Put the milk, sugar, yeast, flour, salt and egg into a bowl and knead.
When you have a homogenous mass, add the butter in pieces and knead for about 10 minutes more.
Leave to rest in a warm place for about 45 minutes.
Put milk, sugar, butter and honey in a saucepan and bring to boil.
Add the remaining ingredients, mix well and leave to cool.
Roll out the dough into a rectangle on a floured work surface. It should not be wider than 30cm.
Spread the poppy seed filling on the dough.
Divide the dough into thirds from the long side.
To do this, fold once from the bottom into the middle and then fold over from the top.
Turn the dough so that the seam is at the bottom.
Cut into strips of about 4cm.
Cut the edge of each strip 3 or 4 times and bend a little to form a crown.
Place on a tray with baking paper.
Mix the egg yolk and milk and brush the crowns.
Leave to rise for another 15 minutes.
Bake in preheated oven at 180° C for about 14-16 minutes until golden brown.
You could brush the still hot poppy seed crowns with hot apricot jam if desired.