Blueberry brioche buns – the perfect delicious breakfast treat that can be prepared the night before and enjoyed fresh in the morning.

Blueberry brioche buns

Our Christmas breakfast tradition for years and years involved warm croissants and fresh summer fruit. Then I became baking obsessed.

As soon as I learned to make bread, I insisted on being in charge of the pastry/sweet element of Christmas morning. There is usually a cinnamon theme – cinnamon bread, cinnamon buns – but last year I thought I’d venture out of my comfort zone.

Ok I didn’t exactly take a giant leap, but blueberry brioche buns were something different. I don’t know that my little man was all that keen on me using his precious frozen blueberries but I am glad I stole a few from his stash.

I made up the dough on Christmas Eve, let it have its first rise then shaped the buns, covered them and popped them in the fridge.

If you like this recipe you might also like to try the Orange and saffron brioche buns

As soon as I got up on Christmas morning (I still wake up at the crack of dawn like a 5 year old) I put them out on the bench for their final rise then baked as usual. I think you can also freeze the dough at the point where I put them in the fridge but they’d need a bit of time to defrost which I’d do in the fridge.

There was still a cinnamon aroma wafting from the kitchen when my family arrived but with the added scent of almonds roasting on top. They were the perfect accompaniment to our fruit selection, nice and soft and buttery but not too sweet. I’m already dreaming up different combinations for them. I think a choc-cinnamon version would go down rather well. Enjoy!

What about you? What’s your Christmas morning tradition?

Blueberry brioche buns

Yield: 12

Prep Time: 2 hours

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 2 hours 30 minutes

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Ingredients

• 60ml (1/4 cup) lukewarm milk
• 60g (1/4 cup) caster sugar
• 2 tsp dried yeast
• 300g (2 cups) bakers flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3 free-range eggs, lightly whisked
• 125g (4.5oz)butter, at room temperature, cut into 1.5cm pieces
• 100g (1/2 cup, firmly packed) brown sugar
• 75g (1/2 cup) frozen blueberries
• 1 egg white
• 1 tbsp caster sugar, extra
• 35g (1/3 cup) flaked almonds

Instructions

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer with the dough hook attached, combine the milk, caster sugar, yeast, flour, salt and egg and mix until everything comes together.
2. Increase the speed to medium and knead until the dough is smooth (about 5 minutes).
3. With the mixer running, add two pieces of butter and knead them in. Continue with the remainder of the butter then knead until the dough is smooth and elastic.
4. Lightly butter a large bowl, shape the dough into a ball and place it in the bowl then cover with plastic wrap and set aside until it has doubled in size (about an hour).
5. Punch down the dough.
6. Lightly flour your bench then roll the dough out to a rectangle measuring 60x40cm.
7. Sprinkle the dough with the brown sugar and blueberries then roll tightly from the long side.
8. Place cupcake cases in a 12-hole muffin tin.
9. Cut the roll of dough into 12 pieces and place each one, cut side up/down in a case.
10. Cover the tray with plastic wrap and set aside to almost double in size again while the oven pre-heats to 180C (390F) fan-forced.
11. If you want to refrigerate or freeze the dough for later, place it in the fridge as soon as the rolls are in the tray.
12. In a small bowl, mix together the egg white, extra sugar and almonds then drizzle over the risen rolls.
13. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown.
14. Serve the buns warm or at room temperature (I think warm is best).