The warm and toasty cinnamon flavour of Wuyi Oolong teas go wondefully with dessert. Here I have designed a recipe which not only can be served with a Wuyi Oolong tea, but where tea can also be used as part of ingredients.
You’ll need:
7g / one sachet active dry yeast
125ml milk
30g soft brown sugar
5g Wuyi Oolong leaves (I used Da Hong Pao Junior)
40g salted butter
250g strong bread flour
1 egg
For the filling:
40g unsalted butter
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
40g dark muscovado sugar
Heat the milk without boiling and add the tealeaves. Allow to infuse for 15 minutes. Strain the milk from the tea leaves and whisk in dry yeast. Allow to sit for 15 minutes in a warm place. Then whisk in sugar and melted butter. Add whisked egg, but leave a little bit of the egg for brushing the pastries. Gradually add sifted flour until dough is soft but not sticky. Knead for 5 minutes. Leave in a warm place for 30..60 minutes until doubled in size. Meanwhile, melt the unsalted butter and whisk in cinnamon and muscovado sugar. Keep whisking until a smooth paste forms.
When the dough is ready, roll out a 4mm thick rectagle on a floured surface. Spread the cinnamon paste all over the dough evenly with a soft spatula. Fold the dough in half and roll again to about 4mm thick. Using a pizza knife, cut the dough in 2cm wide strips. Twist each strip and then wrap around your fingers to form a bun. Tuck in the loose end of the twist into the middle of the bun and place the buns on a baking tray.
Let the buns sit for another 20 minutes before baking covered with a tea towel. Then brush the buns with the remaining egg and bake for 10 minutes in a pre-heated oven at 200C. Let them cool and serve with freshly infused Wuyi Oolong.
This recipe works well with most Wuyi Oolongs, however, I recommend to use a good quality every day grade tea for cooking and save your best leaves for drinking. Instead of Wuyi Oolong, you can also try infusing in milk Dian Hong or Yunnan Wild Black.
Enjoy!
