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Gooey Chocolate Buns

These dark chocolate filled buns are easy to follow, fluffy, soft, not too sweet and insanely delicious. Make a perfect anytime treat!
Prep Time35 minutes
Cook Time20 minutes
Rise Time1 hour 30 minutes
Total Time2 hours 25 minutes
Course: afternoon coffee, afternoon tea, Breakfast, Brunch, Snack
Cuisine: European, German
Keyword: chcolate bread rolls, chocolate bun recipe, chocolate filled buns, gooey chocolate buns, homemade chocolate buns, picnic, Schokobrötchen, sweet buns, travel snack, yeast dough
Servings: 10 Chocolate Buns
Author: Ester | esterkocht.com

Equipment

  • Parchment paper
  • Baking sheet
  • Pastry brush
  • 2 jars
  • Box grater
  • Hand mixer/ Stand mixer (OPTIONAL)
  • Kitchen towel
  • cling film
  • Bowl

Ingredients

For the chocolate buns

  • 500 g (17.6 oz/ 4 cups + 2 tablespoons) plain flour/ all purpose flour plus extra for dusting
  • 80 g ( 2.8 oz/ ½ cup – 2 tablespoons ) sugar
  • 250 ml (8.5 fl.oz/ 1 cup) milk
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 medium egg room temperature
  • 80 g (1/3 cup/ 2.8 oz ) butter plus extra for brushing the buns after baking
  • 4 teaspoons dry yeast
  • lemon zest from ½ lemon
  • 200 g (7.1 oz) dark chocolate

You'll also need

  • 1 teaspoon vegetable oil to grease the dough
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 1 tablespoon milk

Instructions

  • Activate the yeast: Warm milk in the microwave. Pour half of the milk in a jar. Put the butter in the remaining milk in the jar and melt in the microwave. Stir occasionally until butter has melted. You could also use the stove.
  • In the meantime add 2 tablespoons flour, 1 tablespoon sugar and yeast to the jar with lukewarm milk. Stir well and let the mixture stand for 10 minutes. The yeast mixture will become foamy and bubbly after 10 minutes. Remove the jar with milk – butter mixture from the microwave and let cool.
  • Next zest the lemon. All you have to do is cut a parchment paper of the same length as the box grater, place it on the side that isn't finger friendly and grate. Using a parchment paper makes it easier to remove the zest from the parchment paper. On top of that you won't be having any lemon zest lying around.
  • Make the yeast dough: Put the flour, the remaining sugar, lemon zest, egg and salt in a bowl. Then pour in the yeast – sugar mixture. Start mixing, while adding the lukewarm milk – butter mixture slowly. It’s very important that milk and butter mixture is lukewarm and not hot before using it.
  • Knead the dough very well. I normally knead my dough like this: If I’m kneading it with the hand mixer, I knead the dough for about 8 minutes at low speed and then for 5 minutes on medium high speed.
    With the kitchen machine (stand mixer) I knead the dough for 7 minutes at low speed (speed 1, on Bosch kitchen machine) and for 3 more minutes at medium high speed (speed 3). With the hands, I knead the dough for about 10 to 12 minutes. If you’re using a heavy duty kitchen machine, please knead your dough for maximum 7 minutes in total. Otherwise you will be overworking the dough.
  • Using one hand, remove the dough from bowl and grease with 1 teaspoon sunflower oil. Put the dough back, turn in well so that it is completely covered with oil. Cover with cling film and then with kitchen towel. Let rise in a warm place for about 1 hour or until dough has doubled in size. In the meantime break or cut chocolate block into smaller chocolate blocks.
  • Shape and rise chocolate buns: Lightly flour the silicone pastry mat or cutting board. Tip the dough onto a floured surface and carefully shape it into a long baguette form. You want to retain the air bubbles in the dough intact so that you’ll have a nicely fluffy and soft buns. Cut baguette (long) loaf into approximately 10 equal rolls – cut it in the middle first. This makes it easier to cut equal rolls.
  • Gently flatten each dough roll with your fingers (one at a time). Put the chocolate blocks/ chunks in the middle (leave some to decorate the buns later), shape into buns and put them on a baking sheet lined with a parchment paper. Don’t forget to leave enough space between the rolls for them to expand. Cover with kitchen towel and let rise for another 30 minutes.
  • Brush the buns with egg wash and bake: In the meantime preheat the oven to 180°C (356 °F) with both up and low heat. Next cut the remaining chocolate into small pieces. Then beat an egg yolk and about 1/2 tablespoon of milk in a small bowl. After the second rise use a pastry brush and spread the egg wash over the rolls. Gently arrange the chocolate pieces on top of the rolls and bake for 20 minutes or until nicely golden brown.
  • Immediately after baking remove the chocolate buns from oven and brush with melted butter. Done!! We enjoy the buns while still warm. The next day we always warm them in the microwave for about 20 seconds for the chocolate to melt.