Let’s Make Easy Adorable Strawberry Bunny Buns

March 25, 2021. Beautiful Spring day. Strawberry Bunny Buns.

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As the weather is getting sunnier and warmer, I really wanted to make something fun and spring-like. I was scrolling through Pinterest and these cute bunny buns caught my eye.

The inspiration recipe was from BHG.com and the original recipe uses marmalade. I thought it would be tastier to use strawberry jam instead of orange jam as the filling. These bunny buns are adorable and perfect for spring time celebrations, especially for Easter or any spring celebratory events and parties that have cute bunny rabbits or little creatures as their theme.

If you have ever made delish cinnamon rolls, like the ones I made while back, or love the taste of strawberries (check out these awesome quick and easy strawberry oatmeal cups, or this pretty strawberry pavlova), these bunny buns are a delight to make and eat! Overall, the recipe goes like this; make the dough, roll it out into a rectangle, slather on the jam, roll it up, cut, shape into bunnies, and bake. That’s it. Oh, and top with frosting for an added pop of yummy. Not too difficult, right?

Without further ado, let’s get baking!

Ingredients for Strawberry Bunny Buns

Dough
3 ½ to 4 cups (420 to 480g) All-Purpose Flour
2¼ tsp (7g) active dry yeast
1 cup (227g) full fat milk, room temperature
1/3 cup (66g) sugar
1/3 cup (76g) butter
3/4 tsp (5g) salt
2 large eggs, room temperature lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract or strawberry extract (optional)
2/3 cup (228g) strawberry jam for filling
1 large egg, lightly beaten with 1 tablespoon water for egg wash
Glaze
1 cup (113g) icing confectioner’s sugar
1/3 cup (112g) strawberry jam
juice from 1 large lemon

For this recipe, I used a Stand Mixer to mix and knead the dough, a medium sized Saucepan to combine the wet ingredients for the dough, a Rolling Pin to roll out the dough, a Sharp knife or unflavored dental floss to cut the rolled up dough into individual buns, kitchen scissors to cut and shape the bunny ears and finally, 2 parchment or silicone lined baking pans/trays/cookie sheets for baking.

Making the Dough

Let’s start by gathering all the ingredients. In a saucepan stir together milk, sugar, butter, salt and heat just until warm and butter almost melts. Do not boil the mixture. Set aside to cool slightly.

Mixing Wet and Dry Ingredients

In your stand mixing bowl, whisk together 3 cups of the flour with the yeast. Add the milk mixture, eggs and optional vanilla or strawberry extract to flour mixture. Stir until combined.

Then, using the dough hook attachment in your stand mixer, mix until a dough ball is formed. Add additional flour as necessary to make a soft dough. Knead for about 3 to 5 minutes until it is smooth and elastic. When ready, shape the dough into a ball, place in a lightly greased bowl, cover and let it rest in a warm place for about 60 minutes, or until it has doubled in size. Note: I like to use my large 4 Quarts Pyrex Bowl with lid for this step – it eliminates the need to use disposable plastic cling wrap. Or use a clean damp kitchen towel to cover the dough.

Deflate or punch down the pouffy dough. Tip dough onto a lightly floured surface. Let rest 10 minutes before starting to shape the buns. When waiting, line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper.

Shaping the Strawberry Bunny Buns

On a clean work space (or pastry mat/ counter top), use a rolling pin and roll dough into an 18×12-inch (46cm x 30cm) rectangle, with one long side closer to you. Spread the 2/3 cup strawberry jam over the dough, leaving about a 4-inch (10cm) border along the top side of the rectangle. Starting from the filled long side close to you, firmly tuck and roll up the rectangle, leaving the seams unsealed. Note: Do not press too hard when rolling or the jam will leak from the sides.

Cutting

Using a very sharp knife, or dental floss, cut the rolled up dough into 12 equal pieces. Arrange the pieces on the lined baking pans/sheets or 6 buns per pan. Allow plenty of space between the buns. Note: based on all my previous bakes, using the dental floss to cut produces the cleanest cut since you do not place any pressure on the rolled up dough. Using a knife invariably would squash the dough slightly. I recommend using floss to cut in any recipes where you want to show the spiral design from the cut.

To make bunny ears, uncurl the 4 inches (10cm) of the roll without jam and cut in half lengthwise using kitchen scissors. Next, separate and bend each strip to resemble a V. Pinch the tips lightly to make them look like pointed bunny ears. Then, cut lengthwise slits inside each ear. Repeat with all the remaining buns. Cover with plastic cling wrap and let the shaped buns rest in warm place for 30 minutes or until it is pouffy.

Baking the Strawberry Bunny Buns

When waiting, preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Prepare the egg wash – in small bowl beat together egg and 1 tablespoon water. When the rolls are ready, generously brush egg wash on top of each bun. Bake in preheated oven for 16 to 20 minutes or until golden.

Glazing the Strawberry Bunny Buns

When the buns are baking, stir together all the ingredients for glaze – icing sugar, 1/3 cup of strawberry jam and the juice of 1 lemon, to make glaze into drizzling consistency. Spoon glaze over warm buns, or leave on the side as an optional topping. Your bunny buns are ready!

Notes on Strawberry Bunny Buns:

Uneaten buns can be stored, tightly wrapped in airtight containers for a few days. For longer storage freeze.

One of the handiest references I use for baking measurement conversions is from King Arthur Baking. Time and again when I read an international recipe, or need the metric equivalent for a US recipe, I use this site => https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/learn/ingredient-weight-chart

In this yearlong baking and cooking adventures, I have found that for some recipes that are more technical, it is best to weigh the ingredients with a digital scale for an optimal outcome.

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