Hello darlings! Chef Tess here again. This time with chocolate.  Valentine’s Day is coming.  This is the time of year that I whip-out some of the most requested and sought after baked goods that this little kitchen can produce.  When we sold them at the farmer’s markets here in Phoenix, they would always, always sell out.  Initially I wasn’t ever going to share the recipe, but I thought to myself, “self, why not share?”  After all, Honeyville has the best bakery flours and products around. 

 
So here are the killer chocolate rolls. Brace yourselves.   These are made from a remarkably rich butter chocolate yeast raised dough that is rolled with caramel and creamy chocolate chips in the curves…and then drizzled with a warm vanilla bean syrup right out of the oven that melts into the dough and adds a layer of fudgy goodness. After they cool…I frost them with a white chocolate orange truffle frosting and sprinkle them with a kiss of sea salt and toasted almonds.
 The secret to a good salted chocolate is a good salt. I love a good Fleur de sel, aka French grey sea salt. The flavor is really amazing.
Fleur de sel  (French grey sea salt)
Just a kiss of salt. That is the magic. Salty-sweet is one of my favorite combinations.

Chef Tess Bakeresse’s  Salted Caramel Chocolate Rolls
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups warm Water

1 Tbsp SAF Instant Yeast
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
5 1/2-6 cups Honeyville Alta Artisan Bread Flour
4 (1 oz each) unsweetened Bakers Chocolate Squares
1 Tbsp Coffee Emulsion (optional)
2 tsp Salt
1/2 cup unsalted Butter,
1/4 cup Honeyville Powdered Whole Eggs + 1/2 cup water
1 Tbsp Vanilla Bean Paste
8 oz high quality Chocolate Chips

 8 oz caramels, unwrapped and cut into 1/2 inch cubes or Kraft Caramel bits
Syrup:
2 cups Sugar
1 cup Water

1/2 tsp LorAnn Toffee flavored oil
1 Vanilla Bean, cut in pieces or 1/2 tsp Vanilla Bean Paste

Frosting:
1/2 cup Butter, melted and browned on the stove
1 cup White Chocolate Chips, melted
3 cup Powdered Sugar
zest of 1 Orange
2-4 Tbsp of Hot Water (depending on how thick you want the frosting)
1 cup toasted salted Almonds (optional)
Fleur de sel  (French grey sea salt) for sprinkling on rolls (optional)

Combine the butter and bakers unsweetened chocolate and melt slowly over a double boiler or in the microwave 15 seconds at a time. Stir often as to not burn the chocolate.

Stir and stir. Try not to imagine yourself as a one inch version of yourself floating away in a chocolate jacuzzi with Edward Cullin…he is fictional character. He will never love you.

In a BOSCH Universal Plus Electric Mixer, combine the yeast, warm water, brown sugar and about 1 cup of the flour. When the chocolate mixture is completely melted, allow to cool so that it doesn’t feel warm to the touch. Mix into the water flour and yeast mixture. Add the salt, flavors, vanilla, eggs and remaining flour, reserving about 1/2 cup of flour. Knead on speed 2, 3-4 minutes until a soft supple dough is formed.
Very little if any flour is needed to keep this dough from sticking to the work surface if you have followed the recipe correctly. Place in a 2 gallon covered bucket or bowl and allow to raise about 2 hours, until doubled in size.

Punch down dough.

Roll out into a 14 inch by 10 inch rectangle and spread the chocolate chips and caramel onto the dough, leaving an inch around the outside edge. It helps to lightly roll a rolling pin over the chocolate chips to ease them into the dough. Be careful not to push them through, just nestle them in the dough…

Tightly roll the dough into a long log, encasing the chocolate chips and caramel. When the rolls bake, the caramel will get gooey and perfect.

I had a dream about an alien planet that was all cratered with chocolate chips like this. I think it was after I had eaten too many brownies.

 Cut into 2 dozen rolls. I like mine about an inch and a half apart on a parchment lined baking sheet.

Allow to raise until doubled in size, about 1 hour on a warm day. 
 Bake at 375 degrees 20-25 minutes. 
While rolls bake, combine ingredients for syrup in a pan on the stove and cook over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved.
In another bowl, whip frosting ingredients together until smooth.
Remove rolls from the oven when baked through. While rolls are still hot,  drizzle each roll with a Tablespoon or so of the syrup (vanilla bean pieces removed before drizzling on rolls).  Allow rolls to cool.  Frost with the white chocolate frosting.  Top each roll with a sprinkle of toasted almonds and a kiss of salt.
Happy Chocolate baking my darlings. Try not to eat all of them in one sitting.
Always My Very Best,
Your Friend Chef Tess