It's Me, Not You: The Cinnamon/Chocolate Brioche Guilt Trip

I know, I know.  I suck!  How many days ago did I promise to post this recipe and then bubkis.  I'm sorry.  Really.  But here it is.  As promised, just days late. 

So if you'll recall, and I know it seems like ages since we talked about this, in our last installment I made pain perdu. French toast, just a hell of a lot better.  And in order to make said "lost bread," I made a brioche dough.  And I really didn't need all the dough I made for the pain perdu.  So I made something else, a little cinnamon/chocolate brioche roll. What's that?  You made the pain perdu and have had this extra brioche dough sitting in your refrigerator just waiting for my lazy butt to give you marching orders?  And you waited patiently by your monitor, awaiting the aforementioned recipe that I promised to post days ago?  I know, I'm a horrid human.  Believe me, I feel worse than you do.   I probably don't feel as badly as your brioche dough that's sure to have bought the farm at least three days ago, though.

So here's what you'll do in some easy to follow illustrated steps:

First, get your brioche dough.

Second, roll out your brioche dough into a tidy rectangle that's a little over 1/8 inch thick.  

Slather the entire surface of the dough, but for a small one inch band at the very top, with two cups of pastry cream

 mixed with 2 teaspoons of cinnamon.

Sprinkle the dough with 2 cups of chopped bittersweet chocolate.  Or 2 cups of great quality chocolate chips.  And roll into a log.  Don't stretch the dough too tightly as you roll.  Be gentle and firm.  Not too tight, not too loose.

Cut your log into 1 inch rounds and pinch the loose end of the dough or tuck it under the roll.

Space your rolls a few inches apart and set aside so they can proof.  You want them to grow, not necessarily double in size, but a fair amount.  Bake at 350 for 20 minutes to a half hour.  Until they are golden and spring back when you poke them.

Drizzle with melted chocolate or a simple glaze made from 1 cup confectioner's sugar mixed with a few teaspoons of milk and stirred until smooth.

That's it.  Easy peasy.  And a damn sight tastier than any other cinnamon roll you've inhaled at the mall.  And perhaps the lovely taste of this tender treat will assuage your festering resentment at my momentary flakiness.