Light, fluffy, soft, vanilla custard filled buns. Eat these sweet bread buns warm or cold, I like them just from the oven! Freezer friendly too.

This recipe came about because I was reminiscing one day about my childhood days in Hong Kong.

We would often call in at the bakery on the way home from school and I would choose a delicious Chinese Sweet bun. It was filled with a lovely creamy vanilla pudding type of mixture in the center.

For this bread roll recipe, I've used Simone's Soft Bread Rolls. Those rolls were so soft and delicious I thought about adding a filling and seeing if it would work.....and yes!

The softness of the buns, combined with the sweet and creamy custard filling inside and also on the top is really delicious!

In this recipe, I have used Bird's Custard for the filling, but you can use Jello vanilla pudding, or chocolate, strawberry etc, flavour pudding mix, or indeed Nutella, mixed in the pudding mix. The filling has to be thick so it doesn't run everywhere.

If you wanted a savory bun, how about a cube of mozzarella cheese inside? with a sprinkle of herbs? the possibilities are endless!

Prep Time

2 ½ hr (includes rising time)

Cook Time

20 - 30 minutes

Yield

18 - 20 Rolls

Ingredients 

The Bread

1 cup / 235 ml warm water
⅓ cup/ 80 ml canola oil
3 tbsp yeast
¼ cup / 50 g sugar
1 beaten egg
½ tsp kosher salt
3 ½ cups / 435 g unbleached all purpose flour

The filling

1 pint or 550 ml, or 2 ½ cups of Ready Made Thick Custard OR Jello Vanilla Pudding (not instant) or to make your own custard from Bird's Eye
2 Tablespoon of sugar (if the custard / Vanilla Pudding comes without)

The Topping

1 beaten egg
1 tablespoon sugar powder (icing sugar)
1 tablespoon milk

Optional: 2 Tablespoons desiccated coconut for sprinkling on the tops.

You will need extra flour for your worktop & hands when you come to handle the dough.

Instructions

Combine the first 4 ingredients for the bread, in the mixing bowl and wait 20 minutes. The mixture will become foamy. Then, using the hook attachment for the mixer add the remaining ingredients. Knead for 10 - 15 minutes

Allow to rise in the bowl, covered with a cloth, in a draft-free place. About 30 - 45 minutes

Whilst rising, make up the filling according to package (custard / pudding mix) and allow to cool. Once cooled, place ⅓ of the custard mixture in a little zip lock bag. We will use this to pipe the tops of the buns later.

Once the dough has doubled, flour your hands very well and also the worktop, and pull off pieces of the dough, slightly smaller than a tennis ball. Don't be frightened to add some flour if your dough is very sticky. It will be fine.

Place your piece of dough on the worktop and flatten it so it is a disc.

Add a heaped teaspoon of filling in the center.

Pull the dough from the sides to enclose the filling and squash the edges together so they are sealed, and reshape if necessary into a roll shape.

Turn upside down (so the seal is on the bottom of the tray). Place the rolls 2 -3 inches apart from each other on a greased tin / tray.

When you come to make balls with the dough, have a bowl of flour close by to dust your hands making it easier to handle. Be generous and make sure your hands are well dusted!

Allow to rise again on the cookie sheet, until the dough balls are touching (like in the photo). Rising will take about 30 - 45 minutes
Make up the topping mixture by beating the egg, sugar powder and milk. Carefully brush the tops of the buns.

Take you zip lock bag with the remainder custard filling and snip a small corner off and pipe a teaspoon of custard on the tops of your buns.

Bake at 400 F / 200C / Gas 6 for 20-30 minutes (until golden brown).

When done, you can sprinkle some desiccated coconut over the tops whilst the buns are still hot.

Eat warm or cold. I love them when they are still warm!

We'd love to hear from you and what you thought of our recipe. Did you make any changes or add some other ingredients? Let us know in the comments below. Thanks for reading and happy cooking!

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