- 5 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, divided
- 1 package active dry yeast
- 1 1/4 cups reduced fat milk
- 1/2 cup butter, margarine or shortening
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs
- 2 tablespoons finely shredded orange peel
- 1/4 cup orange juice
- Orange Icing:
- 1 1/2 cups sifted powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon finely shredded orange peel
- 2 tablespoons orange juice, or as needed
- In a large mixing bowl combine 2 cups of the flour and the yeast. Set aside.
- In a medium saucepan heat and stir LACTAID(R) Reduced Fat Milk, butter, sugar, and salt just until warm (120 degrees F to 130 degrees F) and butter almost melts.
- Add milk mixture to dry mixture along with eggs. Beat with an electric mixer on low to medium speed 30 seconds, scraping bowl. Beat on high speed 3 minutes. Using a wooden spoon, stir in orange peel, orange juice, and as much of remaining flour as you can.
- Turn dough out onto a floured surface. Knead in enough remaining flour to make a moderately soft dough that is smooth and elastic (3 to 5 minutes total). Shape dough into a ball. Place dough in a lightly greased bowl; turn once. Cover; let rise in a warm place until double in size (about 1 hour).
- Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface. Divide in half. Cover and let rest 10 minutes. Lightly grease two baking sheets. (Large bunnies will go on one sheet; the small bunnies will go on the other.)
- For large bunnies, divide one half of dough into 4 portions. Roll each portion into a 16-inch long rope. On one of the prepared baking sheets, lap one end of a rope over the other to form a loop; bring the end that's underneath over the top, letting one end extend on each side to make ears. Pat tips of ears to shape into a point. Repeat with remaining ropes.
- For small bunnies, divide remaining half of dough into 12 portions. Roll 10 of the portions into 12-inch ropes. Shape 10 small bunnies as above, using the second baking sheet. With remaining 2 pieces of dough, shape 4 large balls and 10 small balls for the tails. Moisten balls with water and place atop dough at the bottom of the loops. Press tails onto dough.
- After shaping, cover and let rise until nearly double (30 to 45 minutes). Bake small bunnies in a 375 degree F oven 11 to 12 minutes or until golden brown. Bake large bunnies 13 to 15 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from baking sheets; cool on wire racks. Frost while warm with Orange Icing, if desired. Makes 4 large bunnies and 10 small bunnies.
- To make the Orange Icing: In a small bowl combine powdered sugar and 1 teaspoon finely shredded orange peel. Stir in enough orange juice (2 to 3 tablespoons) to make of drizzling consistency.