Crisp pastry filled with delicious warming Easter spices. These Easter spiced pastry ‘bunny ears’ make the perfect sweet breakfast for Easter weekend!
When it comes to a holiday weekend breakfast or brunch I am all for making things quick, simple but still utterly delicious. And these Easter spiced pastry ‘bunny ears’ are just that. Made with shop bought puff pastry (though if you wanted to make your own you absolutely could!), filled with a sugar spice mix and baked within 15 minutes. You’ll have these on the table before you’ve even finished your coffee. And they are SO good warm. I wholeheartedly recommend scoffing them fresh from the oven, which is what I did when I made them! They’re crisp, buttery, a little spicy and so moreish.
Key Ingredients You’ll Need
- Puff Pastry – For extra ease you ideally want the pre-rolled puff pastry, but if not a block of pastry works just as well. You’ll just have to do slightly more labour by rolling it out yourself!
- Light Soft Brown Sugar – The ground Easter inspired spices are mixed with the brown sugar to make up the pastry filling. You could use white sugar if you can’t get a hold of brown, but it really doesn’t give the same depth of flavour. Brown sugar gives those delicious caramelly undertones that taste so so good!
- Demerara Sugar – This is a final step, but sprinkling Demerara sugar on top of each pastry gives the most delicious crunchy texture (and added sweetness) that I love so much!
How to make Easter spiced pastry ‘bunny ears’
These pastries are superrr simple to make and very quick. You will need to twist the pastry to create the ‘bunny ear’ shape, but it’s honestly not tricky at all and once you’ve done it once you’ll speed through the rest. The recipe does only make 8 pastries, which I promise you will nottt last long. Thankfully its really simple to double the recipe, so there’ll be plenty to go round if you’re feeding a bigger crowd!
Preparing the pastries
The first step you need to take is to combine the brown sugar and spices evenly in a bowl. For the Easter spice mix, I used ground cinnamon, mixed spice, ginger and nutmeg. These are the classic spices I use in my hot cross bun recipe; they give just enough kick to leave a pleasant warming sensation in your mouth. They also smell incredible! I instantly feel like I’m in a bakery churning out hundreds of buns!
So once your sugar spice mix is combined you can lay your pastry down onto a floured surface – or if you need to roll it out, roll it into a rectangle about 35x23cm. The sugar spice mix can then be scattered evenly on. You want to make sure you go right to the edges, so each pastry has an equal amount of filling.
I then like to press the sugar spice mix down with the palm of my hand, to embed it slightly into the pastry. This will help the filling to stay inside the pastry when you begin to shape them.
Finally, you need to fold the pastry sheet in half widthways, as if you were closing a book. And then press down again to ‘seal’ the two pastry halves together.
Creating the ‘bunny ear’ pastry shape
With the pastry folded in half like a book, it then needs to be cut into 8 strips. Try to keep these as even as possible, as this will ensure they all bake evenly at the same time. Once you have 8 strips, press down on each one to help secure the pastry so the filling doesn’t spill out as you twist. You will still likely lose some filling, but not as much now you’ve pressed down.
Then take one strip and holding each end in your hands, flip it over so its facing ‘down’, then bend just the ends back and across eachother. Let go of the ends, and press down slightly on the whole pastry to secure it. This is our first ‘bunny ear’ – it is a loose connection I will agree, but I do think they look cute! You could make them look more like bunnys with decorations, but honestly I love how tasty these as is – and how quick!
Repeat the twisting process for all the pastry strips and then carefully place them onto a large baking tray. They will puff up in the oven, so make sure to leave enough room for them to grow! The final step is then to brush with an egg wash and sprinkle with Demerara sugar.
The pastries will bake beautifully in the oven, puffed up and golden but with a delicious crunch and sweet and spicy filling. So so good!!!
Tips & Tricks
You can definitely prep the pastries in advance and then keep them chilled until you’re ready to bake. As they taste best fresh from the oven however, I wouldn’t advise baking in advance.
No, but I do think it adds a delicious crunch and sweetness to the bake that it wouldn’t be as good without. But I do understand its annoying to buy an additional sugar just for sprinkling on top, so you do whats best for you.
Yes! The recipe is easily doubled, though you will likely still only need one egg for the egg wash!
I’m so happy with how these turned out. They’re so delicious fresh from the oven where they still have the crunch from the Demerara sugar and the flaky butteryness of the pastry. With the warming spicy sweet filling being SO moreish. They’re definitely a crowd pleaser and perfect for an Easter weekend with family where theres lots of mouths to feed! Especially are they’re so so easy to make!!
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Easter Spiced Pastry ‘Bunny Ears’
Ingredients
- 100 g soft light brown sugar
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground mixed spice
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 pre-rolled sheet of puff pastry approx. 350g
- 1 egg for egg wash
- Demerara sugar for sprinkling
Instructions
- Firstly, preheat the oven to 200C/180C Fan/Gas Mark 6 and line a large baking tray with baking paper.
- Mix together the brown sugar and spices in a small bowl until evenly combined. Then lay out the sheet of puff pastry onto a lightly floured worksurface. Then sprinkle the sugar spice mix evenly on top. Then using the palm of your hand press down slightly, to press the sugar spice mix into the pastry. Then fold the pastry in half width-ways, like closing a book.
- Cut the pastry 'book' into 8 strips horizontally, ensuring they are all the same width. Take one strip and press down slightly along the length, to help the secure the pastry so the filling doesn't spill out. Then pick up the strip, holding each end in your hands and flip it over so it's facing 'down', and the middle of the strip is resting on the worksurface. Then bend just the ends back and across each other. Let go of the ends, and press down slightly on the whole pastry to secure it. Repeat the twisting process for all the pastry strips and then carefully place them onto a large baking tray, leaving space around each to grow.
- Beat the egg briefly in a small bowl, and then using a pastry brush, glaze over each pastry. Finally, sprinkle each with Demerara sugar before baking in the oven for 12-15 minutes until golden brown and bubbling. Enjoy warm.
