Stollen Buns
These mini versions of the classic Christmas sweet bread have a nugget of marzipan hidden in the middle. Crushed sugar cubes work just as well as the pearled sugar on top. You will need a 12-hole muffin tin.
Ingredients
Makes 12
350ml milk
500g strong white flour
1 tsp caster sugar
15g fresh yeast
40g whole blanched almonds
1 orange
1 tsp salt
100g butter
100g raisins
100g sultanas
30g dried cherries or cranberries
1 egg
oil, to grease
120g white marzipan
For the tops
25g butter, melted
60g smooth apricot jam
1 tbsp water
2 tbsp crunchy pearl sugar
Instructions
- Pour the milk into a small saucepan and bring to scalding point over a medium heat. Remove from the heat and allow to cool to tepid, about 38°C.
- In a large bowl, mix together 100g of the flour, the sugar, yeast and tepid milk. Set aside at warm room temperature until frothy. Meanwhile, roughly chop the almonds and finely grate enough orange zest to give you 2 tsp.
- Mix the remaining flour and salt in a medium bowl. Cut the butter into small pieces, stir into the flour and rub in with your fingertips. Stir in the chopped almonds, all the dried fruit and the orange zest.
- Break the egg into a small bowl and beat lightly with a fork to break it up. Stir it into the frothing yeast batter along with the flour and dried fruit mixture. Mix everything together to a soft but not too sticky dough.
- Tip the dough onto the work surface and knead for about 10 minutes until smooth and elastic. Try not to add more flour as you knead if you can avoid it.
- Place the dough in a large, lightly oiled bowl and cover with lightly oiled cling film. Leave to rise until doubled in size, about 2 hours.
- Line the muffin tin with muffin cases, preferably a sturdy large brown paper variety. Divide the marzipan into 12 equal pieces and roll each piece into a ball.
- Knock the dough back and knead briefly again for 2 minutes. Divide into 24 pieces and push a piece into the base of each muffin case. Place a marzipan ball on each, then cover with the remaining pieces of dough, pressing gently to seal the 2 layers of dough together. Loosely drape a piece of lightly oiled cling film over the top and leave to prove until they have increased in size by half again, about 1 hour. Meanwhile, heat the oven to 190°C.
- Brush the tops with melted butter and bake in the oven for 20–25 minutes, or until well browned. Remove the buns in their cases from the tin and allow to cool on a wire rack.
- Before serving, melt the apricot jam with the 1 tbsp water and use to brush the tops of the buns. Sprinkle with a little crunchy pearl sugar.
