Chocolate Schnecke Pastry Recipes

GRANDMA DOUGLAS'S SCHNECKEN

Steps:

• 1. To make the dough, melt the 1/2 cup butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the milk and sugar and heat just to lukewarm (about 110°F), stirring to dissolve the sugar. Pour the warm milk mixture into a bowl. Stir in the yeast. Allow the mixture to sit for 10 minutes, then stir in the salt.
• 2. Beat the whole egg and egg yolk together and add to the yeast mixture. Stir in the flour 1 cup at a time until you have a sticky dough. Scrape the dough out onto a floured work surface and knead for about 5 minutes, until you have a nice smooth dough. Butter a large bowl. Place the dough in the prepared bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Put the bowl in a warm place and allow the dough to rise for 2 hours, until tripled in volume.
• 3. Meanwhile, brush a 9 × 13-inch baking pan with some melted butter (or spray it with vegetable oil spray). To prepare the sugar-pecan topping, melt the butter with the brown sugar and corn syrup in a small saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring to combine. Remove from the heat and spread the mixture in the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle with the chopped pecans.
• 4. Punch down the dough and turn it out of the bowl onto a lightly floured work surface. Knead for a minute, then use a lightly floured rolling pin to roll the dough into a rectangle about 15 × 12 inches and 1/8 inch thick. To make the cinnamon-sugar filling, melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat and allow it to cool. Brush the butter thoroughly over the surface of the dough. In a bowl, mix together the sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar evenly over the melted butter. Roll the rectangle up, like a jelly roll, along one long edge.
• 5. Slice the log of rolled dough into 1-inch-thick slices and arrange the slices, cut sides up, in the prepared pan. Cover the pan with a piece of plastic wrap (you can spray the plastic wrap first with vegetable oil spray to be sure it doesn't stick to the dough) and allow it to rise in a warm place for about 40 minutes.
• 6. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Bake the schnecken until golden brown, 35 to 40 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the baking time. Check them occasionally during the baking time, and if they seem to be browning too quickly, loosely cover them with a sheet of aluminum foil.
• 7. Remove the pan from the oven and cool on a wire rack for 5 to 10 minutes. Turn the schnecken out of the pan while still warm by inverting the pan over a large platter or baking sheet. Serve the schnecken warm.

CHOCOLATE SCHNECKE PASTRY

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375°F
• Melt butter in a sauce pan over medium heat. Add evaporated milk, sugar, egg yolks, and vanilla, and mix well.
• Add coconut and pecans and cook until thick.
• While the coconut pecan frosting cools, unfold the puff pastry dough onto a lightly floured surface.
• When partially cooled, spread the frosting evenly over the pastry, sprinkle with mini chocolate chips, and roll up into a log.
• Cut the log into 1/2 inch pieces and place on a lined baking sheet.
• Bake 10-15 minutes or until pastry is lightly browned. Allow to cool and serve warm.

SCHNECKEN (STICKY GERMAN CINNAMON BUNS)

Steps:

• Butter a 12-cup muffin pan.
• Line a roasting pan or baking pan with parchment paper (for turning the sticky buns onto later)large enough to cover muffin pan.
• Combine flour, sugar, salt and yeast in a large mixing bowl.
• Melt butter in the milk over very low heat and beat in eggs.
• Stir milk/butter mixture into the dry ingredients to make the dough. Knead for 10 minutes or for 5 with dough hook. When it is springy and satiny, form a ball and put in a greased bowl. Turn to coat and cover with plastic wrap. Leave in a warm place for 1 hour or until doubled in size.
• Syrup: Using an electric mixer cream butter until soft and smooth and add sugar. Beat in syrups and then divide mixture among the muffin cups and top with walnuts (about a tablespoonful in each sticky-based waiting cup.).
• Preheat oven to 350.
• Knock dough back, knead once or twice and then roll out to a large rectangle (apx 24X12) with the long side nearest you. Beat egg and add milk; glaze the dough using a pastry brush or your fingers.
• Mix the filling ingredients in a little bowl and sprinkle onto the dough. Now, roll up from the long side and away from you, carefully and firmly (not too tight) keeping a firm sausage shape.
• Cut into 12 even slices, and lie each slice spiral-swirly cut side up, on top of the nuts and syrup in the muffin cups.
• Leave to rise for about 20 minutes then put into the oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, by which time they should be golden and cooked: crisp in parts, voluptuously gooey in others. You may want to put a baking sheet under pan to catch any falling goo.
• Place roasting pan or baking sheet on top and turn the whole thing the other way up. Remove the muffin tray and dislodge any nuts that are still stuck in it, adding them, along with any residual syrup, to the upturned buns.
• Leave to cool, then stuff your face -- as if you needed encouragement.

PAIN AU CHOCOLAT

Steps:

• Arrange racks in the upper third and lower thirds of the oven. Bring a skillet of water to a simmer over medium-high heat. Transfer the skillet to the floor of the oven and close the door. (The steam released inside the oven will create an ideal proofing environment for the pains au chocolat.) Line two rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
• Remove the slab of dough from the refrigerator and let sit for 5 minutes at room temperature. Unwrap (save the plastic for proofing) and place on a very lightly floured surface. If the dough has shrunk during chilling, roll it out again to a slab that's 16 inches long and 15 inches wide. Dust off any excess flour with a pastry brush.
• Use a wheel cutter to trim 1/2 inch of dough from all four sides, straightening and squaring them off, creating a slab that's 15 inches long by 14 inches wide. Using a ruler, cut the slab lengthwise into 5 equal strips each measuring 3 inches wide. Cut each strip in half crosswise, creating 10 rectangles.
• Working one rectangle at a time, place a stick of chocolate along one of the shorter sides, leaving about a 1-inch border. Fold the pastry over the chocolate until it's wrapped around one time, then tuck another bar of chocolate into the fold. Wrap the pastry around the second bar of chocolate and continue to roll until you have a snug spiral. Transfer the pain au chocolat to a prepared baking sheet, resting it on the seam. Repeat with the remaining dough and chocolate, dividing between the baking sheets and spacing evenly. Very loosely cover with plastic wrap so the pastries have some room to expand.
• Open the oven and stick your hand inside - it should be humid but not hot, as the water in the skillet will have cooled. You want the pains au chocolat to proof at 70 to 75 degrees. (Any hotter and the butter will melt, leading to a denser pastry.) Gently place the baking sheets inside the oven and let the pastries proof until they're doubled in size, extremely puffy, and jiggle delicately on the baking sheet, 2 to 2 1/2 hours.
• Remove the baking sheets from the oven and carefully uncover them. Transfer to the refrigerator and chill for 20 minutes while you heat the oven. Remove the skillet from the oven and heat to 375 degrees.
• In a small bowl, stir the yolk and heavy cream until streak-free. Remove the baking sheets from the refrigerator and use a pastry brush to gently brush each pain au chocolat with the yolk mixture. Transfer the sheets to the oven and bake for 20 minutes. Rotate the baking sheets and switch racks, and continue to bake until the pains au chocolat are deeply browned, another 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool completely on the baking sheets.