620g Le Moulin flour (T55)
150g sugar
250ml full-fat milk, lukewarm
1 fresh yeast cube (42g)
100g butter, melted
2 eggs
a pinch of salt
For the filling:
50g pistachios
50g sugar
150g pistachio paste
50g dark chocolate chips
To finish:
1 egg yolk
1 tbsp milk
24 dark chocolate chips
Makes 8
Combine the flour and sugar in a large mixing bowl with a pinch of salt.
Put the milk in a jug and crumble the yeast into it, stir to dissolve.
Pour the yeasty milk into the flour, add the melted butter and the 2 eggs and knead for 5 minutes to get a smooth dough. Shape the dough into a ball, put back in the bowl and cover the bowl with a tea towel. Leave to rise at room temperature for 1 hour – it won’t look like it’s risen much, but the surface should feel a bit bouncy when podded with a fingertip.
While the dough is resting, heat a frying pan and toast the pistachios for a few minutes until fragrant. Transfer to a bowl. Add the sugar to the frying pan and melt until the caramel starts to turn light golden. Add the pistachios and stir so all the pistachios are covered in caramel. Pour the brittle onto a sheet of baking paper and leave to cool. Once cool, chop the caramelized pistachios into small pieces.
Once the dough has risen, turn it out onto a floured surface and knock it back by briefly kneading it. Divide into 8 portions of 150g each. Take off about 30g of dough of each portion and shape it into a walnut-sized ball – this will be the Boxemännchen head.
Roll out one of the remaining dough portions into a square of approximately 15x15cm. Spread the surface with some pistachio paste, then sprinkle with pistachio brittle and chocolate chips.
Roll up the square so that you get a sausage-shaped loaf. Cut a slit into the top and the bottom of the oval and place it onto a baking tray lined with baking paper. Now, spread out the bottom two dough pieces, slightly twisting them to reveal the filling – these will be the legs. Then, do the same with the top dough pieces to shape the arms.
Place the dough ball for the head on the top. Repeat with the remaining dough, so that you get 8 Boxemännercher spread out on 2 baking trays.
Cover the trays with damp tea towels and leave to rise for 30 minutes at room temperature.
Preheat the oven to 220°C top/bottom heat.
After 30 minutes, beat the egg yolk with the milk and delicately brush the tops of the buns with the beaten egg glaze. Place 2 chocolate chip buttons on the head to form the eyes, and one on the body to form a button.
Bake the buns in the preheated oven for 13 minutes until nicely browned.
Put on a wire rack and leave to cool before serving.
The Boxemännercher taste best the day they are baked. They freeze very well too.
