Friday Foodie - Resurrection Buns

Sometimes darkness gets a bad rap. We remember darkness as a place that held boogiemen and monsters hiding in the closet. Dark places give way to fear because of the unknown things that could be lurking; and dark times bring fear because they contain unknown circumstances.

But God sees in the dark. God has been known to do His best work - even miracles - in the darkness where only He can see.

Babies are formed in the darkness of their mother’s wombs. We learn to trust God in the darkness of our trials. And our Savior was resurrected for our salvation to the glory of God in the darkness of a tomb.

Praise His Holy Name!

I pray you have a blessed Easter as you celebrate Resurrection Sunday and the miracle of grace and mercy that brought us from death to life.

And I even have a visual aid for you – a 3D flannelgraph in foodie form – if you will. I made these for my boys when they were little and showed them the miracle of the empty tomb. And they’re delicious.

Resurrection Buns

1 ¼ cups milk

½ cup sugar, plus 2 tablespoons, divided

½ cup vegetable oil

1 ½ packages of quick rise yeast.

2 tablespoons water

2 eggs

4 cups flour

½ cup melted butter

mixture of 1 ½ cups sugar and 2 ½ tablesppons cinnamon

24 large marshmallows

1. Begin this step a couple of hours ahead of time to allow time for it to cool. In a saucepan, mix milk, ½ cup sugar and vegetable oil. Heat to boiling and then set aside to cool completely.

2. When the milk mixture is completely cool, mix together in a separate bowl the 2 tablespoons sugar, 1 package of quick rise yeast, and water. Set aside for 15 minutes.

3. Then beat the eggs and add them to the cool milk mixture. Add yeast mixture to milk mixture. Add ½ package of quick rise yeast and stir well.

4. Add the flour and mix well until soft. Place a towel over the top of the bowl and let rise for 2 hours. Then punch down.

5. Divide the dough into 24 pieces. Roll out each piece of dough to form 4-inch circles (mostly circles, whatever. They don’t need to be perfect.) Wrap each dough circle around a marshmallow and pinch closed tightly. Any openings in the dough will ruin the effect. Bathe the rolls in melted butter and then in the sugar and cinnamon mixture. Place the rolls on well-greased cookie sheets, 12 to a sheet; cover and let rise until double in size, about 1 1/2 hours.

6. Bake at 350 degrees for about 18 minutes or until golden brown. The marshmallow will melt and leave a sticky syrup in the buns and - voila! - leave them hollow, just like the empty tomb where our Easter miracle took place.