Lemon Buns Take Two

For a while I have had the thought of sticky lemon swirls formulating in my mind, a lighter version of cinnamon swirl buns. I loved the soft, light, workable dough I used to make the Light Lemon Fruit Buns a while ago, and so I decided to use it as the base to create these lemon swirl buns.

They are really simple and fun to make. It involves rolling out the dough and slathering over a layer of zingy lemon curd before rolling them up and cutting into buns. The dough stayed very soft and moist and they were finger licking sticky thanks to the lemon curd which oozed out slightly during cutting and baking.

These are great for a mid morning snack or afternoon tea. Pull off a swirl, nibble around the edge towards the gooey centre, before licking the sweet lemony stickiness off your finger – bliss. Feel free to drizzle them with some lemon icing for extra indulgence.

Sticky Lemon Swirls
Ingredients
350g plain flour
50g caster sugar
¼ tsp salt
25g fresh yeast
50g butter
200ml milk
1 egg
Zest of ½ lemon
1/3 jar (110g) lemon curd

Method
Grease a 20cm x 30cm, high sided baking tin. Line it with greaseproof paper and leave two strips overhanging the edges to aid removal after cooking.
Combine flour, sugar, salt, yeast and lemon zest in a large bowl.
Cut the butter into small pieces and add to a jug along with the milk and heat gently until warm but not to hot. (It shouldn’t get hotter than body temperature).
Whisk the egg into the milk and pour over the flour.
Using your fingers bring everything together and then kneed with a dough hook or by hand, for 5 minutes until soft and stretchy.
Transfer to a greased bowl, cover with cling film and leave to prove for 25 minutes.
Knock back the risen dough on a lightly floured surface. Roll it out into a long rectangle and around 5mm thick.
Spread the lemon curd over the surface of the dough. Roll up the dough as tightly as possible, starting at the longest edge until you have a long sausage shape.
Cut the dough into 1 inch (2.5cm) pieces, the lemon curd may ooze slightly, but don’t worry.
Place them into the tin, cut/swirl side up. Leave around 1cm gap between each piece to allow them to rise.
Leave to prove for a further 20-30 minutes until doubled in size.
Meanwhile preheat the oven to 230C.
Place the swirls into the oven and bake for 18-20 minutes until golden brown and springy when pressed.
Allow to cool for 10 minutes before removing the entire lot to a cooling wrack, still attached to the greaseproof paper. Dust with icing sugar.
Allow to cool before storing in an airtight container for around 3 days. Leave them attached to the greaseproof paper, as this will help keep them, moist.