Snoozing Hedgehog Choco Buns Recipe
Meet the sleepiest little bakery friends you’ll ever make! These fluffy chocolate buns curl up into tiny hedgehogs, complete with almond spikes and dreamy closed eyes. Prepare for your kitchen to fill with the smell of cocoa and the sound of everyone saying ‘awww’ at once.
These are soft milk bread buns swirled with cocoa and shaped into curled-up hedgehogs, then studded with sliced almonds for spikes. The idea came from my grandmother’s habit of leaving little bread animals on the windowsill for us kids to find after school, and hedgehogs were always my favorite because they looked like they were hiding from the world, one bite at a time.
Snoozing Hedgehog Choco Buns
Adorable Hedgehog milkbuns your whole family will be asking for!
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cups bread flour, divided,
- 2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tsp instant yeast
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2/3 cup warm milk
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 3 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
- 1/3 cup sliced almonds (for spikes)
- 2 tbsp mini chocolate chips (for eyes and nose)
- 1 tbsp milk (for egg wash, mixed with 1 egg yolk)
- Powdered sugar, for dusting (optional)
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk together 2 cups bread flour, sugar, yeast, and salt.
- Add warm milk and egg, mixing until a shaggy dough forms.
- Knead in softened butter until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 8-10 minutes.
- Divide the dough in half. Knead cocoa powder and remaining 1/4 cup flour into one half until evenly colored; leave the other half plain.
- Place both doughs in separate greased bowls, cover, and let rise in a warm spot for 1 hour, or until doubled.
- Punch down both doughs. Divide plain dough into 8 small balls (bodies) and cocoa dough into 8 small balls (faces/snouts).
- For each hedgehog, flatten a plain dough ball slightly and attach a small cocoa dough ball to one edge as the snout, pinching to blend the seam.
- Shape the joined dough into a teardrop, pulling the wider end up slightly to curl like a sleeping hedgehog.
- Snip small V-shaped cuts across the back with kitchen scissors to create a spiky texture, then tuck sliced almonds into some of the cuts.
- Press two mini chocolate chips into the snout for closed sleepy eyes (or use tiny dots) and one for a nose tip.
- Place shaped hedgehogs on a parchment-lined tray, cover loosely, and let rest 20 minutes.
- Brush each bun gently with egg wash, avoiding the almonds.
- Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 16-18 minutes, until golden and the almonds look toasty.
- Cool slightly, dust with powdered sugar for a 'morning dew' effect if desired, and serve.
Notes
If your hedgehog looks more like a confused potato at first, don't panic, the spikes and face fix everything.
Tips: Chill your dough for 10 minutes before shaping if it gets too sticky to handle. Mini chocolate chips can be swapped for black sesame seeds for an extra-authentic bakery look.,These freeze beautifully, just reheat for 10 seconds and they're nap-time ready again.
Make a whole 'family' with different sizes for an instant kawaii bread bouquet on your table.
