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Maritozzi Con La Panna - Roman Cream Buns

Roman Cream Buns are soft sweet orange flavoured cream filled buns made with pine nuts and raisins. They are very popular in Roman cafes for breakfast.
Prep Time 45 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 3 hours 10 minutes
Course breads
Cuisine Italian
Servings 8 Buns

Ingredients
  

For the buns:

  • 1 1/2 tsps instant yeast
  • 1/2 cup warm milk
  • 1 3/4 cups flour , plus more for dusting
  • 1 egg
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 50 gm butter , soft at room temperature
  • Pinch salt
  • 1/8 cup raisins , (soaked in 2 to 3 tbsp warm orange juice or water for 10 mins)
  • 1 tbsp pine nuts , lightly toasted
  • 1 1 tbsps zest of orange or candied orange peel , finely chopped
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

For the glaze:

  • 3 tbsps sugar
  • 3 tbsps water
  • powdered suagr or icing sugar for dusting

For the filling:

  • fresh cream , whipped to stiff peaks
  • 500 ml icing sugar

Instructions
 

  • You can do this by hand or in a machine. Put the yeast, the warm milk, a teaspoon of the sugar and half a cup of the flour in a largish bowl and mix with a spoon to create a smooth paste. This is the starter or sponge. Loosely cover the bowl and set it aside for 20 to 30 minutes. After this time the starter/ sponge would have risen a bit and contain a lot of bubbles.
  • Put this starter/ sponge, 1 cup of flour, the egg, the remaining sugar, butter, and salt in the bowl of your processor and knead a little. Then add the raisins (with the liquid), the pine nuts, the orange zest and the vanilla and knead until you have a dough that is soft and smooth but not sticky. Add as much of the remaining 1/4 cup flour (or more liquid) as you need to reach this consistency of dough. If necessary stop kneading by machine once the dough has come together reasonably well, and then knead by hand till soft and elastic.
  • Dust a little flour in a bowl, and place the ball of dough in it. Loosely cover and let it rise till double in volume (about 1 to 2 hours).
  • Lightly knead the dough to remove air pockets and divide the dough into 6 or 8 equal portions, according to your preference. Roll each into a smooth ball and then flatten it out into a circle with your fingers. Roll up the circle, jelly/ Swiss roll style and seal the seam. Shape into an oval ad pace on a lined baking sheet leaving enough space between the rolls for them to expand when they rise.
  • Loosely cover and let them rise for about 30 minute. Bake them 180C (350F) for 15 to 20 minutes or till they're puffed up and a golden brown colour on the top and the bottom. Don't over bake or the bottoms will darken/ burn and the buns will lose their softness.
  • If you're going to brush the buns with the sugar syrup, make it while they're baking, Boil the sugar and water together in a small pan, until the sugar dissolves. Brush this syrup on the tops of the hot buns once you've taken them out of the oven.
  • Let the buns cool completely. Then slit them, using a sharp knife, making sure you don't cut all the way through and keep one side intact. Open them up slightly (don't let the two parts of the bun separate) and fill with whipped cream, making the edge smooth the flat side of a palette knife or spoon. Moisten your fingers with a little water and hold each Maritozzo carefully at its base, to avoid the sugar glaze sticking to your fingers and pulling pieces of the brioche away.
  • Serve with coffee for breakfast or as a snack.