Make Your Own Freshly Baked Chinese Cocktail Buns Just Like the Bakery!

These Chinese cocktail buns are extra light and soft and filled with a delicious rich and creamy coconut filling that will leave you wanting more. Learn how to bake this classic Chinese bun right in the comfort of your own home.

Introduction

If you’re looking for how to make Chinese cocktail buns then you’ve come to the right place.

Chinese cocktail buns, also known as “gai mei bao” 雞尾包 or 鸡尾包 in Chinese, is an extremely popular baked bun that you will find practically anywhere in the world at a Chinese bakery shop.

The buns originated in Hong Kong, and were created during the colonial era in Hong Kong’s dark history under the British rule. Local bakeries came up with the idea of the cocktail bun as a means of getting rid of left over bread, and after various experiments, local bakers discovered a hit, that blended in soft, fluffy milk bread with a delicious rich, and buttery sweet shredded coconut filling that their customers couldn’t get enough of, and thus the Chinese coconut bun was born.

While the Asian coconut buns have a soft and airy texture, the real highlight of the bun is in it’s core, where the sweet shredded coconut buttery filling is an absolute treat.

You’ll typically find the buns as either a stand alone bun or as a sort of mini roll in a set of buns stuck together.

Either way, these coconut Chinese buns continue to be a hallmark of Chinese baking, and are beloved all around the world.

Today I’m going to share with you my Chinese cocktail bun recipe that is just as good as the ones that you typically find at your local Chinese bakery. I’ve tested the recipe dozens of times to find the perfect balance of bun to filling ratio, unlike the bakery stores that cheap out on the filling to save a few bucks.

Not on my watch!

You’ll also learn my secret technique for making your buns extra soft and fluffy, exactly like the milk buns that you find in stores.

This recipe has been designed for beginners in mind, making it easy to follow and ensuring success.

If this sounds good, then let’s get baking!

Ingredients

Tangzhong:

• Water 100 ml
• Bread flour 20 g

Dough:

• Bread flour 300 g
• Milk 110 ml
• 1 Large Egg
• Instant yeast 5 g
• Unsalted butter 20 g
• White granulated sugar 40 g
• Table salt 1/4 tsp
• Milk powder 6 g

Coconut Filling:

• Table salt ¼ tsp
• White granulated sugar 80 g
• Pastry Flour / Cake flour 50 g
• 1 Large egg
• Unsalted butter 120g
• Coconut powder / Desiccated coconut 70g
• Milk powder 25g
• Custard powder 25g

Mexican Bun Topping:

• Unsalted butter 40g
• White granulated sugar 20 g
• Pastry flour 20g

Egg wash:

• 1 egg
• Splash of milk (approximately 1/2 tsp)

Substitutions

For those of you that are lactose intolerant, you can substitute cow’s milk with a plant-based milk or even water.

You can also use all-purpose-flour as a substitute for bread flour if you don’t have bread flour available to you, however due note that you’re bread texture will not be the same and will not give you that nice chewiness compared to using bread flour.

Directions

Tangzhong

We’re going to start off by making our Tangzhong, a water roux. This will make our bread nice and fluffy when baking.

In a small sauce pan, add in your bread flour and water. Heat the pan on low heat while constantly stirring it until the mixture turns into a thick gelatinous paste.

Then remove the pan from the stove and transfer it to a small bowl or dish. Cover it with plastic wrap and then store in the fridge and let it cool down for at least 30 minutes before using.

You can also make your Tangzhong the night before as well.

Dough

To make the dough, in a stand mixer mixing bowl, we’re going to add in our bread flour, white granulated sugar, table salt, instant yeast, milk powder, an egg at room temperature + our Tangzhong from earlier.

Put the mixing bowl onto the stand mixer and give it a quick few whisks then slowly add in your room temperature milk to the dough.

Now continue kneading the dough for 3-4 minutes then add in your room temperature butter.

Continue mixing it for an additional 9-10 minutes.

To check and see whether or not your dough has been sufficiently kneaded, grab a small piece of the dough and stretch it out with your fingers until it becomes somewhat translucent and you can see light passing through it. If you do not see any rips or tears or very little, then your dough has been sufficiently kneaded.

Now transfer the dough to a greased large bowl.

Now apply a little bit of oil to your hands and then shape the dough into a round ball.

Place it back into the bowl and cover it with plastic wrap or a towel and let it proof in a warm place until double in size, approximately 1 hour.

Coconut Filling

While we’re waiting for the dough to proof, prepare the coconut filling.

In another bowl, add in your room temperature butter, white granulated sugar, and table salt.

Mix everything well together then add in your egg and continue mixing it until the egg has been incorporated into the mixture.

Then in another bowl, add in your pastry flour, milk powder, and custard powder and put everything through a strainer before adding it to your wet ingredients.

Continue mixing everything together until you no longer see any white flour spots.

Finally add in your desiccated coconut and mix everything well together.

Transfer the filling onto plastic wrap and shape it into a rectangle if possible.

Then store it in the freezer for 30 minutes and then leave it in the fridge afterwards.

Mexican Topping

Now prepare the Mexican topping for the buns.

In a bowl, add in your room temperature butter, white granulated sugar, and pastry flour.

Mix everything well together but don’t overmix it.

Put the topping inside of a piping bag with a small round tip and set it aside.

Dough continued

Once our dough has finished proofing, de-gase the dough and transfer it to a floured countertop.

Shape the dough into a round ball and then weigh it out on a scale.

Now divide it into 10 pieces and weigh out each piece so that you get equal portions.

Next, shape each piece into a round ball.

Once done, cover the dough with plastic wrap or a towel and let it rest for 15 minutes to relax the dough.

During this time, take out the filling, weigh it out and then divide it into 10 pieces.

Shape each piece into a roll and then put it back into the fridge until you are ready to add the filling into the buns. This is to prevent the filling from melting too quickly.

After 15 minutes, take 1 piece of the dough, flatten it and then roll it out into an oval shape.

Take 1 piece of the filling that you made earlier and place it in the middle of the dough.

Now grabbing the sides of the dough, bring it together and then pinch the edges to seal the dough.

Give the dough a few rolls to make it into a circular oval shape and then place the dough onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Cover it with plastic wrap or a towel to prevent it from drying out.

Repeat the process for all of the other pieces.

Now place the baking tray in a warm environment and let the buns proof for about 35-40 minutes.

Also preheat your oven to 350°F (180C°) while our buns are proofing. 

During this time, place the Mexican topping that you made earlier into the fridge and let it sit there. This is to prevent the topping from melting too quickly in the oven when we’re baking our buns.

Once our buns are done proofing, take the topping out of the fridge and set it aside.

Now apply an egg wash to the top of the buns by combining 1 egg with a splash of milk and whisking it together.

Finally pipe the Mexican topping horizontally across the bun on both ends of the bun but don’t pipe it all the way to the edge otherwise the topping will melt and run all the way to the bottom of the bun when baking.

Sprinkle some sesame seeds on top of the buns and then bake them at 350°F or (180°C) for about 15-16 minutes or until golden brown at the top.

Frequently Asked Questions (F.A.Q.S)

Can I use dry active yeast instead of instant yeast?

Yes, absolutely! If you’re using dry active yeast make sure that you proof the yeast in a warm liquid such as water or milk in our case along with some sugar. You should see the yeast foam up at the top and produce a very yeast like smell. If you see this, that means your yeast is good to use.

How long can I store the buns for?

You can store the buns in the fridge for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months. Make sure that you reheat the buns either in a microwave or the oven if you stored them in the fridge or freezer to give them back their nice soft texture.

How come my dough is not rising?

There could be a number of reasons such as the following:

• Your yeast is dead. Check if your yeast is still alive by adding 1 tsp of yeast, along with 1 tsp of sugar in 1/2 cup of warm water, give it a good mix, then let it sit for 10-15 minutes. If it starts to foam at the top with a very yeasty smell then your yeast is still alive.
• Your environment is too cold. Yeast rises best in a warm environment
• You mixed in hot water with the yeast and killed it.
• You didn’t knead the dough sufficiently enough. Use the window-pane test to check if your dough has kneaded properly.

I’m lactose Intolerant, can I substitute cow’s milk with something else?

Yes, you can use either water, or some sort of nut milk such as almond milk.

I don’t own a stand mixer, can I hand knead the dough?

Yes, you can, however do realize that the dough is sticky and will be more difficult to knead by hand, that is why it is strongly recommended that you use a stand mixer to make life easier for you 😉. Furthermore, you may need to spend a little more time to knead it compared to using a stand mixer, however it is definitely possible to hand knead it.