Cozonac dessert with chocolate cream, walnut and hazelnut

Ingredients

For the starter

• 25 g fresh yeast
• 50 ml milk
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 2 tablespoons flour (30 g)

For the dough

• 670 g flour
• 30 g flour for dusting
• 1 egg
• 1 packet vanilla sugar (10 g)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 200 ml milk
• 50 g butter (at room temperature)

For the filling

• 200 g chocolate cream
• 150 g ground walnut
• 100 g crushed hazelnuts

For the glaze

• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 3 tablespoons milk (45 ml)

Preparation

1. For the starter, dissolve the yeast in 50 ml of the 250 ml milk, add 1 teaspoon of sugar and 2 tablespoons of the 700 g flour. Mix well and leave aside for 15 minutes, until it rises. 2. Over the starter, add 670 g flour, the egg, the vanilla sugar, 1/4 teaspoon of salt and 1 tablespoon of honey. Pour in 200 ml milk gradually while kneading, until you get a smooth dough. 3. Add the 50 g butter, at room temperature, and keep kneading until the dough is smooth and no longer sticks to your hands. 4. Leave the dough somewhere warm for about an hour, until it doubles in size. 5. Sprinkle 30 g flour on the work surface. Divide the dough into 2 pieces, then each piece into 2 balls, and let them rise for another 15 minutes. 6. Roll out each ball into a sheet with the rolling pin. Spread the chocolate cream (200 g in total), ground walnut (150 g) and crushed hazelnuts (100 g) across the 4 sheets, then roll up each sheet. 7. Braid 2 rolls for each cozonac and pinch the ends together well so the filling does not come out. Line the 2 tins with baking paper and put one braided cozonac in each. 8. Beat the egg with 3 tablespoons of milk, brush the cozonacs with the mixture and sprinkle 1 teaspoon of sugar on top. 9. Leave the cozonacs to rise for 20 minutes. 10. Heat the oven to 180 degrees C and bake the cozonacs for 35 minutes, until they are nicely browned.