Breadmaker Cinnamon Roll Bunnies (Cinnabuns)

In the basket of the breadmaker, place the milk, white sugar, bread flour, melted butter, egg and extra egg yolk. Add the yeast to the yeast dispenser. Select function 18 (Basic Dough) and press Start. (Alternatively, place the ingredients in a large bowl and mix until a rough dough comes together. Transfer to your benchtop and knead by hand until the dough is smooth. Transfer to a bowl, cover, and leave to rest for 2 hours.)

Meanwhile, let’s make the five spice filling. Add the brown sugar, butter, cinnamon, five spice and sea salt to a small mixing bowl. Mix until everything is well combined, then set aside for later.

Preheat the Panasonic microwave convection oven (or your regular kitchen oven) to 180°C (350°F). Line a baking tray with some greaseproof paper.

Once risen and rested, remove the dough from the breadmaker and transfer to a lightly floured work surface. Roll out the dough to a 2cm (just over ¾”) thickness. Trimming off edges with a sharp knife, cut the dough into a 15cm x 30 cm (6 x 12”) rectangle. Next, using a spatula, spread out the five spice butter onto the rolled dough all the way to the edge of the rectangle. Cut the rectangle into strips 2cm (just over ¾”) wide, along the shortest length of dough.

To make the bunny ears, take a dough strip and flip so it’s on its side. Use your fingers to press it into an “m” shape, then transfer to the baking tray. For the bunny head, take another strip of cinnamon dough and roll up into a snail shape. Place the swirled side up and on top of the bunny ears, making sure all of the ends of dough are tucked underneath. Continue on with remaining cinnamon bunnies. Transfer the tray of cinnamon bunnies to the convection microwave oven/oven and bake for 13 minutes or until the buns are golden and cooked through. Remove tray from the oven and transfer bunnies to a wire rack until cool.

While the bunnies are cooking and cooling, prepare the cream cheese icing. Place all of the ingredients into the basket of the breadmaker. Select function 28 (cake kneading) and mix until ingredients are all combined and the mixture is a thin consistency. Remove from the breadmaker. Alternatively, you can also do this in a stand mixer. Pop all the ingredients in the bowl and mix for 2–3 minutes on high speed or until smooth. 

Top cinnamon bunnies with cream cheese glaze and top with cute candy bow. Allow to set at room temperature for 5 minutes before serving.

– This recipe was made using the Panasonic SD-YR2550 Bread Maker.