The Sweetest Thing

Written by Rosemary Mantini | 18 May 2010
Posted in KitchenMama

Here's the difference between chelsea buns and cinnamon buns: the former contains dried fruit and nuts and is covered with a gooey brown sugar glaze; the latter is iced in cream cheese or icing sugar frosting. Check out the video and click on the recipe below to access all the ingredients and directions.

Chelsea buns begin with sweet yeast dough, and are really very easy to make. Mix up the ingredients, knead and let rise. Shape the dough, roll it and sprinkle on cinnamon sugar, raisins, nuts, chocolate or any other addition you prefer. That’s all it takes. You can bake the buns the night before and re-heat them for breakfast. Or place the formed, uncooked, buns in the refrigerator overnight. You’ll have to allow them to come to room temperature, and to rise a bit, before baking them the next morning, but the effort is worth the fresh, warm right-out-of-the-oven flavour.

There are some rules that do need to be followed. First, the temperature of the liquid must be between 100°F and 110°F. Anything cooler will slow the yeast action to a crawl, and anything hotter will simply kill the yeast. Second, the dough must be kneaded properly. Most people find kneading dough to be a little daunting. But, it’s just a matter of gently stretching the dough until it’s smooth and pliable.

Jump right in and try making them yourself.

bread | breakfast | brunch | cakes | caramel | comfort | fruit | holiday | how-to | recipes | water