- These Easter Bunny buns are just like a brioche roll but they have a delicious orange flavor to them and are an adorable bunny shape.

Perfect for Easter.

Stick around and let me show you how it's done.

(mellow music) Hey, full disclosure here: this recipe is gonna take you a little bit of time but it is so worth it.

We are going to start by placing five cups of all-purpose flour into the bowl of a stand mixer.

Add to that one packet of instant yeast and a teaspoon of salt.

Whisk it all together and we'll move on to our wet ingredients.

We are melting a 1/2 a cup of unsalted butter with one cup of whole milk, 1/4 cup of water and 1/2 a cup of granulated sugar.

You could do this in the microwave but I feel like I have a little more control over the temperature of the liquid by doing it this way.

Once the butter's melted, what you're looking for is some bubbles just along the edge.

You don't want your mixture to be too hot or it's going to kill your yeast.

Let's check our temperature before we add it.

We don't want it any warmer than about 120 degrees Fahrenheit.

And ooh, we're at like 160 so we're gonna let this baby cool off.

So our milk and butter mixture has cooled down.

Let's give it a check.

Perfect.

We're at 122, which won't kill our yeast.

With the mixer on low slowly add the warm liquid to the flour and yeast, keep mixing until the dough comes together.

Can you see how the dough is coming together in a way from the sides of the bowl?

That's when we know to add the eggs.

The eggs need to be well incorporated into the dough so I'm adding them one at a time and making sure the first one is mixed in really well before I add the second egg.

Now, we need to add a 1/2 a cup of freshly-squeezed orange juice and the zest of one orange.

Knead the dough in the mixer for about five minutes.

We've let our dough go in the mixer for as long as we can.

We got it to the point where it's a little bit shiny and has beautiful, you can see the beautiful little orange flecks in it, but now we have to knead it until it gets smoother.

So this is sticky dough and I floured the surface but I also have a enough flour alongside of me that as I need it, I'm going to just add more flour as I go so that, you know, it doesn't stick to my hands and doesn't stick to the counter.

The dough can really handle a lot of flour and as I'm kneading, I'm feeling it's getting sticky again.

So whenever that happens, add a little bit more flour.

The dough is now nice and smooth.

It's a little soft but this helps the bunny buns turn out fluffy and light.

Place the dough in a large bowl sprayed with cooking spray and cover with plastic wrap.

One of the tricks that I use to get your dough to rise is I'm gonna put this in the oven.

The oven is off, but I just put the oven light on and that keeps it draft free in a bit of a cozy little warm spot.

Here is our risen dough after about 90 minutes.

You can see it has doubled in size.

Turn the dough back out onto a floured surface and let it rest for 10 minutes.

Resting the dough at this point allows the gluten to relax, making it easier to shape the dough into our adorable bunny buns.

So now we're going to shape our bunny rolls.

This can be a little challenging, but not to worry.

You're gonna get better the more you do.

And, you know, if one bunny's a little lopsided, no worries.

Just have fun with it.

We need to portion out the dough into equal pieces.

This is really easy to do if you have a bench scraper but using a pizza cutter would work too.

I'm measuring 'em out just so that they're more even.

But hey, feel free to just eyeball 'em.

To shape the bunny buns, start with a piece of the portioned dough, and using your fingertips, roll it into a log that is about 8" long.

Don't forget to leave your bunny tail to the side.

Notice how I'm rolling from the middle out.

I'm trying to use even pressure while gently stretching the dough as I roll.

Now, crisscross one end over the other about 2" from the ends.

Press the dough together.

Roll the little piece of dough into a ball for the bunny tail.

Place it in the center of the bun and press it in firmly.

Here we have our sweet little bunny bun shaped.

I've placed them on a parchment-lined baking sheet.

They need to rise again, so cover them up with plastic wrap and put them aside for about an hour before we put these in the oven.

Let's brush on some egg wash.

This will give the baked bunnies a little shine and a nice golden brown color.

The oven has been preheated to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and in they go for 15 to 20 minutes.

While they're baking, I'm gonna prepare the glaze.

It's just two cups of confectioners' sugar and 1/4 cup orange juice, whisked until smooth.

Depending on your preference you can make the glaze as thick or thin as you like by adjusting the amount of orange juice added to the sugar.

Seriously, are these too cute or what?

Take your bunnies and place them on a wire rack.

And then we're going to place the wire rack back onto the baking sheet, because when we glaze, if any of the glaze rolls off, we've eliminated the mess, which, hey, I like to bake, but cleaning, not so much.

Brush the glaze over all of your bunnies.

The glaze adds a wonderful orange citrusy flavor and gives another little hint of sweetness to our buns.

So here they are, freshly glazed out of the oven.

I'm gonna give him a little taste.

Mm.

You can taste that hint of orange and yet they're fluffy and rich.

Absolutely delicious.

And how darling are these?

Wouldn't you wanna wake up on Easter morning for one of these little beauties?

If you enjoyed the video, give me a like, subscribe, and I'll see you next time.

(mellow music)