Toffee Apple Buns
The perfect thing to eat this time of year that isn’t in the shape of a ghost, pumpkin or witches finger. A cheats toffee sauce & an ode to bramley apples <3
I’m a huge fan of bramley apples - although incredibly sour, they have such a distinctive “appley” flavour that most eating apples don’t have. I was recently staying with my mother-in-law whose bramley tree was practically falling over with ripe & ready apples which then became the inspo for this recipe. The quantities here for the apple filling will ensure you have lots leftover to keep in the fridge to enjoy with roast pork, on top of pancakes, or to have with some cheese.
This is a classic, easy Chelsea bun recipe (loosely taken from what I learnt in culinary school) but adapted for some seasonal, Halloweeny flavours. I’m in no means an expert baker, but I do enjoy recipes that are both delicious and easy to adapt, like this one.
I read a recipe a while ago by Liam Charles (from Bake Off), and he made a toffee sauce by melting down those soft chewy toffee sweets which I thought was utter genius, so I’ve stolen that technique and it works amazingly well. ]
FULL RECIPE!
Ingredients (makes 7-8 buns depending on size)
For the apple sauce filling: (you will only need half of this quantity for this recipe)
3 large bramley apples (approx 900g) - peeled, cored, quartered then diced into 2cm pieces
3 tbsp caster sugar
70ml water
For the dough:
500g strong bread flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp mixed spice
1 7g sachet of fast action yeast
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp soft brown sugar
300ml whole milk
50g butter
For the spiced butter:
100g butter - softened
100g soft dark brown sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon
2 handfuls of sultanas
For the cheats toffee sauce:
300g soft dairy toffee sweets
100ml double cream
1 pinch malden sea salt
Method:
Start by mixing all apple sauce ingredients together in a saucepan. Leave to bubble away for 15-20 minutes on a low heat, stirring occasionally, until very soft and mushy. You can make this completely smooth or leave it with some chunks, like me. Taste for seasoning, it should be very tangy but enjoyable.
Mix together the dry ingredients for the dough in a bowl, while gently warming the milk and butter in a pan. Check with your finger, this should feel like body temperature (not too hot or it will kill the yeast!)
Pour the warm milk and butter into the dry ingredients and use your hands to combine the mixture until it forms a shaggy dough in the bowl. Tip out onto a work surface (use extra flour if your dough is too sticky and difficult to handle) and knead until smooth and springy (5-10 minutes).
Pop into an oiled bowl, cover in cling film and leave for an hour or to double in size.
Knock the air out of the dough, lay onto a work surface and roll into a rectangle (roughly 50cm x 30cm).
At this stage, mix the softened butter, brown sugar and cinnamon in a bowl until smooth. Spread all over the dough leaving a strip at the top long edge without any butter on it (so that it will seal)
From the bottom long edge, roll upwards into a long sausage. Pinch along the seam then flip over so that the seam is underneath. Cut into 7-8 buns then arrange the buns in a baking dish with a small gap separating each bun. Leave to prove again for 45 mins and the buns will puff up closing the gaps between them.
Preheat the oven to 200C/180C fan and bake for 30-35 minutes until deeply golden on top. Leave for 5 mins then remove from the dish and leave to cool completely.
For the cheats toffee sauce, in a little saucepan, melt the toffee sweets & cream, stirring all the time, until smooth. Season with salt and drizzle over the buns straight away!
Get the kettle on and tuck in!