Sticky Toffee Monkey Bread and Jam Roly Poly Buns

It's been a while since I've made any sweet dough. It's something I love making, so I was very pleased to venture back into it. And even better, this was one of the bakes for my bake off challenge set a couple of years ago now (I'm getting there slowly!). These are my takes on the traditional British sticky toffee and jam roly poly puddings in bun form. You can't really get much better than these traditional puddings! 

The monkey bread takes while to dip it in the butter and sugar as making small buns is a lot more fiddly than making one big monkey bread, however it's definitely worth persevering as the taste is delicious. The roly poly buns are messy, but again worth it for the sweet jam taste. These are bakes that I would definitely make again.

Recipe - Makes 16 buns

For the dough: 

• 500g strong white bread flour
• 14g fast action dried yeast
• 10g salt
• 30g caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 120ml milk
• 160ml water
• 40g butter, cubed

For the monkey bread: 

• 60g butter, melted
• 80g light brown sugar
• 20g butter
• 30g light brown sugar
• 60ml double cream

For the jam roly poly buns:

• 3 tbsp raspberry jam
• 150ml milk
• 1 egg yolk
• 25g caster sugar
• 1 tbsp cornflour
• Icing sugar, to dust

Start by making the dough. To do so, put the flour in a bowl and tip the yeast to one side and the salt and sugar to the other. Add the egg to the centre then the milk and enough water to form a soft and slightly sticky dough. Add the cubed butter and turn onto a work surface. Knead for 5-10 minutes until smooth and elastic. Place in a bowl, cover with clingfilm, and leave to rise in a warm place for 1 hour or until doubled. 

Whilst the dough is proving, make the toffee sauce for the monkey bread by putting 20g of butter, 30g light brown sugar and the double cream into a pan and melt over a medium heat. Boil for a couple of minutes before pouring into a bowl. Set aside to cool and refrigerate until needed. 

Make the custard for the roly poly buns by putting the milk into a pan and heating until just simmering. Meanwhile whisk the egg yolk and sugar to light and pale, then add the cornflour. Slowly pour in the milk whilst whisking. Return to the pan and whisk with a balloon whisk over a medium heat until thickened. Remove and transfer to a bowl. Press a piece of clingfilm on top and leave to cool.

Once the dough has risen, tip out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead briefly to knock out the air. Divide into half. To make the monkey bread, split one half of the dough into 8 equal portions and make small balls of dough from each about 1cm in size. Dip the balls of dough in the butter then roll in the sugar and place in the hole of a lightly greased muffin tin (one portion of dough should fill one hole). Cover and leave for 45 minutes to rise. Once risen, bake at 180C for 15 minutes or until browned. Remove from the oven and leave in the tin for 5 minutes then transfer onto a wire rack to cool.

To make the roly poly buns, roll the other half of the dough out to a rectangle three times wider than it is long and approximately 0.5cm thick. Spread the jam over the right two-thirds of the dough. Fold over the left piece (without jam) onto the middle, and then fold the right piece (with jam) onto the middle to form 3 layers of dough with jam between. Trim the top and bottom ends off and cut into 8 equal strips. Take one strip at a time and twist whilst stretching to form a spiral, then make into a circle, knotting the ends. Place on a lined baking tray and repeat with the other 7 pieces, leaving spaced out on the tray. Cover and leave for 45 minutes to rise. Once rise, spoon a dollop of the custard into the centre of each bun. Bake at 180C for 15 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool. 

Finish off the buns by filling a piping bag fitted with a thin icing nozzle with the toffee sauce and drizzling over the monkey bread. Dust the jam roly poly buns with icing sugar, then serve.