Le Brioscine di Cristina

Cristina and Giuseppe came over this Sunday for lunch. It's a pleasure to invite them:  they always bring tons of delicious homemade food to share with us! That day in addition to 2 succulent "focaccie alla genovese" (one with cherry tomatoes and another with onions) and some "frittelle di fiori di zucchini" coming straight out of the Farmer's Market, they brought these "brioscine" filled with apricot jam. They were still warm and so good... It was such a big success that I've baked them today as an afterschool snack. Half of the pan disappeared in less than 5 minutes. I had to freeze the rest to make sure that there will be some leftovers for tomorrow's breakfast.

If you know Italian, click here to have the full recipe + fotos + video.
If not, I'll translate freely, following the steps (and the numbers) of the Italian recipe so it will be easier for you to follow.

40gr melted butter
400 gr flour
140 ml milk
25 gr brewer's yeast (or 15 dry yeast)
1 pinch of salt
2 eggs
1 packet of vanillin
60 gr sugar
zest of one organic lemon

+ 120 gr apricot jam (for the filling)

+ 40 gr melted butter and powdered sugar (for the covering)

1. In a small bowl add the warm milk, sugar and yeast (1), stir until the yeast is dissolved (2) then place the bowl in a warm place (no more than 95 F) for about 20 minutes and let rise (3).

2. When done, pour the mixture in a large bowl (4) containing the flour, the vanilla, the lemon (or orange) zest and a pinch of salt, add the melted butter (5), the beaten eggs (6) and knead well until the ingredients form a ball of dough (7). Leave covered for in a warm place.

3. After half an hour take the yeasted dough (8) and roll it out onto a work surface until you obtain a thickness of about 1 cm (9);

4. With a circular cutter (e.g. a glass, diameter of 8.6 cm) cut at least 12 circular shapes (10). 

5. Slightly spread the shapes of dough with your fingers (11) and place a teaspoon of jam in the center of each of them (12).Then close them as shown in photos (13-14-15).

6. Brush each ball with the remaining butter (16) and put them seam side down in a greased baking tray (17). Arrange the balls next to each other and let rise for 30 minutes covering the pan with a clean cloth (18). Pour evenly the remaining melted butter (if there is still some) over the cake. 

7. Bake in a preheated oven at 355F for 30 minutes and then let cool in the pan.  Flip  them on a work bench, separate them and sprinkle them with sugar icing, and serve hot.