Chocolate yeast dough rolls with fruity apple filling

Ingredients for 1 servings:

• 500 g flour
• 250 ml milk, lukewarm
• 1 cube of fresh yeast, alternatively 1 sachet of dry yeast
• 100 g sugar
• 1 bag of vanilla sugar
• 100 g butter, soft
• 1 egg(s)
• 1 pinch of salt
• 3 tbsp baking cocoa
• 2 apples, e.g. Braeburn or Boskop
• 500 g applesauce
• 100 g raisins
• 80 g almonds, chopped or slivered
• 50 g dark chocolate, chopped
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 5 tbsp rum, to taste
• ½ tsp cinnamon powder
• 1 egg yolk
• 3 tbsp milk
• 50 g apricot jam

Instructions

Working time approx. 30 minutes; Rest time approx. 1 hour 30 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 20 minutes; Total time approx. 2 hours 20 minutes

makes about 20 snails

For the yeast dough, dissolve the fresh yeast (dry yeast will work in a pinch) in the lukewarm milk, add a tablespoon each of flour and sugar, and mix well. Let the mixture stand in a warm place for 10 minutes until the yeast begins to foam. Place the remaining flour, sugar, softened butter, vanilla sugar, egg, cocoa powder, and salt in a mixing bowl and add the yeast mixture. Knead with a mixer fitted with a dough hook for at least 5 minutes until a smooth dough forms. To achieve a wonderful consistency in the yeast dough, you should extend this time considerably – up to 10 minutes if desired. Ideally, knead thoroughly in a food processor, or even better, by hand, until the dough pulls clearly when torn. This generally makes the yeast dough much more airy, as the gluten proteins in the flour need to bond together to form long chains. Cover the dough and let it rise in a warm place, preferably in a warm oven where it will be protected from drafts, until it has doubled in size. Then knead the dough again thoroughly and give it some time to rest. Yeast dough needs plenty of time so that the yeast can really get active. 1.5 hours is good for this to improve flavor and consistency. Once the dough has rested, peel the apples and cut into small pieces. Chop the chocolate into small pieces or grate it coarsely. Mix both with the raisins, almonds, lemon juice, and rum with the applesauce and let stand to infuse. If it becomes too runny after a while, depending on the type of applesauce you use, add some ground nuts to help it along. However, the raisins should absorb some of the moisture if you wait a bit. After the dough has risen, knead the dough again thoroughly and roll it out into a rectangle. Spread the filling evenly over the rectangle. Leave a little space along the narrow edges and one wide edge, otherwise the filling will ooze out when rolling. Then roll up the rectangle from the long side, so that the side without the filling closes the roll. Using a sharp knife, cut slices about 1.5-2 cm thick and place them on a baking tray lined with baking paper. They will look a bit mushy, but they will be even better after baking. Let the snails rest for another 15-20 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180°C (top/bottom heat). Whisk the egg yolk with the milk and brush the snails with it just before baking. If you like, you can sprinkle granulated sugar or chopped nuts on the snails at this point. Bake the snails for about 15-20 minutes on the middle shelf of the oven. Then glaze the hot snails with heated apricot jam. Tips: Or make a glaze from 100g powdered sugar and 3 tablespoons of hot water and brush it over the cooled snails. If you want even more chocolate, you can also decorate the cooled snails with chocolate coating or chocolate icing.