Chocolate Raspberry Brioche Buns

Sometimes we just want to make something special. Something fruity, something chocolatey, something enriched with a whole cup of butter. These brioche buns stuffed with chocolate and raspberry puree are special. They taste of sweet raspberries dotted with chocolate and all wrapped up in a decadent brioche bun. Chocolate raspberry brioche buns are the Valentine treat you didn’t know you wanted to make. I baked up a bunch of them before Valentine’s Day, froze them and will re-heat a couple for our Valentine breakfast…along with this favorite chocolate puff oven pancake and of course a sugar cookie or two.

Enriched Dough

Brioche is an enriched dough, meaning it is made with a lot of eggs, butter and milk. The majority of the liquid in this dough comes from eggs (and milk). Do you remember hearing the quote attributed to Marie Antoinette, “Let them eat cake!”? Translated properly, the phrase would read, “Let them eat brioche!” At the time of Marie Antoinette, only the very rich could afford brioche, which was highly enriched with expensive butter. Brioche can be made with 100% butter (this is super rich and the dough becomes very difficult to handle), 50% butter (which is what I use for this recipe), or even 20% butter is still considered brioche. Each of these doughs are delicious in their own right, but I have found this recipe to be the perfect amount of butter/flour ratio for these buns.

Use a Stand Mixer for Brioche

Brioche often needs the use of a stand mixer. It is a very, very soft dough and difficult to knead by hand as you incorporate the butter. One of the goals when mixing brioche is to keep the dough at room temperature while the butter incorporates. If your hands are warm, they are going to melt the dough as you knead. I prefer using my Bosch mixer to make brioche dough, because this dough needs a long mix to incorporate all the butter and to develop the gluten.

Evolution of Brioche: From Crumbly to Soft Dough

To begin making this dough, mix together the warm milk, bread flour and instant yeast. Let this mixture sit for 10-20 minutes until it gets nice and yeasty and starts to expand a bit. The sugars in the milk help activate the yeast. Continue adding in the eggs, flour, sugar and salt and mix until you get a crumbly and fairly stiff dough. Mix with your stand mixer for a few minutes before adding the butter. Cut the butter into Tablespoons and add a Tablespoon at a time until the dough becomes very shiny and all the butter is incorporated. You will notice the texture of the dough begin to change as you continue mixing. I like to set a timer and just let my mixer mix for about 8-10 minutes until the dough is very shiny, silky and smooth. It may also be a little sticky to the touch.

Refrigerating Brioche (4 hours or longer)

Once the brioche has been thoroughly mixed, transfer the dough to a large bowl. It will feel different (more wet/sticky) than most doughs. That is okay! Cover the dough with plastic wrap and stick it in the fridge until chilled all the way through, at least four hours or up to overnight. While in the fridge the cold air helps solidify the butter and makes the dough more workable and easier to shape. I like to mix my dough the night before for a morning bake or I mix in the morning and then bake for an after school snack, because who doesn’t love fresh brioche when they get off the school bus?

Make the Raspberry Puree

If you have a favorite raspberry jam (seedless is my preference), you can use that in place of making the raspberry puree. The puree itself is fairly simple to whisk up and tastes delicious. Place 6 oz raspberries into a saucepan with 1/4 cup sugar and 2 Tablespoons water. If you use frozen raspberries, use 1 Tablespoon water instead of 2. Mash up the raspberries and let the mixture come to a boil at medium heat. Boil for about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and pour the raspberry puree through a fine-mesh strainer into a container. Use a spatula or stir the raspberry mixture as it strains through. Mix around until all you have left in the strainer is seeds. Make sure you check the underside of the strainer to get any extra puree that might be there before discarding the seeds. You will end up with about 1/4 -1/3 cup raspberry puree. Let the puree cool before using in these chocolate raspberry brioche buns.

Preparing the Parchment Paper

This recipe makes about 16 brioche buns, so you will need 16 pieces of parchment paper to line the muffin tins. Cut a square of parchment paper (you can eyeball this with your own muffin tin). Fold the square in half, then half again to make a smaller square. Holding the tip of the parchment, cut a circular arc as seen in the photo below. Repeat until you have 16 pieces of parchment paper.

Shaping the Brioche Buns

Now for the fun part! Shaping the brioche buns. After at least 4 hours of chilling, dump the dough out on a counter. Use a kitchen scale to weigh small balls of dough, about 75 grams per ball. Working quickly (so as not to heat up the dough too much), roll the ball of dough into a small rectangle. Spread about a teaspoon of raspberry puree on the dough. Sprinkle with chocolate chips. Fold the dough on top of itself (hot dog style). Holding both ends of the dough, twist the dough. Starting at one end, roll the dough into a swirled bunch shape. Place a piece of cut parchment paper over a muffin tin and drop the bun into the center of the parchment. Repeat with the remaining balls of dough.

Second Rise and Baking Brioche

Lightly cover the brioche buns and let rise until puffed up, at least an hour. Due to the enriched dough, these buns may not quite double in size, but they will look puffed up and fill out the tin a bit. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Make a quick egg wash with one egg and a teaspoon of water, scrambled together. Brush it over the top of the buns right before placing in the oven. Bake the buns for about 15-20 minutes until golden on top and baked through. Let cool.

Chocolate raspberry brioche buns are decadent and make for the perfect special occasion breakfast. I hope you love them. Enjoy!

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