These were fun to make with the kids and super tasty too!

Ingredients:

BUNS

7g sachet dry yeast (approx 2.5 tsp)
1/3 cup caster sugar
1/2 cup warm milk
2 1/2 cups plain flour
50g butter chilled and diced
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Milk, for brushing
Hundreds and thousands, to decorate

ICING

1 1/2 cups icing sugar mixture
20g or 30g butter, softened
Teaspoon or two of warm water
2 drops pink food colouring

METHOD

Step 1
Grease 2 large baking trays. Place yeast, sugar and milk in a bowl. Stir until yeast is dissolved. Cover. Set aside in a warm place for 10 minutes or until foamy.

Step 2
Sift flour into a separate bowl. Rub in butter until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Make a well in centre. Add yeast mixture, 1/4 cup warm water, egg and vanilla. Mix well to combine. Cover and set aside in a warm place for 1 hour or until doubled in size (mine didn’t exactly double but did expand). Preheat oven to 200°C/180°C fan-forced. Turn dough onto a floured surface. Knead for 8 minutes or until smooth. Divide dough into portions. I divided it into three portions and mixed some different coloured food dye into each portion. Then I grabbed a bit of each colour and squashed them together and rolled a sausage then twisted into a bun shape. Each bun was around 8cm long and 5cm wide. Place buns on prepared trays, 5cm apart. Cover with a tea towel and set aside in a warm place for 15 minutes.

Step 3
Brush buns with a little milk. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden and cooked through (buns will sound hollow when tapped). Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Step 4
Make icing: Sift icing sugar into a bowl. Add butter, 2 teaspoons hot water and pink food colouring. Stir until smooth and combined, adding extra water or icing sugar to thin or thicken if necessary. Spread icing over tops of buns. Sprinkle the buns with hundreds and thousands. Set aside until icing sets (or not ha ha we ate them with soft drippy delicious icing). Eat up!!