Beijing Brown Sugar Sesame Buns Recipe (北京糖火烧 Běijīng táng huǒ shāo)

Beijing brown sugar sesame buns are an ancient snack made out of a simple water-and-flour dough, sesame paste and dark brown sugar.

Dating back over 300 years in China, 糖火烧 táng huǒ shāo – brown sugar sesame buns – are a Beijing staple, and seem to be made slightly differently everywhere. Some are light and fluffy, some are dense and brownie-like. Some are flaky, some are sticky. Most are crisp on the outside, soft on the inside.

This was one of the few Beijing specialties that I wanted to try while I was out there but didn't have time to eat. There are a LOT of Beijing specialty foods, and I did well in eating most in the 10 days I was there – but even I have my limits.

Since I still want to taste them, I read lots of recipes and watched lots of videos of these brown sugar sesame buns being made, and got a good feel of the basics and the ingredients/methods most had in common. Even so, I'm going to play it safe and make one of the most simple versions of it, with the addition of a little baking powder to lighten the dough a little. I also like to add a little salt to the dough to balance out the sugar in the filling.

You can also watch me make these on my YouTube channel, Tashcakes:

Ready? Let's go.

Ingredients for Dough:

250g plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
130ml water (approximately)

Ingredients for Filling:

100g dark soft brown sugar
150g sesame paste

Method:

1. To make the dough, stir all the dry ingredients together in a bowl, and gradually stir in the water until it forms a dough. Knead lightly until smooth and cover with clingfilm to rest for 5–10 minutes.

2. In another bowl, stir the sugar and sesame paste together until well combined.

3. Lightly oil a clean work surface with vegetable oil, and roll out the dough as thinly as possible in a rough rectangle shape with a rolling pin.

4. Evenly spread on the sesame sugar mixture, and tightly roll the dough up like a swiss roll.

5. Fold the log of dough up in thirds, flatten out again with a rolling pin, and roll back up into a (now shorter, fatter) swiss roll shape again.

6. Divide into X equal pieces, and shape each piece into a ball with your hands.

7. Preheat the oven to 180°C, line a baking sheet with nonstick baking paper, and lightly oil a frying pan with a little vegetable oil.

8. Pan fry the buns in the frying pan on a medium heat for 2–3 minutes on each side, flattening out slightly, place the buns on the baking tray, and bake for 10–15 minutes or until puffy and deep brown.

9. Leave to cool a little on a wire track before eating slightly warm.

Enjoy, and have fun.