Spiced Chocolate Orange Twists

Prep: 20 mins | Cook: 20 mins | Total: 40 mins | Quantity: 2 twists

Ingredients

Instructions

1. In a large bowl put the flour, sugar, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg and stir together
2. In a small saucepan put the milk and oil and very gently heat. This only takes a few seconds - you want it warm enough so that when you put your finger into the liquid you can't tell if it's hot or cold (this is known as blood temperature). When it's just at blood temperature whisk in the yeast
3. Pour the liquid into the bowl of dry ingredients and stir together to form a dough
4. Tip out onto a floured work surface and knead vigorously for a good 5-10 minutes. You want to stretch the dough by holding one end of the dough in one hand and using the other hand push and stretch the dough away from you. This develops the gluten in the flour, giving the dough its elasticity - which allows the bread to rise and develop those iconic little air pockets
5. Once you've finished kneading put the dough into a clean bowl that has been very lightly oiled. Cover with a tea-towel or piece of cling film and leave in a warm place to rise until doubled in size. This can take anything from 30 minutes to 2 hours dependent on ambient temperature!
6. While that's proving make the candied orange. Using a very sharp knife cut a disc off the top and bottom of the orange and stand upright. Run the knife from the top to the bottom, cutting the skin and some of the white pith off but none (or as little as possible) of the flesh
7. Slice those pieces into long strips and put into a small saucepan with 1 cup (230ml) water. Boil gently for 20 minutes then add the sugar and boil for a further 10 minutes until the liquid is reduced and syrupy. Set aside to cool
8. Once cool, lift the strips out of the syrup (KEEP the syrup!) and cut into small pieces. Set aside
9. Once the dough has doubled in size tip out of the bowl onto your work surface, knock back for just a minute or two then divide the dough in half
10. Roll one of the pieces into a large rectangle.  The dough is stretchy and elastic so it's not like rolling pastry - it WILL want to shrink back on itself.  Just keep rolling outwards, stretching a little with your hands as well if you feel comfortable doing that, until it's large enough.  I got mine to around 9 x 14 inches (24 x 35 cm)
11. Spread half the nut butter over the dough, going out almost to the edges.  Sprinkle half the candied orange over the top of the nut butter then roll up from the short end like you would a swiss roll cake.
12. Once you have a tube like roll, put it to once side and repeat with the other piece of dough - rolling out, spreading, sprinkling, rolling up.
13. Take one of the rolls and place it lengthways away from you.  Take a SHARP knife and about an inch from the top end cut down through the dough to make two 'pigtails' that are still attached at the top.  I make several light cuts rather than one cut through the dough at once as it's quite oozy and I find it easier to cut in several stages.
14. Then you take one of the two pieces and lay over the other piece, repeating this a couple of times until you have a twist.  Press the two dough pieces together at the bottom and lay onto a baking tray.  Do the same with the other swiss roll of dough.
15. Put the trays in a warm place to prove again till roughly doubled in size
16. Just before they're finished proving, preheat your oven to 170 Fan / 190 C / 375 F / Gas 5 then bake the twists for 20-25 minutes until golden. Remove from the oven and immediately brush with the reserved syrup
17. These are just as delicious cold as they are warm and keep for a couple of days in an airtight container. Enjoy!

Recipe by The Cook & Him at https://thecookandhim.com/recipes/spiced-chocolate-orange-twists/