Cinnamon buns with maple cream cheese icing

Cinnamon buns with maple cream cheese icing. Photograph: Harry Weir Photography
Cinnamon buns with maple cream cheese icing. Photograph: Harry Weir Photography
Serves: 9
Course: Dessert
Cooking Time: 1 hr 30 mins

Ingredients

  • For the dough:
  • 500g strong white flour
  • 1 tsp fine salt
  • 50g caster sugar
  • 7g dried yeast
  • 275ml milk
  • 40g unsalted butter
  • 1 egg
  • For the filling:
  • 75g unsalted butter, softened
  • 100g light brown sugar
  • ¾ tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 tsp cornflour
  • For the icing:
  • 60g unsalted butter, softened
  • 120g cream cheese, at room temperature
  • 140g icing sugar, sifted
  • ¼ tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 tbsp maple syrup</li><li/></ul>

1 Put the flour, salt, sugar and yeast into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment and mix on a low speed.

2 Place the milk and butter into a saucepan and gently heat until warm but not hot; the butter should be melted. Slowly whisk the milk and butter mix into the dry ingredients, add the egg and continue to mix on a medium speed for about 10 minutes, until smooth and elastic.

3 Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl and cover with cling film. Leave to rise in a warm place for one hour or until doubled in size.

4 Mix all of the filling ingredients together to form a smooth paste. Set aside until ready to roll the buns.

5 Line a baking tray with parchment paper.

6 Knock the dough a few times in the bowl and tip out on to a lightly floured surface. Roll the dough into a rectangle, about 20cm x 30cm, with the long side closest to you. Spread the cinnamon butter on top of the dough and trim the ends so that you have a clean rectangle.

7 Cut the dough into nine strips, about 3cm each in length, and roll each strip up to form a swirled bun. Arrange the buns on the prepared baking tray, leaving a 1cm-2cm gap between each. Cover the buns with cling film and leave to rise in a warm place for 30 minutes.

8 Preheat the oven to 200 degrees or 180 degrees fan. Bake the buns for 25 minutes until golden. Cool for 10-15 minutes before icing.

9 Beat all of the icing ingredients together until smooth and fluffy. Spread the icing over the buns and serve.

Aoife Noonan

Aoife Noonan

Aoife Noonan is a pastry chef and culinary consultant. She writes a weekly baking column for the Irish Times Magazine