My husband sent me a photo from Temple and Webster that featured a mother and a daughter making hot cross buns for Easter – but the buns were bunny shaped! I became obsessed with making these for myself, due to the fact that I love bunnies so much (unlike what seems to be the whole world only loving them at Easter time, and killing them off the rest of time!) so my husband and I decided to have a try for ourselves, and now you can too.
Ingredients:
2 cups plain flour
7g sachets dried yeast
1/8 cup caster sugar
¼ cup cocoa powder
pinch of salt
1/2 cup dark choc chips
20g butter
150ml milk
1 egg, lightly beaten
¼ cup plain flour (for the flour cross)
2 tbs water (for the flour cross)
zip lock bag (for the flour cross)
1/3 cup water (for the glaze)
2 tbs sugar (for the glaze)
Method:
- Combine the flour, yeast, sugar, cocoa powder, salt and choc chips together in a large bowl.
- Put the butter in a small saucepan and melt on a low heat. Pour the milk into the saucepan and heat until it’s lukewarm in temperature.
- Add the milk and butter to the bowl with the dry ingredients mixed from step one. Add in the egg and beat the mixture until smooth, but don’t over knead – it should be a slightly sticky dough.
- Cover the dough with cling wrap and leave in a warm, dry spot for about an hour to let the dough rise.
- Once the dough has risen, split it into roughly 8 even sized balls. Roll them into the shape of an egg and with a pair of scissors, snip two bunny ears into the dough but cutting from about halfway back.
- Using your fingers, shape the points to resemble bunny ears and use a toothpick or a skewer to poke holes in the dough just below the ears to create eyes.
- Place each finished bunny on a lined baking tray and leave them to sit for another half an hour.
- Next, make the flour crosses to go on the bunny’s backs.Mix 1/4 cup of flour and 2 tablespoons of water in a small bowl until smooth.
- Place the mixture in a zip lock bag, and once the dough has rested for half an hour and is ready, cut the corner of the bag and pipe crosses over the backs of the bunnies.
- Put in the oven and bake for 20 – 25 minutes until the hot cross bunnies are cooked and a small skewer inserted into them comes out clean.
- Meanwhile, in a small pot, mix the sugar and water for the glaze together over a slow heat until the sugar has dissolved.
- Brush the glaze mixture over the top of the bunnies to give them a glossy look.
And now that you have made hot cross bunnies, I can guarantee you’re never going to make normal hot cross buns again!
Courtney Hope | Author 