Romanian two-tone coconut crescents

Ingredients

• 50 g fresh yeast
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 200 ml milk
• 800 g flour
• 4 tablespoons sugar
• 1 packet vanilla sugar
• 2 eggs
• 200 g butter
• 3 teaspoons cocoa
• Zest of 1 lemon
• For the filling

choose one

• 150 g thick cherry plum jam or marmalade
• 150 g hazelnut chocolate spread
• 150 g dark chocolate
• 150 g Turkish delight

For the syrup

• 150 g sugar
• 150 ml water
• 1 teaspoon rum extract (optional)

For coating

• 100 g desiccated coconut

Preparation

1. Rub the yeast with 1 tablespoon of sugar until it liquefies. Pour in the lukewarm milk and leave for 5 minutes, until it starts to foam. 2. Put the flour in a large bowl, add 4 tablespoons of sugar, the vanilla sugar and the beaten eggs. Pour in the milk and yeast mixture and the melted butter, then knead for 10 minutes, until the dough no longer sticks to the sides of the bowl. 3. Divide the dough into two equal pieces. Work the cocoa into one and the lemon zest into the other, kneading each piece for 5 minutes. Cover them with towels and leave to rise for 40 minutes, until doubled in size. 4. To make the syrup, boil the water with the sugar for 5 minutes, until the sugar dissolves. Add the rum extract, if using, then leave the syrup to cool for 20 minutes. 5. Divide each piece of dough into 4 equal balls. Roll one brown ball into a circle, roll out a white ball the same way and place the white circle over the brown one. Cut the circle into triangles, put your chosen filling at the base of each one and roll up the crescents. Repeat with all the balls, for 25 minutes. 6. Arrange the crescents on baking trays lined with parchment paper and bake at 180°C for 18 minutes, until they begin to brown lightly. 7. Dip the warm crescents in the syrup, then roll them in the coconut. Allow 10 minutes.