Chocolate Swirl Buns

So, I probably have more dessert recipes on this blog than anything else. But, there's nothing wrong with that, right? I mean a girl has to have her sweets. And, boy do I have my sweets. It's probably one of the things I love the most about being in the kitchen: baking. I love to make dough, cookies, brownies, ice cream, popsicles, cakes, etc. I love the smells and taking that first bite. It's just heaven to me. So, yesterday I decided to bake. It was cloudy. It was raining. And, I wanted something sweet. So, I decided to make these buns from smitten kitchen. The only bummer thing is that I ended up over-baking them a bit. Sigh. They're still good, though. I highly recommend this recipe. It is really easy and scrumptious. Enjoy.

Made 16 buns for me, but recipe says 12.
 Ingredients:
Dough
1/2 cup (120 ml) milk, preferably whole
1/4 cup (50 grams) plus a pinch of granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons (5 grams) active dry yeast
1 large egg, brought to room temperature
2 cups (250 grams) all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface
1/2 teaspoon table salt
3 tablespoons (45 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus additional for bowl and muffin tins
Filling
3 tablespoons (45 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated sugar
1/2 pound (225 grams) semisweet chocolate
Pinch of salt
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)
Egg wash (optional)
1 egg
2 teaspoons (10 ml) heavy cream or milk

To make the dough, take a small bowl and add in the warm milk (110 to 115 degrees) and a pinch of sugar. Sprinkle in the yeast and let sit for about 5 minutes until the yeast foams. While the yeast is dissolving, take a medium sized bowl and whisk the eggs and 1/4 cup sugar. Slowly, whisk in the yeast mixture. Next, take the bowl from you standing mixture and stir the flour and salt with the paddle attachment. While mixture is on low, slowly add in the egg mixture. Mix well. Then, add in the butter. Mix well. Change out the paddle attachment to the dough hook. Let knead for about 10 minutes on low speed. Prepare a large bowl by spraying with cooking spray. The dough will be very sticky and stringy. That's okay. Form into a ball and place in the large bowl. Wrap with plastic wrap and place the bowl in a warm draft-free place (I prefer my oven set at 85 degrees) for about an hour or until the dough has doubled in size. My dough took about 2 hours to rise.

While the dough is rising, get your filling ready. I used semi-sweet chocolate chips so I didn't have to do any chopping. Throw your chocolate, salt, sugar, and cinnamon into a food processor. Process until relatively fine. Add in the butter and process until well incorporated. Set aside. Now, remove the dough from the oven (or wherever you had it) and punch it down. Turn out onto a floured surface and let rest for about 5 minutes. Then, roll out to about 11 inches wide and 20 inches long. Sprinkle the chocolate mixture all over the dough. Tightly roll into a log starting at the shorter end of the dough. It will form into a long log. Carefully slice the dough using a sharp serrated knife into 1 inch pieces. Place swirl side up into your greased muffin sheets. I had to use 2 muffin sheets because I ended up 16 buns. Place back in your draft-free/warm environment for another 30 minutes. I placed a towel over the buns. Remove the buns from the oven and set to 350 degrees. Once the oven is ready; add the buns and cook for about 15 to 20 minutes. Deb (from smitten kitchen) said the dough should register 185 to 190 degrees when they're ready. I think my thermometer might be off, because mine got up to 180 degrees and I placed them back in the oven for a couple minutes. At that point, I should have just left them out because I ended up overbaking them. Bleh. Lesson learned. Cool on a wire rack. enjoy!