Sourdough Brioche Vanilla Maritozzi

Maritozzi is an Italian sweet bun filled with cream. Before filling the buns with cream, they are brushed with a rum and vanilla simple syrup. They are traditionally filled with whipped cream, but I added mascarpone for a little more flavor and stability to the cream. This recipe uses my brioche buns.

Ingredients:

single batch brioche buns

Syrup:

1/2 cup Demerara sugar

1/2 cup water

1 tbsp dark rum

2 tsp vanilla extract

Cream:

1 cup mascarpone

1 cup heavy cream

Pinch of salt

2 tbsp powdered sugar

2tsp vanilla extract

Directions

1. Prepare your brioche buns and let them cool completely.
2. Combine your Demerara sugar and water in a small pot on your stove. Heat on high until the sugar is completely dissolved.
3. Remove your simple syrup from the burner and stir in the rum and vanilla.
4. Cut a diagonal slit in the center of each bun, almost to the bottom.
   
   
   
5. Brush the inside of each slit with your syrup.
   
   
   
6. Prepare your whipped cream by combining the mascarpone with heavy cream in the bowl of a stand mixer or a large mixing bowl.
7. Whip the cream and mascarpone almost to stiff peaks.
8. Add the salt, powdered sugar, and vanilla, and whip again all the way to stiff peaks.
9. Fill a piping bag or zip-lock bag with your whipped cream and cut a 1/2-inch slit off the tip.
10. Use the bag to squeeze cream into the slit in each bun, then use an offset spatula or butter knife to smooth the cream so it looks like it is part of the bun.
    
    
    
11. Dust the filled buns with powdered sugar and enjoy!