Strawberry Custard Cream Buns - Fruity Buns #1

The blueberry buns that Pook made were soooo pretty. Can't take my eyes off them. And so, I wanted to make them too. I chose to use strawberries because of the price factor and personally I love strawberries.

My girls thought these were cupcakes due to the form it takes in. And they were in for a surprise when they tried eating it.

Initially I wanted to make these as gifts for a relative, but it so happened that they weren't in town, something that rarely happens in the day for them, but it was such coincidence. So, I turned back and took these to Mike's office. Some suppliers were there and they were grinning from ear to ear when they saw these. Feedback was good and the decorative mint (from my garden) were gobbled up as well. It blends with the strawberry very well.

I made lesser custard than in her stated recipe because I saw she used just 4 yolks instead of 5. So, I just made a wild guess that it was too much custard. I reduced the recipe accordingly and still.. it was slightly too much custard. I had to chop off the top of the custard in order to fill them with the topping.

The dough for this bun is very nice and soft. A bit on the oily side, but nice.

Strawberry Custard Cream Buns
Recipe source: Daily Delicious

Dough
250g Bread flour
1/2 tsp Instant yeast
1tsp Salt
30g Sugar
145ml Whole milk
1 Egg yolk
30g Unsalted butter

Custard Cream
270ml milk
seeds from ¼ vanilla bean or 1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
60gm sugar
15gm cake flour
Pinch of salt

Topping
60gm strawberries
60gm sugar
½ tbsp lemon juice
½ tsp vanilla extract
250gm strawberries, cut into small pieces

1. Prepare dough. Mix everything together except the butter and knead until the dough starts to become elastic. Then, knead in the butter until the dough becomes soft, smooth and almost satiny. Cover and let it proof until double (took me more almost 1.5 hours)
2. Meanwhile, prepare the custard cream. Whisk eggs, vanilla, egg yolks and sugar until pale and frothy. Whisk in the flour and salt. In a saucepan, bring milk to a boil, and slowly pour this into the egg mixture, stirring it all the while as you pour. Pour the egg mixture back into the saucepan and cook until it thickens. Pour the cooked custard into a bowl and put cling wrap directly onto the surface to prevent it from forming a film.Set it aside.
3. Prepare strawberry sauce. Coarsely chop the 60gm strawberries and mix with sugar, lemon juice and vanilla extract. Cook it on medium low heat until it turns jam like. Let it cool down.
4. When bread dough has doubled, divide dough into 12 pieces. Roll them round. Cover and put them into the fridge for 20 minutes.
5. Meanwhile grease a 12 hole muffin tin. Preheat the oven at 160(fan)/180C.
6. Remove the chilled dough from the fridge and roll them flat about 8cm wide. Place them into the muffin holes and press to form a cup. Spoon the custard into the cavities. *no further proofing*
7. Bake them for 12-15 minutes until the surface of the buns turn golden. Let them cool down to a manageable temperature and carefully remove them from the muffin tin.
8. Mix the strawberry sauce with the strawberry pieces. Top the custard buns with the strawberry topping.