Peanut Butter and Chocolate Brioche Buns
12-14 Buns
One recipe of “Professor Butter Beard’s Brioche”
Filling:
1 ½ cups roasted and salted peanuts
1 cup mini-chocolate chips
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup smooth peanut butter
1) Prepare one batch of “Professor Butter Beard’s Brioche,” easily searched within the blog’s recipe section. Set aside for the first rise.
2) Make the filling: In a food processor, pulse the roasted peanuts into a coarse grind. Five or six pulses will do the trick – you don’t want to create peanut flour! Pour the nuts into a medium bowl and set aside 4 Tbsp to use later. Add the mini-chocolate chips, cinnamon and smooth peanut butter to the bowl and use a spatula to combine into all the ingredients. Set aside.
3) Preheat your oven to 400 degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment.
4) On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into a large rectangle, about 1/3” thick. Using your fingers, spread the peanut butter mixture in an even layer on the dough. Fold the dough in thirds like a letter. Gently press the dough and roll into a 10-8” rectangle. Using a sharp knife, trim ½” off the short sides of the rectangle. Cut the dough into 12-14 strips.
5) Lightly pull one dough strip, cut side up, to be about 14” long. Shape the strip into a figure eight by curling the right side away from you towards the center, then curl the left side towards you and tucking the ends in the gaps. Turn the bun over and place on the prepared sheet. Finish all the buns, placing 6-7 on each sheet pan. Sprinkle the tops of the buns with the set-aside peanuts. Let rise for 15-20 minutes.
6) Place both sheet pans in the oven, close the oven door and reduce the heat to 375 degrees. Bake for 12 minutes and then rotate the pans, top to bottom and front to back. Bake for an additional 8-10 minutes until beautifully golden.
7) Cool the buns on the sheets for 10 minutes to set the chocolate and then remove them to wire racks to cool to just warm before serving.
