan.
- Brush the tops with a beaten egg and bake for 25 – 30 minutes.
- Allow to cool before releasing from the cake tin then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Make the cream cheese drizzle by beating the quark, butter, Philadelphia, icing sugar and vanilla together, you want it to be thick and pourable so add a tiny amount of water to thin it down until you get a thick pouring consistency.
- Drizzle over the buns and enjoy.
- Either slice the whole thing like a cake (this looks amazing when sliced) or simply tear and share.
NOTES:
- This will last up to 3 days in an airtight container (if adding the cream cheese on top then refrigerate). This is also freezable in an airtight container. Defrost fully before consuming.
Hickmans Slim Kitchen 