I had this idea a few nights ago, you know when you can’t get back to sleep and keep thinking about food, or is that just me………..
These are basically a batch of Chelsea buns made all Christmasy. I think they’d make a great centre piece for a gathering or party. Believe me they won’t last long!
Christmas Tree Buns
Ingredients for the bun bit
500g strong white flour
225ml tepid milk
1 beaten egg
1/2 tsp salt
50g soft butter cubed
75g sugar
7g dried fast action yeast
Filling bit
175g mixed dried fruit of your choice (I used sultanas, currants & peel)
25g soft brown sugar
25g melted butter
2 tsp of ground spice of your choice (I used one of cinnamon & one of mixed spice)
The decoration bit
100g icing sugar
1 handful of glace cherries
I used the Dr Oetker shimmer spray for the gold star and some tiny edible stars scattered on.
You’ll need a star cutter, greased (the one I used was 8cm width at the widest)
A large baking sheet, greased
In the bowl to your mixer or a large mixing bowl place all the bun ingredients. Mix together until all combined either using the dough hook with your mixer or with good old elbow grease.
Knead for 5-10 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic like. Leave to rest in a bowl covered with oiled clingfilm, preferably somewhere warm, until it’s about doubled in size. This takes 40 minutes to an hour.
Knock back the dough (knocking the air out) then roll out on a floured worksurface until you have a 30 cm square.
Brush the surface with the melted butter then evenly sprinkle over the dried fruit, spices & sugar.
Roll up the dough, swiss roll style and gently but firmly press the edges together to stop it unrolling. Then you need to slice it into 12 pieces of near equal size (one being slightly smaller then the rest is helpful for the “star”). The easiest way I have found is to cut the whole thing in half then each half again leaving you with 4 pieces then slice each of those into 3.
Place the smallest inside the greased star cookie cutter, pushing the dough inside the points, then place on the baking tray then place one bun below this, 2 side by side under that, 3 under that and 4 under that. That leaves just one as the “trunk” placed at the bottom. Loosely cover with oiled clingfilm and leave somewhere warm to prove for about another 40 minutes until about doubled in size again. While this is proving preheat the oven to 200°C (fan 180°C) GM 6
Once they’ve proved, remove the clingfilm and bake for about 20 minutes until beautifully risen and a deep golden colour. Allow to cool.
Gently ease the star bun from it’s cutter. To make the icing drizzle mix the icing sugar with a little water then either pipe over or spoon over. Dot with glacé cherries as “baubles” and add any other decorations you like. I also used a little spray of gold shimmer spray on the star bun. Will keep for a few days in a container. Enjoy ♥
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