Sweet Buns Filled with Coconut Cream

How to prepare sweet buns filled with coconut cream

1. In a cup, mix the warm milk with the yeast and a pinch of sugar. Cover and leave in a warm place until it forms a little foam on top (about 10 minutes).
2. In a stand mixer, add the yeast mixture from above, the egg, vanilla, then the flour mixed with sugar and salt. Knead the dough for 3 minutes until elastic.
3. With the mixer running, add the butter in small portions, adding each portion after the previous one is completely incorporated into the dough. This step will take another 3 minutes.
4. Place the dough in a bowl greased with oil, cover with plastic wrap and leave in a warm place (26-30C) for 1 hour.
5. Cream: in a saucepan, add the coconut milk and heat it up.
6. While the milk is heating, beat the egg yolks well with the cornstarch.
8. When the milk starts to form small bubbles around the edges, begin adding hot milk to the egg yolks, one tablespoon at a time, mixing well after each addition. About 10 tablespoons is enough.
9. Then pour the rest of the hot milk over the egg yolks in a thin stream, while continuously stirring the yolks with a whisk... so they don't turn into an omelet.
10. Put the egg yolk and milk mixture back in the saucepan and return to the heat. You can increase the heat to medium now, but don't forget to stir the cream constantly with the whisk. At some point you'll feel the cream thickening, becoming viscous. Quickly reduce the heat to low and continue stirring until the cream has the consistency of mayonnaise. It doesn't take long, about 15-30 seconds.
11. Quickly remove the saucepan from the heat and place its bottom in a bowl of cold water. Stir a bit to lower the temperature, then pour the cream over the chocolate broken into pieces.
12. Stir slowly starting from the center until the chocolate is melted. If the cream doesn't seem very smooth (you left it too long in step 9), you can blend it with an immersion blender.
14. Transfer the cream once it cools down into a piping bag, then you can refrigerate it to cool completely and set.
    * tip: prepare the cream ahead of time so it can cool properly and have a good consistency for filling; while warm it's soft and will run out of the buns; it can also be prepared a day ahead
15. When the dough has risen well, turn it out onto the work surface and divide it into 8 equal pieces (first into 2 pieces, then each into 2 again, and then again into 2).
16. Shape each piece into a ball and leave them on the work surface covered with plastic wrap for 5-10 minutes to let the gluten relax.
17. Take each ball, turn it with the rounded side down and roll it into an oval sheet (with rolling pin movements only back and forth). They don't need to be rolled very thin, but they should be even in thickness. Then roll from one end and pinch the dough at the seam to seal well. You'll get an elongated bun, like a mini baguette.
18. Place the buns on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Put the tray in a large bag and let the buns rise for 30 minutes in a warm place.
20. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180C.
21. Bake the buns at 180C with top-bottom heat for about 20 minutes, until nicely golden on top.
22. Remove the buns and let them cool completely (at least 30 minutes).
23. Cut each bun lengthwise with a serrated knife (bread knife), but not all the way through. Pull the edges apart and widen the cut area to fit as much filling as possible. Insert the tip of the piping bag with cream into the bun. Add cream until the buns are filled to the top, to the edge.
24. In a small pan or pot, toast the coconut flakes over medium heat, stirring constantly until they turn from white to lightly cream-colored. Immediately transfer the flakes from the pan to another bowl.
26. Melt the 35g of butter. Brush the buns on the edges with butter. Sprinkle the buns with coconut flakes.

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