Scandilicious Chelsea Buns

I have fond memories of Chelsea buns, going to the local bakery when I was younger and getting to pick which cake I wanted. For me it was always a toss-up between the Chelsea bun or the Belgian bun. The Chelsea thick and square, with a light dusting or sugar, a soft bread like inside crammed with delicious fruit, and the Belgian, smaller, flatter and covered in thick white icing with a glace cherry in the middle. It was often difficult to decide between the two.
After the second episode of the Great British Bake Off focused on bread last night it seemed only fitting to make a dough-based recipe today. While I was going to try my hand at a loaf for the first time, I figured we're more of a sweet household so a treat that could be enjoyed with a cuppa would be much more appreciated.

My friends know how much I love to bake and one of them got me "Scandilicous Baking" by Signe Johansen for my birthday, it's a lovely little book full of all different types of Scandinavian recipes, from breads and flatbread to little savouries and sweet pastries. Unfortunately this is the first time I've had the chance to use it, but when I decided I wanted something dough based I dug it out of my moving boxes and had a flick through.

I will warn you now, making Chelsea buns is not for the faint-hearted or time conscious. You have to work with a very sticky dough because it's enriched with butter, milk, sugar and eggs. It makes for a difficult time rolling out - I was chucking flour everywhere it an attempt to shape it up. The recipe also took me about 3 and half hours in the end - luckily that wasn't constant work. You have to leave the dough to rise for an hour, then once you've rolled in out, filled it with the delicious butter, sugar, spice and fruit filling, rolled it up again and cut it into rounds, you have to leave those to prove for another half hour. While the end result is undeniable delicious I wouldn't recommend baking them if you're in a hurry or you're whipping up something quick for pudding.

I finished these little lovelies off with a sprinkling of demerara sugar and a marmalade glaze. Although they're a lot smaller and flatter than traditional Chelsea buns, they are still pretty delicious - I love the kick of cinnamon and hint of allspice that goes with every bite. Do you fancy making these? You can find the recipe here.

I did burn my thumb quite badly making these though and I've had to type this one handed. So I'm going to go off and feel a bit sorry for myself  - why do the tiniest burns hurt so badly!- and eat one of these!

Beth xx