Cinnamon Spiced Honey Buns Perfect for Easter

Everytime a holiday rolls around and I brainstorm DIYs, I always come back to recipes. Each holiday has such a distinct flavor that I want to experiment with the traditional and see what happens! Caramel trees for Christmas, gold coin, lemon shortbread cookies for St. Patrick’s Day… and Honey Buns for Easter because, well, they sound like little Easter bunnies.

These are very bready buns inspired by traditional, Finish buns. They’re definitely not the soft, Pillsbury kind and lean subtly spiced instead of overly sweet.

Full disclaimer: these were supposed to be bunny shaped, but after the first batch was an epic Pinterest fail they became a more traditional bun. And don’t worry, I’ve added the fail at the end just for you who read all the content ;).

Cinnamon Spiced Honey Buns
4.5 tsp instant active dry yeast
6 c bread flour + 1/2 c set aside (for 6 1/2 c bread flour total)
2 cups warm, whole milk
3/4 c sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp ground allspice
1 egg (room temperature)
6 c bread flour + 1/2 c set aside (for 6 1/2 c bread flour total)
12 T unsalted butter (room temperature)

Honey Glaze
1/3 c sugar
2 T melted butter
2 T honey
1 egg white

Mix the yeast and flour. Add mixture to the milk in a large bowl and stir until evenly combined.

Add your sugar, salt, spices (nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice), & egg. Once those are incorporated, add the butter and knead. You can knead the dough by hand or use the bread hook on your stand mixer. Gradually add the set-aside flour just enough to keep the dough from sticking to your hands or bowl.

Cover your dough and let rise for 1 hour in a warm, dry place.

To shape your buns, roughly shape into balls and pop into a nonstick muffin pan. If you want to make them tearable (pull-apart-able?), add extra dough on top. Set aside to rise for another 30 minutes and make the glaze in the meantime.

To make the glaze, whisk the sugar, butter, honey, & egg white. Drizzle over the buns after their second proofing (rising). Bake at 435° for 15-20 minutes until golden brown.