Chocolate Steamed Buns Recipe (with Video)

Make the dough
1. Whisk together 140 g warmed milk, 40 g sugar, and 3 g yeast.
2. Add rest of ingredients (besides food coloring), mixing with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon until you get a shaggy dough.
3. Place the dough onto a work surface and knead (can also use hand mixer with dough hook attachment) until you get a very smooth elastic ball of dough.
Divide and color the doughs
1. You can always divide the dough into 6 equal parts and shape them into balls, but if you want to recreate these steamed bunny buns, read on!
2. Weigh out about 24g dough and keep it plain (white). This will be for ears.
3. Weigh out about 6g dough and knead in the pink food coloring. This will be for inner ears.
4. Since I wanted to make 6 buns, I divided the remaining dough by 6, which was ~67g.
5. Once you have all the doughs separated out, lightly cover them in plastic to stop them from drying out.
Shaping the bunny buns
1. For the head of the bunny, shape the 66g dough into balls by first lightly flattening it into a disc.
2. Then, add in about 1 tbsp of chocolate chips in the middle.
3. Bring the ends together, pinching them so that you close the disc into a ball.
4. Shape the dough into a ball like in my video above, just until the top is smooth and the bottom is fully sealed.
5. Place it on top of a cut ~3×3 inch square piece of parchment paper.
6. For the details, you will be using water as glue to attach the doughs together.
7. To make each ear, take 2g of white dough, shape it into somewhat of an oval, and stick it on top of the head.
8. Repeat for the other ear.
9. For the inner ears, take about 1 g dough, split it into two, and roll each one into small balls.
10. Stick each one onto the bottom of the each ear.
Proof the buns
1. Proof the buns under plastic wrap for about 60 minutes, or until the buns have increased by 50% their original size.
Steam the buns
1. Place buns into steaming basket (about 2-3 inches apart), cover, and put over a pot of cold water.
2. Make sure there is about 2 inches of space between the bottom of the basket and the water.
3. Turn the heat to medium-low and steam for about 20 minutes.
4. Try to not peek inside or the buns may wrinkle and become dimpled!
5. After 20 minutes, turn off the heat and leave the steaming basket lid on for 1-2 minutes to not shock the buns with cold air.
6. Then, remove the lid and the buns.
Decorate the buns
1. Use edible food markers to add the blush and eyes.
2. Enjoy!
Notes
1. You can store these buns in an airtight container at room temperature for about 3 days.
2. To reheat them, place them on a plate and lightly cover them with a damp paper towel.
3. Microwave for about 15-20 seconds and the buns should be perfectly soft again!