Bunny Rolls

I found a yellowed magazine page clipping in Grandma Kueffner's old recipes. She's got 'Good! Easter '97 and '98' written on it, but it seems like she had been making these years before that. So I'm not sure if this is the original bunny roll, but I decided to make them this year.
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Rolls to start the night before Easter

Make dough a night ahead and refrigerate. Create uniquely shaped, oven-fresh rolls the day of your dinner. The dough is easy to shape; it rises quickly--about 10 minutes at room temperature. An egg glaze gives the rolls a shiny, golden top.

6 1/2 to 7 cups all-purpose flour
2 packages RED STAR Active Dry Yeast or QUICK RISE Yeast
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons salt
2 cups water
1/3 cup butter or margarine
2 eggs (room temperature)
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 tablespoon water

Oven 400F. Makes 36 rolls

In large bowl, combine 2 1/2 cups flour, yeast, sugar and salt; mix well. Heat 2 cups water and butter until very warm (120-130F; butter does not need to melt). Add to flour mixture. Add 2 eggs. Blend at low speed until moistened; beat 3 minutes at medium speed. By hand, gradually stir in enough remaining flour to make a soft dough. Knead on floured surface until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Place in greased bowl, turning to grease top. For QUICK RISE Yeast, allow to set 5-10 minutes before placing in refrigerator. Cover. Refrigerate 6-12 hours.

When dough is chilling, punch down as needed. Divide into 4 parts. Shape one part at a time. Refrigerate remaining dough until ready to use. Place rolls 2-3 inches apart on greased cookie sheets. Combine egg and water; gently brush rolls. Cover; let rise at room temperature until almost doubled (approx. 10 minutes). Bake at 400F for 8-10 minutes until golden brown. Serve warm or cold.

The recipe then goes on to describe how to roll each part into 9 balls, and roll the balls into ropes: 18 inches for the 'side view' bunny, cutting 10 inches for body, 5 for head and 1 for tail and ears. For 'back view', roll each ball into 14 inch rope. Lap one end of rope over other to form a loop. Bring end underneath up over top end, letting ends extend to each side for ears. Shape into ears.

Dough may be formed into traditional forms, i.e. knots, cloverleaf, swirls.

Nutritious variation: Substitute 1/2 of white flour amount with whole wheat flour.
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I didn't do any of the rope stuff. I took my bench scraper and whacked each part into 9 sections, then cut pieces accordingly for body, head, tail, ears. I'm pretty sure that's all Grandma ever did, too. Roll the pieces, smoothing and pulling and pinching the underside to make smooth, tight sections.










She never used whole wheat flour, but I used whole wheat for the first 2 1/2 cups of flour. The rest was white. And I might cut back on the sugar slightly next time, too.

Next time I would be sure to place bunnies on the pans so that their ears are pointing inward, and not near the edges of the pan--anything near the edges browns much more quickly. I needed to turn and shift pans during baking. But they turned out addictively soft, sweet and good, and I remember why we ate dozens of these every Easter growing up.