Fastelavnsboller af wienerdej (Hazelnut and Caramel Danish Carnival Buns)
A flaky and buttery Danish pastry bun, filled with a sweet hazelnut paste, whipped cream, and salted caramel sauce. Fancy, delicious, impressive...can it get any better?
Ingredients
PASTRY DOUGH
- 1 portion "easier" wienerbrødsdej (danish pastry dough)
- OR 1 portion wienerbrødsdej (danish pastry dough) *we used the "easier" version for this recipe to get this done in one day - you can use either! Just choose one, because you only need the one portion!
- 1 egg for egg wash
REMONCE (HAZELNUT FILLING)
- 65 grams chopped hazelnuts
- 50 grams softened, unsalted butter
- 50 grams granulated sugar
- Pinch of salt
TOPPINGS/FILLINGS
- 65 grams chopped hazelnuts *optional, for additional garnish!
Salted Caramel: Adapted from Sally's Baking Blog
- 200 grams granulated sugar
- 85 grams unsalted butter
- 120 ml heavy cream
- 1 tsp salt
Whipped Cream
- 350 ml heavy whipping cream
- 2-3 tsp granulated sugar *optional: we don't tend to sweeten our whipped cream, but feel free to add it for a touch of sweetness!
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- The night before baking, begin preparing the pastry dough by following the steps in our wienerbrødsdej recipe. Or, you can make the dough the same day, and use our easier version! For this recipe, we tend to use the easier version to get it done the same day!
- You can also make your salted caramel a day ahead of time (steps are further down below!) to make it's cooled down. You can do this the day of if you prefer!
- The next day or after the dough is done rising, follow the lamination instructions in the danish pastry dough recipe.
- While your dough is resting between folds, take your chopped hazelnuts (they can also be whole!) and run them through a food processor for at least a minute until it's been ground down to a finer consistency. It won't be as smooth as almond flour, but it should be closer to a crumb consistency!
- Mix the finely ground hazelnuts, softened butter, sugar, and pinch of salt together in a bowl until it forms a smooth paste.
- Once you have completed all the laminations according to the wienerbrødsdej recipe or the easier wienerbrødsdej recipe and the dough has rested, start rolling out your dough on a well floured surface, being gentle. If you get any tears in the dough, add some flour to the spot! When it's around 16" in length, cut it in half and wrap one half in plastic wrap and put it back in the fridge. It's much easier to work with half of the dough at a time.
- Roll the remaining half of your dough into a flat rectangle that is about 1/8-1/4 inch thick.
- Trim the edges of your rectangle; it should measure 12" in length and 8" in width.
- Cut the dough into six equal sized squares (4 inches by 4 inches). You can use the trimmed dough from the edges and make them into little swirls or croissant shapes and bake them with the pastries if you want!
- Add a small blob of hazelnut filling to each of your squares. Keep in mind that you will use half of the marzipan filling for this half of the dough, so reserve the second half for the other part of the dough!
- Then fold each corner towards the center, encasing the hazelnut filling inside.
- Pinch together all the seams well; press the corners in towards the center to help it look more round.
- Turn the pastry over and place it on the counter. Cup it in your hands while turning it on the counter a few times. This helps fold the corners in and make it more of a round shape as well.
- You should be left with a bun! Transfer the pastries to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, making sure to put the seam side down.
- Cover the first batch of pastries, either with plastic wrap or a damp dish towel, and let them start proofing.
- Repeat the rolling out of the dough and the shaping steps with the other half of the dough. Transfer to a baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap.
- Now leave your shaped pastries to rise for at least 1.5 - 2 hours, perhaps longer. While the pastries are rising, it's a good time to make the salted caramel filling.
- In a small saucepan, add in your granulated sugar.
- Heat over low to medium heat, depending on how hot your stove runs. Melt the sugar until it turns a golden amber color. You can stir the sugar with a spatula or spoon to get the heat distributed more evenly, just know that it may clump up and you'll have to wait for the larger crystals to melt! Try not to heat it too quickly, as it could burn.
- Once the sugar has fully melted and is a golden amber color, add in the butter a few tablespoons at a time, whisking really well in between. It's also a good idea to turn the heat down to low so the sugar doesn't burn.
- Once all the butter has been incorporated, slowly add in the heavy cream, whisking constantly. It may look a little broken, but keep whisking and it should come together!
- Add in the salt and whisk well.
- Turn off the stove and take the caramel off the heat to cool for a few minutes.
- Transfer to a container and let cool for at least 20 minutes at room temperature, then place in the fridge until cooled down. For quick cooling down, you can put the container in a bowl of ice water for around 10 minutes, stirring every minute.
- Check on your proofing pastries. This is a very important step, because under-proofing these means major butter leakage (we are speaking from experience!). You'll know the pastries are ready when they feel super light and airy (almost wobbly when you touch them) and have doubled in size. Another test is to poke the dough, and if it leaves an impression and doesn't spring back immediately, it should be ready.
- Towards the end of the rising time, preheat your oven to 375 degrees F (190 C).
- Once your pastries have risen, egg wash the first baking sheet that you prepared.
- Bake for about 15-20 minutes on the center rack, until golden brown! We bake these one at a time, since we prepare the dough one half at a time anyway. So while the first baking sheet is in the oven, prepare the second baking sheet by repeating the egg wash, pressing down the center, and adding the topping.
- When the first batch comes out of the oven, put in the second baking sheet for another 15-20 minutes, and bake until golden brown. Place the pastries on a cooling rack and let cool completely.
- When the pastries are almost done cooling, prepare your whipped cream. In the bowl of a stand mixer or a medium mixing bowl, add your heavy whipping cream along with vanilla and sugar. Whisk in the stand mixer or using a hand mixer until you reach stiff peaks.
- Add whipped cream to a piping bag with a star tip. If you don't have a piping bag, you can also just spoon the whipped cream onto the buns!
- Take your cooled pastry and cut it in half.
- Pipe two layers of whipped cream around the edge.
- Add about a tablespoon's worth of salted caramel to the center.
- Sprinkle with additional chopped hazelnuts if you'd like!
- Add the top of the bun, and add a little bit of caramel and a dot of whipped cream to the top (also optional, it's just for decor!) with a few extra pieces of chopped hazelnut.
- Repeat with all of the buns! We found that it was just the right amount of whipped cream and salted caramel for all 12 buns, but if you fill them a little bit less, you might have some leftover.
- Enjoy the buns - make sure to store in the fridge because of the whipped cream.