Bollicaos de Nutella. Chocolate buns

How to make some Nutella bollicaos or buns filled with chocolate .

Although in my house, as a child, my mother was not very in favor of giving us snack industrial buns, in my memory the aroma and flavor of the usual bollicaos is stuck .

I guess the few times I managed to convince her to buy me one of those chocolate-filled muffins. For me it was a party that I celebrated in style, concentrating on tasting what, surely, it would take to taste again.

The memories of the recipes of my favorite desserts are those that have led me to try to make them at home. Now that my mother does not stop me from buying these industrial buns, thank you mom for everything, what I do is recreate them at home until I get as close as possible to the original flavor and texture. And while trying to make them a little healthier than the ones we find in the supermarket.

This type of bun recipes usually have a common denominator. It is a brioche-type dough similar to cristinas or brioches , the recipes that most remind me of my childhood.

I have to say that I am happy with the result, the taste is very similar, I would say even better. The great texture, it is clear that industrial pastries have preservatives and other products like stabilizers and flavor enhancers. That at home I do not use, because in the pastries prepared at home, there is no need.

I encourage you to prepare these buns filled with chocolate cream , if you are nostalgic like me. As if what you want is to enjoy or make your children enjoy some bites of vice. It is a perfect snack for those with a sweet tooth, really delicious.

Preparation of the dough of the bollicaos. Kneaded

1. In a bowl, pour the milk, sugar and natural yogurt. We heat the milk in the micro, that is lukewarm. Add the crumbled yeast and stir until it has been diluted with milk.
2. It is very important that we do not heat the milk too much, it is a matter of being warm, since otherwise we would nullify the effect of the yeast with excessive heat.
3. Add the flour to the bowl and begin to knead. When we have obtained a uniform ball of dough add the salt and butter at room temperature. The butter must have an ointment texture since if it were very hard it would be very difficult to work with.
4. We pour the mixture on a non-floured work surface and start kneading. At first, what was a ball of dough will become a completely sticky and impossible to handle pasta.
5. After the first 10 minutes of working the dough we see that it is taking texture and shape and the work will be easier.

Kneading and rest of the dough for bollicaos

1. Knead for 25 minutes, letting the dough rest once in a while for a minute or two to relax.
2. This kneading process may be a little long but it is the only way to achieve a long and spongy bun texture afterwards.
3. We put the dough in a greased bowl and let it ferment for 1 hour and a half or until it has doubled in volume. As it should be in a warm environment.
4. I recommend that you leave it in the oven after having heated it for 1 or 2 minutes, with it off, of course.
5. We manipulate the dough to eliminate the air that will have generated inside it and divide the dough into 10 portions of about 80 gr. each.
6. We form some smooth balls and place them on a sulfurized paper in a tray. Let the dough rest for 15 or 20 minutes in a warm place, for example inside the oven again.

Preparation of the chocolate filled buns

1. With each of the portions we make a rectangle of more or less 15 x 15 cm. Add two tablespoons of Nutella (or your favorite chocolate and hazelnut cream ) throughout each serving.
2. We roll up to form a roll, taking special care to seal the edges of each roll well. This way we avoid that the hazelnut cream does not come out during the baking.
3. We place the buns in a greased mold or on a sulfurized paper, no more than 2 cm apart.
4. We paint with water and let them ferment again for 45 minutes until they double in size, again in the warm oven.
5. I recommend not leaving more separation between the buns. Thus, growing in the ferment, they will stick to each other and will be juicier inside.
6. We spray the buns again with water and bake, with the oven preheated to 175º C for 20 minutes.
7. If we see that they are browning too much in the oven, we can cover them, in the middle of the process, with aluminum foil.
8. We remove the buns from the oven and place them on a rack until they cool.
9. The moment they come out of the oven we paint them with butter, still hot. So they will be with that characteristic bright and golden tone.

You can see all the step by step photos of the recipe for bollicaos or buns filled with chocolate  in this album. If you have doubts, follow the photos and you will get a delicious bollicaos.

Tips for perfect chocolate filled buns

• We can enjoy the classic chocolate cream bollicaos at any time of the day. But I think your children will thank you as a snack with a glass of milk. They will love it, well and you too. You will tell me, a few bites totally yummy.
• A tip to get the buns with a more beautiful color is to brush milk on the breads before putting them in the oven. You will have a perfect crust.
• You can leave them without filling and then, once baked, inject them, with a pastry bag and a filling nozzle, the cocoa cream and hazelnuts. Try to seal the buns very well when you form them, if they are poorly closed, all the cocoa will come out.
• If you like other fillings, creativity to the fullest, you can fill them with jams, dulce de leche, pastry creams or ganaches of different flavors.
• If you have a food processor, the recipe will be very simple. It is enough to put the bread hook and knead at medium speed until the dough rises and you can do the membrane test.