Coconut Buns

 

I ate coconut buns when I was very young. Since then I have never eaten them again as I prefer butter buns or cheese buns. However, recently I made koo kuih with coconut fillings. As they turned out aromatic and delicious, I told myself that I have to make the buns and fill them with the aromatic gula Melaka coconut flakes. They turned out ar delicious.

Ingredients:

For the fillings:

• 175 g fresh coconut flakes
• 100 g gula Melaka
• 50 g dark brown
• 2 - 3 pandan leaves
• 100 g water
• 10 g corn flour + 2 tbsp water to form a solution

For the dough:

• 350 g bread flour
• 3 g yeast
• 30 g sugar
• 6 g salt
• 1 egg
• 150 g warm milk
• 50 g butter
• Egg wash - 1 egg +1 tbsp milk

Method:

• For the fillings:
  • Add the gula Melaka, dark brown sugar, pandan leaves and water into a saucepan.
  • Boil the water till the gula Melaka and dark brown sugar melt and the syrup is aromatic.
  • Sieve the syrup into a non-stick pan.
  • Let it cool down a bit before adding the corn flour solution to it. Stir so that they are mixed together.
  • Add the fresh coconut flakes to the syrup.
  • Stir the coconut flakes till they absorb the syrup and slowly cook them till they are dry and can be formed into balls.
  • Let the coconut flakes cool down.
  • Then form them into balls. (My coconut balls weigh 20g each.)
  • Arrange them on a plate and set the plate aside.

  
  
• For the dough:
• Add 150 g warm milk into the bowl of a stand mixer.
• Add sugar to the bowl and stir till it dissolves into the milk.
• Let the milk cool a bit before adding the yeast. Stir.
• Wait for about 5 - 10 minutes till you see bubbles are formed.
• Add bread flour and salt to the bowl.
• Start the machine to knead till a dough ball is formed.
• Add butter and continue to window pane is achieved.
• Grease a clean bowl and transfer the dough to it. Cover the bowl with a cling wrap.
• Once the dough has doubled in size, transfer it to your counter top.
• Punch down the dough to degas.
• Form the dough into a ball.
• Using your bench knife cut it into 40 g pieces. Roll each piece into balls.
• Taking a dough ball, roll it into a flat circle.
• Place a piece of coconut ball in the centre. 
• Bring up the edges to seal the dough ball. 
• Roll the dough into smooth ball and place it into a greased pan.
• Repeat till all the dough balls have been filled with the coconut balls.
• Cover the pan with cling wrap or damp towel and let the dough balls rise till they double in size.
• Meanwhile pre-heat your oven to 175 deg C.
• Once the dough balls have double in size, egg wash them.
• Bake them for 20 minutes. (Tent your pan with aluminium foil if your oven is too hot and the top of the buns are turning dark too soon.)
• When done, remove the buns from the pan onto a metal rack to let them cool down.