Oriental Easter Bunny

As Good Friday begins may,
Mercy, Peace and Love be yours in Abundance ~ Jude 1:2

Bunny shaped steamed buns (or Pao in Chinese) to give it an oriental Easter mood.  It doesn't look exactly like a bunny since the ears are a bit pointy, unfortunately :(

I have made these soft and fluffy steamed buns quite a few times already with this recipe from Wendy.   You can leave them empty but i chose to fill them with some peanut butter that i needed to finish off asap.  With medium high heat, you could get some flowy peanut butter in the buns but if it's too high or re-steamed it tends to dry out.  If you leave it empty you could even eat it with some savoury dishes.

I substituted shortening with oil this time around and based on the results i think it actually taste better with shortening.

Happy Easter!

Recipe 
Source : Table for 2 or more... (this is 1/2 the portion which gave me 16 buns of around 40g each)

Ingredients

• 250gm pau flour (cake flour)
• 125gm steamed orange sweet potato
• 50gm sugar
• 1/2 Tbsp double action baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 20gm shortening, melted (30ml vegetable oil)
• 6gm yeast 
• 1/4 tsp sugar
• 75ml water (start with 75ml, it depends on how moist the sweet potatoes are, mine needed 100ml water)

Method

1. Proof yeast with 1/4 tsp sugar and water until it froths.
2. Mix flour, baking powder, sugar and salt together. 
3. Knead in steamed sweet potatoes. 
4. Flour mixture will look crumbly. 
5. Pour in frothy yeast mixture and combine to form a dough. Knead until dough no longer sticky and turns smooth. 
6. Add more flour if it's too sticky or more water(by the teaspoon) if it's way too dry, (if unable to gather all the flour into a dough).  
7. When dough is smooth, knead in melted shortening, until dough no longer feels oily.
8. Leave to proof until double, about an hour.
9. Punch down and knead for another minute. Divide dough into 40gm pieces, and shape as preferred.   
10. Leave to proof until shaped bun doubles. 
11. Steam on high heat for 12-15 minutes. (10 minutes)

Notes

1. If like me, you are using a machine to knead, skip steps 1-7 but follow through step 6.  I used my breadmaker to knead the dough, I put everything in the recommended order, i.e. liquid (water, melted shortening), sugar, salt, followed by flour (sifted and mix with baking powder), mashed sweet potato and lastly yeast.  
2. To make bunnies, form dough into oval shape.  Flatten with a rolling pin then add in 1 tsp of filling if using.  Pinch and seal well.  Just before putting them to steam, use a pair of kitchen shears to make a cut for the ears.  Use a toothpick dipped with some red food gel to make 2 dots for the eyes.