Santa Claus Sweet Bread Will Help Your Christmas Come Early
Kids always want Santa to arrive early don't they? With this impressive, edible Santa Claus you can make that wish come true. It may look complicated, but with our simple instructions you'll be fine. And it's so fun to make we're betting even the biggest grinches out there will join in!
You'll Need:
- 12.3 oz flour
- 1.8 oz butter
- 1 egg
- 1 pinch salt
- 5 fl oz lukewarm milk
- 2 oz sugar
- 1 packet dried yeast
- 2 raisins
- 2 egg yolks
- red food coloring
Here's How:
- Put the flour, butter, egg and salt into a large bowl. Stir the sugar and the dried yeast into the warm milk before adding them to the other ingredients. Now mix it all together with an electric mixer fitted with dough hooks, until it forms a dough. Cover it with a clean dish towel and leave it for an hour.
- Knead the risen dough through once more and divide it into two portions. On a well-floured work surface, roll them out into ovals. One should be rolled out larger than the other and have the shape of an egg — this will form your Santa Claus head.
- Cut the smaller oval of dough in half horizontally and cut the upper half into three, equally thick, horizontal strips. Cut the lower half into narrow vertical strips, but leave them all joined together at the top like a fringe. You also cut into the longest horizontal strip of dough — two horizontal cuts on each side, but don't cut through the middle.
- Lay the fringed piece of dough on top of the egg-shaped larger piece and twist the dough fringes into spirals. Criss cross the spirals over each other so that they look like a beard. If the beard looks too thin, you can also cut the lower layer of dough into strips and twist them into spirals. Above the beard, lay the piece of dough with horizontal strips cut into it and twist them into a moustache. Lay the next piece over the upper third of the head. This will form the brim of Santa's hat. Now take the tip of the dough oval and fold it over so it almost touches the brim. Cut the last strip of dough in half and form both halves into balls. Press one into place as Santa's nose above the moustache, and the other in place as the bobble on the end of Santa's hat.Then press the raisins on either side of the nose for eyes.
- Whisk the egg yolks in separate small bowls and color one with the red food coloring. Paint the the hat (except the bobble) and the nose with the egg that's been dyed red. Paint the beard, face and bobble with the other egg.
- Now bake your Santa Claus Sweet Bread for 30 minutes at 350°F with the oven set to bake from above and below.
And when it's done... well, Santa Claus himself may still be a few days away, but making and then eating this will hopefully help keep the kids distracted until he shows up!