Recipe | Maritozzi (cream buns)

The cream-filled buns from Roma are having a bit of a moment right now. These mini versions work for breakfast, brunch, afternoon tea, merenda (snack), Tuesdays, etc…

Makes 12

4g fast action dried yeast (or 8g fresh yeast)

125ml whole milk, warmed to about 37°C

250g strong bread flour or Italian 00 flour, plus extra for dusting

50g caster sugar

1 large egg yolk

25ml neutral oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

Zest of 1 orange, coarsely grated

for the sugar glaze:

25g golden caster sugar

½ tsp sea salt

for the filling:

225ml whipping cream

2 tsp icing sugar

½ tsp vanilla extract

1 Make a sponge starter by mixing the yeast with the warmed milk until it’s dissolved, then mix in half the flour and sugar. Mix well by hand with a whisk, cover, and leave for 1 hr until risen, spongy and bubbly.

2 Combine all the remaining ingredients with the sponge starter and add the remaining flour, little by

little, mixing to a non-sticky dough.

3 Tip the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for at least 10 mins until smooth.

4 Return the dough to a clean bowl, cover, and leave until doubled in size. Depending on the temperature, this will take about 1 hr at a room temp.

5 Knock back the dough and shape into a round, then divide into 12 even pieces (or weigh into 30g portions). Shape each piece into an oval by firstly rolling into a ball and very lightly pinching the dough underneath for a smooth shape. Place the dough ovals on 2 baking sheets lined with baking paper, not too close as they expand. Cover and leave to rise for 40 mins.

6 Preheat the oven to 200C/ Fan 180C/Gas 6. Bake the buns for 10 mins, or until golden brown.

7 For the glaze, place the sugar and salt in a pan with 2 tablespoons of water. Heat gently until the sugar’s dissolved and the glaze has thickened. Brush it over the buns straight from the oven and leave to cool on a rack.

8 Meanwhile, whip the cream with the icing sugar and vanilla until thickened. With a bread knife, slice each bun down the middle. Fill a piping bag with the cream and pipe it into each bun. Use a small palette knife to scrape the cream smooth and to give the maritozzi their recognisable finish.

Cook’s note: For other fillings, try pistachio cream mixed with cream, a chocolate cream or Nutella. Press the likes of strawberries, freeze-dried raspberries, chocolate or chopped nuts into the surface as decoration.

These cream buns are taken from Dolci Italiani by Ursula Ferrigno. Photography: Clare Winfield (Ryland Peters & Small).

More cakes for every day…

More from our blog…

Recipe | Swedish kardemummabullar

Making Swedish cardamom buns is a very happy way to spend an afternoon. Schedule in some time with a book while the dough and buns prove, and throw yourself into the slowness of the whole process in the knowledge that the finished buns will be worth every minute of the proving time.

Makes 18 

For the filling: 

100g butter, softened 

½ tsp plain flour 

1 tsp ground cinnamon  

1 tsp ground cardamom 

½ tsp vanilla extract 

50g caster sugar 

50g soft brown sugar 

For the dough: 

250mlfull fat milk 

13g active dried yeast granules 

75g butter 

450g strong white bread flour 

1½ tbsp ground cardamom  

½ tsp salt 

40g caster sugar 

1 egg 

Plus 1 egg, beaten (for brushing the rolls before they go into the oven) 

For the glaze: 

100ml agave or golden syrup 

50g almonds, finely chopped 

To make…

1 Begin by creaming all of the filling ingredients together and then set to one side. 

2 Next, make the dough by heating the milk in a saucepan over a medium heat until it starts to gently bubble, but don’t let it come to the boil. 

3 Pour the warm milk into a mixing bowl, add the yeast and mix together. Cover with a tea towel and leave in a warm room for about 20 mins to activate the yeast. While the yeast is activating, gently melt the butter in a small saucepan over a medium heat, then set aside. 

4 Once the yeast and milk have started to bubble (activated), add the cooled, melted butter and mix them together thoroughly. You can either do this by hand or with a dough hook attachment on a food processor. 

5 Next, take a clean mixing bowl and pour in the flour, cardamom, salt and sugar, then blend together. Slowly add this mix to your bowl of wet dough ingredients. Add one beaten egg and combine. Either using your hands or in a machine with a dough hook, knead the combined dough ingredients for at least 5 mins. If necessary, add a little flour if you’re finding that the dough is sticking to your fingers too much, although it does need to be quite sticky. 

6 Leave your kneaded dough to prove in either the bowl or mixer, covered, in a warm room for 30-45 mins to allow it to rise. 

7 Cover a flat surface with flour and place your dough on top. Knead it by hand (adding a little extra flour if it’s still too sticky to work with) for 5 mins. Once it’s a manageable consistency, roll the dough out into a rectangular shape and cover with the filling, stopping about 5cm from one end – if your table isn’t very big then you may find it easier to do this in two parts, making two smaller rectangles. 

8 Roll the rectangle into a sausage, leaving the bare end until last so that your filling doesn’t start spilling out. Cut your sausage shaped dough (with the filling inside) into 6cm-thick slices. Place the slices onto a lined baking tray and leave to rise for another 30 mins. 

9 Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 200C/180 Fan/Gas 6. When the oven has reached temperature and the swirl-shaped dough slices have sat for 30 mins for a second rising, brush the with a beaten egg and then bake for 8-10 mins, or until golden brown. 

10 While the cardamom buns bake, make the glaze by heating the syrup in a small saucepan over a medium heat until warmed through. As soon as the buns come out of the oven, drizzle with the warmed syrup, then sprinkle the chopped almonds over the top of them. 

11 While they cool, take a clean tea towel and run it under a tap until it is soaked through, then wring it out and place the damp cloth over the baking tray for 5 mins to stop the cardamom rolls from going hard.

These Swedish buns are part of our Merry Midwinter menu from our January issue, a hygge style meal with added log-cabin-cosiness, that includes Smorrebrod, Scandi Fish Stew and more. Recipes by Kay Prestney.

More hyggelich things for January…

More from our Januaray issue…

Recipe: Apricot, almond, cardamom and honey Chelsea buns

Warming cardamom plus golden apricots equal autumn in a bun

Makes 10

300ml milk
40g butter
500g strong white flour
1 tsp salt
7g sachet fast-action dried yeast
1 egg, beaten
20 cardamom pods
60ml runny honey
250g dried apricots, chopped
100g almonds, roughly chopped For the glaze
2 tbsp milk
2 tbsp caster sugar

For the icing
2 tbsp icing sugar

1 Gently warm the milk and butter in a pan until the butter has melted. Set aside to cool a little. Put the flour, salt and yeast in a bowl. Pour in the warm milk mixture and beaten egg, and mix to a dough with your hands.

2 Start kneading in the bowl to bring the dough together, then transfer to a floured surface and knead for a further 5–10 minutes. Return the dough to the bowl and set aside to rise for 20 minutes.

3 Knead the dough again briefly in the bowl to knock it back to its original size, then tip it onto a floured surface. Stretch and push it into a rectangle, pulling and pushing until the dough is about 1cm thick all over.

4 Using a pestle and mortar, lightly bash the cardamom pods until they crack and release the seeds. Remove the papery cases and grind the seeds to a powder.

5 Turn the rectangle so the long edges lie widthways. Drizzle honey over the rectangle of dough, then sprinkle over the cardamom, apricots and almonds evenly.

6 Put both hands at the bottom of the longer side and roll away from you. Cut the roll into ten even pieces with a sharp knife, and place on a baking tray, space a little apart. Cover with
a tea towel and leave to rise for 20 minutes. Preheat the oven to 190C/Fan 170C/375F. Bake the buns for 20–25 minutes, until golden brown.

7 Meanwhile, make the glaze by heating the milk and sugar in a pan until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is starting to bubble. Paint the buns with the glaze as soon as they come out of the oven, then leave to cool.

8 To make the icing, mix the icing sugar with 1 tbsp water. Drizzle over the cooled buns and tear apart to eat. 

For the rest of our afternoon tea menu – including Lapsang souchong tea bread, Crumpets, Smoked cheddar and chocolate stout rarebits, Coffee and walnut cake, and Orange and lemon battenberg – turn to page 24 of November's The Simple Things. 

More from the November issue:

More afternoon tea recipes:

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