Beautiful fluffy white buns with a sweet coconut sauce these Coconut Buns are so divine.

When I was at high school, I would go to stay at my friend Lizzie’s house and her family would often make Panipopo, Coconut Buns. Lizzies dad is Samoan and this family loved food and feasting as much as I do. We got on very well 🙂 There was always fun and laughter, and delicious food. Anyway I digress, back to the buns, I vividly remember the fluffiest buns, with a golden glazed top, and sweet coconut sauce pooling around the bottom. This is my ode to Panipopo, here are my coconut buns.

The recipe consists of two parts, the bread dough and the coconut sauce. For the bread dough you need high grade flour, warm water, just warm, not hot, white sugar, Surebake yeast, olive oil and salt. For the coconut sauce, coconut cream, water, sugar and flour – high grade or white flour.

How to make Coconut Buns:

First make the bread dough by mixing water, yeast and sugar in a jug and placing it in a warm place to activate for 15 minutes. When the yeast is frothy, place the flour, oil, and salt in a large bowl and add the yeast mixture. Mix well. Knead for 15 minutes on a floured surface. Adding extra flour if needed. Dough needs to be soft and smooth.

Place a clean tea towel over the dough and set aside in a warm place to rise for 20 minutes. It should double in size. Preheat oven to 180 degrees on fan bake.

Make the sauce by putting the contents of the coconut cream in a large jug. With the empty can, half fill with warm water, add 2 tablespoons of flour and mix well. Top up the rest of the can with water and add to the jug with the coconut cream. Add the sugar and mix well until combined. Set aside.

Take the dough and cut into 14 equal portions. Roll into balls and place in your (ungreased) baking dish. I used my 3.3litre capacity shallow casserole dish from kitco. A high sided baking dish works well too. Take the sauce and reserve ¼ of a cup for later, pour the rest of the sauce all over the buns. They may bob up a little. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the bread is golden and the sauce is bubbling. Take the buns out of the oven and brush the reserved sauce over the buns.

Let them cool for half and hour before peeling apart the buns. This gives the sauce time to thicken a little and the buns time to firm up.

If you are looking for more sweet baking check out my posts for Coconut Jam Slice and Caramel honeycomb Bars.

Common questions about Coconut Buns:

Can you freeze the buns? Once cooked, the buns are best eaten fresh rather than frozen.

Coconut Buns (Panipopo)

Ingredients

For the bread buns

300 mls warm water
1 teaspoon sugar
2 1/2 tablespoons sure bake yeast
3 cups high grade flour plus extra for kneading
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt

For the Coconut Sauce

1 can coconut cream
1 can water
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons of plain flour

Instructions

In a jug place the warm water, yeast and sugar. Put in a warm place for 15 minutes to activate.
When the yeast is frothy, place the flour, oil, and salt in a large bowl and add the yeast mixture. Mix well. Knead for 15 minutes on a floured surface. Adding extra flour if needed. Dough needs to be soft and smooth.
Place a clean tea towel over the dough and set aside in a warm place to rise for 20 minutes. It should double in size.
Preheat oven to 180 degrees on fan bake.
Make the sauce by putting the contents of the coconut cream in a large jug. With the empty can, half fill with warm water, add 2 tablespoons of flour and mix well. Top up the rest of the can with water and add to the jug with the coconut cream. Add the sugar and mix well until combined. Set aside.
Take the dough and cut into 14 equal portions. Roll into balls and place in your (ungreased) baking dish. I used my 3.3litre capacity shallow casserole dish from kitco. A high sided baking dish works well too.
Take the sauce and reserve ¼ of a cup for later, pour the rest of the sauce all over the buns. They may bob up a little.
Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the bread is golden and the sauce is bubbling.
Take the buns out of the oven and brush the reserved sauce over the buns.
Let them cool for half and hour before peeling apart the buns. This gives the sauce time to thicken a little and the buns time to firm up.