It’s Sticky in Chelsea: Thermomix Chelsea Buns

“Hi Mom, I’m home! What can I have for a snack?” The big yellow school bus drives away along Clapp Road as I race up the driveway and up the back steps into the kitchen. Mom is waiting there for me and my brother as we come home from school every day, excited and hungry.

Mom has been busy baking today, and has made one of our favorite treats: sticky buns. Hot, sticky, filled with raisins and flavored with cinnamon, the sticky buns of my childhood are what I now know as Chelsea buns here in England. But as it has been said so many times, a rose by any other name would smell as sweet and sticky buns taste just as good as Chelsea buns.

There is one major difference, however, and that is in the glaze. Chelsea buns are glazed with honey, and sticky buns are glazed with dark Karo corn syrup – at least according to Mom’s recipe, and that’s the only one that counts. Karo corn syrup is a sugar syrup used both as a sweetener in baking and poured over breakfast pancakes to moisten and sweeten them. Poor man’s maple syrup, I suppose. It comes in light and dark recipes, and we always preferred the dark for its earthier flavor. [Did you notice how I’m using American English spellings on words like flavor/flavour and favorite/favourite? I can’t help it, I’m writing about my childhood :D] We occasionally would buy light Karo at the supermarket if we needed it for fudge or some special recipe, but we were definitely a dark Karo family.

I made these Chelsea buns by the book – the recipe book, of course – and duly used honey for the glaze. It’s quite good but I will make them next time with real Karo which I can get from Stateside Candy Company here in Aldershot, and perhaps another time trying Golden Syrup instead. The honey is good but believe it or not, it’s too sweet for my taste and detracts slightly from the earthy flavors of the raisins and cinnamon.

So here we go with Chelsea buns for a warming after school snack or a fantastic Sunday morning breakfast. Chelsea buns are easy to make and kid friendly so if you fancy making the kids work for their snack then get them spreading the filling and rolling the dough. They’ll thank you for it when they get to taste these delicious buns. And don’t forget the glass of milk to drink with them. They even make a fantastic treat to leave for Santa Claus or Father Christmas on Christmas Eve!

Chelsea Buns
Recipe from Traditional Breads for your Breadmaker by Karen Saunders (Ebury Press, 2004). Karen says, “Chelsea Buns are a London delicacy and one of the most famous of all our traditional breads. Originally the sweet, fruit-laden buns were sold by ‘Captain Bun’ from the Old Chelsea Bun House in Pimlico where King George III was said to be a regular customer. Sadly, these premises were destroyed in 1839 but the recipe lives on today and Chelsea Buns can now be found in bakeries nationwide.” Makes 12

Ingredients

For the dough:
200 g full cream milk
85 g butter
2 medium eggs
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
450 g very strong white bread flour
1 packet instant or fast-acting dried yeast OR 20 g fresh yeast

For the filling:
2 tbsp butter
100 g mixed dried fruit
50 g light soft brown sugar

For the glaze:
Runny honey OR Karo Dark Brown Syrup OR Golden Syrup OR even some maple syrup!

Method

1. Lightly grease a 30 cm/12 in square baking tray. To make the buns, put the milk and butter into the Thermomix bowl and melt 50° C/3 minutes/Speed 1 or until all the butter has melted. Add eggs, sugar, salt, flour and yeast. Mix 20 seconds/Speed 3. Scrape sides of bowl, turn your Thermomix to the lid locked position, press the kneading button and knead 1 minute 30 seconds. Turn the dough out on to a lightly floured surface and roll it out into a large rectangle.
2. To make the filling, melt the butter 50° C/3 minutes/Speed 1 or until all the butter has melted. Place a small bowl on top of your Thermomix lid and weigh in the dried fruit and the sugar. Mix together with a spoon or your hands. Brush the dough with the melted butter and, leaving a 2.5 cm/1 inch border around the edges, sprinkle the fruit mixture over.
3. Roll the dough up like a Swiss roll, starting at the long end. Press the edges together to seal. Cut the roll into 12 equally sized slices and place, cut-side up, onto the baking tray. Arrange the buns so that they will touch one another once they have proved. Cover with a tea towel and leave in a warm place to prove until doubled in size. Bake in a preheated oven at 190° C/375° F/gas mark 5 for 15-20 minutes until well risen and golden.
4. Brush the buns with the honey/Karo/Golden Syrup while still hot and leave them to cool slightly in the tray before transferring them to a wire rack to cool fully.

Bon appétit !

Important warning for dog owners:
Grapes and raisins can be toxic to dogs, sometimes resulting in acute renal failure! Our Billy stole the entire tray of these Chelsea Buns from the kitchen counter while I was out and that evening started vomiting almost continuously for four days. We were very lucky and had him treated in time but other dogs have not been so fortunate. Please store your dried fruits and fruit-laden culinary creations well away from your canine friends. I certainly have learned my lesson the hard way!

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