I had noted down the Swirls with Lemon Cream and Chocolate Chips as a recipe to try in 2021 since they were classified among the baked goods I was just starting to get into. Honestly, I thought they would be more difficult to prepare since the base is a brioche bread and I especially thought they required long rising times. Instead, I was struck by the 50 minutes of rising time and the ease of preparation.
This brioche bread with lemon cream and chocolate chips is certainly a great breakfast to enjoy over the weekend accompanied by a super frothy cappuccino or to serve as a snack, especially for kids after an afternoon of study or distance learning. It’s certainly indulgent and tempting even for an evening treat in front of a TV series. A dessert that doesn’t weigh you down, despite its indulgent appearance, and deserves to be prepared at least once a month, considering they’re also practical and quick to make.
Here’s the recipe I followed to get about 12 medium-large swirls, as you can see from the photos below. Honestly, in terms of consistency, they can be classified among the brioche breads, but it’s also true that given the very short rising times, they can be prepared in half the time of a classic leavened product.
You can find Nonna Licia’s homemade custard cream recipe on the blog, of course.
Oh, I almost forgot, do you want a cappuccino like mine to enjoy with the swirls as if we were at the cafe? You can find it by clicking here
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Economical
- Rest time: 1 Hour 10 Minutes
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Portions: 12
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
- Energy 428.68 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 66.07 (g) of which sugars 20.85 (g)
- Proteins 12.71 (g)
- Fat 13.71 (g) of which saturated 3.72 (g)of which unsaturated 8.59 (g)
- Fibers 1.78 (g)
- Sodium 209.15 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 125 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients for 12 Swirls with cream:
Ingredients for the Brioche Bread for the Swirls
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups Manitoba flour
- 1 cup milk (at room temperature)
- 12 g fresh yeast (or 4 gr of dry yeast)
- 1 egg
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil (or 55 gr of butter at room temperature)
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 packet vanillin (or a vial of vanillin)
- to taste chocolate chips (for garnish)
- 3 egg yolks
- 3/4 cup milk (at room temperature)
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 1/2 espresso cup lemon juice
- 1/8 cup all-purpose flour
The Lemon Cream should be prepared at least 4 hours before starting to knead the Brioche Bread otherwise it will be too warm and will be difficult to work with when making the swirls.
Tools
- 1 Stand mixer
- 1 Hand whisk
- 1 Bowl
- 1 Pot
- 2 Baking sheets
- 1 Metal scraper
- 1 Scale
- 1 Oven
- 1 Hook attachment
- 1 Plastic wrap
- 1 Pastry board
- 1 Silicone rolling pin
- 1 Parchment paper
Steps for the Recipe Swirls with Lemon Cream and Chocolate Chips:
The first thing to do to prepare the brioche bread for the swirls with cream is to prepare the lemon cream. So we start by separating the yolks from the whites of the three indicated eggs. You can set the whites aside and make pancakes with this recipe.
We work the three yolks with the hand whisk together with the sugar in a bowl. Then we add the flour. Be sure to avoid lumps.
Now pour the milk into a saucepan, add the half espresso cup of lemon, and put it on low heat on the stove. Pour in the yolks and, still using the hand whisk, work the cream until it thickens well.
Then the cream should be covered with plastic wrap and left to cool for at least 4 hours before using it to fill the brioche bread.
Now let’s move on to the preparation of the brioche bread. Take the stand mixer and pour the yeast into the bowl, crumbling it with your fingers. Now pour in the liquids: the just warmed milk in a saucepan, the vegetable oil, and the egg. Add the vanillin vial, the sugar dose, and the pinch of salt.
Mix everything with the hook, then start the stand mixer and use a tablespoon to add the previously sifted flours. Let it work for a few minutes, the dough should detach from the sides of the bowl and remain a bit sticky.
Take a pastry board, lightly flour it, and place our dough in the center, shaping it into a nice loaf with your hands.
Dust the bottom of a bowl with flour, place the loaf in the center, and cover everything with plastic wrap and a towel. Place the bowl in the switched-off oven, but with the light on, for about 30 minutes.
After this time, we can proceed with the preparation of the swirls with cream. Still on a pastry board, place a rectangular sheet of parchment paper, take our loaf, and a rolling pin.
We need to roll out the dough to a thickness of about half a centimeter and make it a nice rectangle as big as the parchment paper sheet.
Now spread the lemon cream over our brioche bread rectangle, leaving about a centimeter of border on all 4 sides. As you can see from the photo. Don’t be too generous with the cream because you risk it spilling out when we close the roll. For once, don’t go “by feel” with the dose.
Sprinkle everything with chocolate chips, in this case, you can go “by feel”.
With the help of the parchment paper, roll up the dough forming a nice even cylinder, try to keep it tight when rolling, gently though, as there is cream inside that we want to keep in.
Now take the baking sheet, place a sheet of parchment paper inside. With the help of a scraper or a knife that cuts really well, cut the brioche bread cylinder into swirls about an inch thick if you want them as big as mine, otherwise about three-quarters of an inch. As you cut them, place them on the parchment paper, well spaced because they will rise a bit during the second and last rising.
In fact, place the baking sheet in the oven, switched off but with the light on, for about 40 minutes. Of course, if you have a little more time, even better, I’d say 60 minutes would have been perfect.
Once this time has passed, remove the baking sheet from the oven and finally turn it on to 320°F – 340°F in static mode.
Bake the swirls with cream and chocolate chips for about 20 minutes. In my oven, the first baking sheet took 22 minutes, the second one 20 minutes flat.
You can serve the swirls with or without powdered sugar, as you prefer, we liked them like this, warm and soft during the Sunday snack and breakfast.
Enjoy your meal!!!
Storage:
The Swirls with Lemon Cream and Chocolate Chips can be stored up to 3 days from preparation in a cake container.
Other recipes and curiosities:
I’m sharing my curiosity about leavened desserts that require between 2 and 16 hours to rise and become soft through the Facebook Fan Page. If you want to follow me, you can click here.
Lovers of leavened goods? Try the Jewish Chocolate Babka and you won’t regret it!
