Manageability – Liars, but easy buns.
If you know one thing about Martha Martha Martha, it’s that I won’t lie to you. I actually make the food you are seeing in these pictures. I actually do the recipe, and I don’t cheat by taking pictures of plastic or freezing deserts so they keep their shape. I’m honest like Abe, baby. That’s why I’m a little peeved to report that I was a bit cheated by the Honey Bunny Buns from Kirbie’s Cravings. She’s honest about this recipe too, but she shared a picture of food she did not make, and it sold me on a lie!
Let’s be clear, this is a pretty easy recipe. It’s basically buns, with two extra steps to make them into cute little bunnies. Clip the ears and poke out the eyes. At least, that’s the thesis behind this essay. However, as Kirbie herself points out, the picture that sparked this whole project is not actually from this recipe. The picture this is based on (and that she shared) is actually of a Japanese manju. Nice, cute little round bunny ears. Because this recipe does not make manju, and instead just some regular buns, my ears stayed nice and pointy and I ended up with these devil rabbits. Still cute enough for Easter dinner, but spooky enough to haunt your dreams and wage everlasting war against God, Jesus, and the holy spirit.
So… happy Easter?
Ingredients
- 1 cup plus 2 Tbsp warm water
- 1/3 cup oil
- 2 tbsp active dry yeast
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 egg
- 3 1/2 cups bread flour
- 1/3 cup of honey, warmed up with… um… heat
Instructions
- In your stand mixer, combine the water, oil, yeast, and sugar and allow it to rest for 15 minutes. Using your dough hook, mix in the salt, egg, and flour and knead the dough for six minutes with dough hook on medium to high speed.
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Form dough into 24 balls (giggle) and place on cookie sheets lined with parchment paper or a silicone mat if you’re fancy. Shape each ball into an oval shape, with one end (where face will be) thinner than the other end of egg/oval shape. Allow to rest for 15 minutes, until dough has risen at least 1 and 1/2 times original size.
- Take sharp kitchen scissors, and cut ears from the more narrow/thinner end. Make sure you make the ears very deep cuts, almost to the bottom of the dough, otherwise the ears will lose their shape during baking. Bake for about 11-13 minutes at 400°F or until tops turn golden brown.
- While buns are cooling, brush tops with warm honey. Use chopsticks with round tip to poke eyes into the face of bunnies.