When I asked my team if I could have their recipe for Mardi Gras buns, they replied “well, I just have that in my head?”. This is often the answer when I want one of my team’s recipes.
The world’s best birthday buns are also a recipe that they just keep in their head. That’s exactly why I’m so glad I remember to get their recipes so they don’t get lost. Back to the homemade Mardi Gras buns… Because they taste absolutely fantastic.
While we were scribbling down the recipe, that real Mardi Gras buns (according to them) are made with a light and buttery Vienna dough because as they said “the bun is not meant to be compact and a meal in itself, but a soft bun that dresses the vanilla cream”. I have to give them the credit. Classic Mardi Gras buns, baked from the Viennese dough and filled with homemade vanilla cream, are fantastic. I plan to bake another portion of Mardi Gras buns in November because my team dreams that I will include both nougat and filling in it too – so we have to try that.
You will need these:
350-400g wheat flour
250g butter (half for the dough, the other half for stuffing inside the dough)
25g of yeast
2 tbsp. sugar
2 tbsp. cold water
2 eggs (+ 1 for brushing)
125 ml of milk
½ teaspoon cardamom
Custard:
3 egg yolks
3 tbsp. sugar
1 tbsp. cornstarch
250 ml milk (I use whole milk)
½ vanilla pod
How to bake grandma’s pastry buns with vanilla cream:
- The custard is boiled first so that it has time to cool. Split the vanilla pod lengthwise and scrape out the vanilla seeds. Mix the beans with a little sugar to separate the vanilla beans. Stir egg yolks, sugar, cornstarch and vanilla together in a saucepan.
- Add the milk and the empty vanilla pod. Heat the mixture over medium heat while whisking lightly. When the cream boils, it must be boiled for approx. 1-2 minutes, while still stirring so that the cream does not clump.
- Put the cream in a bowl, and cover it with cling film directly on top of the cream so that it does not form a film. Leave the cream to cool in the fridge while you make the dough.
- Put yeast, water and sugar in a bowl and stir them together. Beat in the eggs and stir them together with the yeast. Put the flour and butter in a bowl and crumble them together. Add cardamom. Warm the milk until it is pinky-warm. Mix all the ingredients together and knead the dough until it is smooth and pliable.
- Dust the table well with flour and pour the dough onto it. Roll out the dough to approx. 30x60cm. Put thin slices of butter on one-third of the dough. Fold the dough so that there are three layers. Tap the dough with the rolling pin and then roll it out to 30x60cm again.
- Fold the dough once more so that there are three layers. Knock and roll the dough again so that the dough is 30x60cm again. Place a cloth over the dough and let it rise for 1 hour. Now cut the dough into 18 equal squares. Add a tbsp. cream in the centre of each square.
- Fold each corner together on each square so that the cream is enclosed inside each Mardi Gras bun. Put the buns on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Let the buns rise for 30 minutes. Turn on the oven at 175 degrees fan. Whisk together an egg and brush each Mardi Gras bun.
- Bake the homemade Mardi Gras buns for 15-20 minutes until they are lightly golden. Let the buns cool and decorate them with chocolate glaze.
