Sweet Bread Santa Head
This Sweet Bread Santa Head is an excellent addition to any breakfast or brunch this Holiday season. It is buttery, incredibly soft, sprinkled with sugar crystals, and decorated with cranberries. Serve it on Christmas morning with butter and jelly for a delightful start to the day.
Can you believe it’s already December again?!? Wintertime sure is my favorite time of the year! And, of course, the last month of the year is exceptional. When you turn on the radio, you hear Christmas music, and your neighborhood slowly becomes a beautiful lit-up wonderland.
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Growing up, we always had a real Christmas tree with real candles!! But my parents never set up the tree until the morning of the 24th. So that’s why it was always such a magical moment seeing the Christmas tree for the first time on the evening of Christmas Eve – all lit up and so beautiful!
I usually set up our tree right after Thanksgiving, and my boys love to help decorate it. It is always so special! And that’s also when I start the Christmas baking. The first thing I made this year was this Sweet Bread Santa Head. Doesn’t it look delightful?
This Grittibänz is another fun recipe we like to make. It looks a little different but is equally fun to make!
Christmas Morning Breakfast
This Sweet Bread Sant Head is the perfect Christmas morning breakfast. And the great thing about this funny Santa head is that you can make the dough the day before! Because who has time to make dough from scratch on Christmas morning with all the excitement going on?!
Shape and decorate the heads the evening before and let them rest in the refrigerator overnight. After a couple of hours in the fridge, cover them up.
So on Christmas morning, you only have to brush the Sweet Bread Santa Head with another layer of egg wash, sprinkle with sugar crystals, and bake.
How to shape the Sweet Bread Santa Head – First Step:
This recipe will make four Santa Heads!
- Take the risen dough, get it out of the bowl, and onto the working surface. With a kitchen scale, measure 7x120g dough pieces and form each into a ball. Let them rest for 5 minutes.
- With a rolling pin, flatten four balls into oval shapes about a half-inch thick (2cm) and place them on a lined baking sheet.
- Then cut the other three dough balls in half, roll four of the halves into balls and let them rest while you work on the other two halves.
- Cut the two halves to make four round balls for the noses and four elongated dough pieces for the mustaches. Roll the mustache dough pieces with your hands and press down in the center of it with your middle finger while still rolling to create a dent (the dent is where the nose will sit). Make both ends pointed to give it the illusion of a real mustache.
- Take the four halved balls and, with the rolling pin, roll them into a triangular shape 1/4 inch thick (1/2 cm). This will be the hats.
Next Step:
- Crack an egg into a small bowl and whisk it to make the egg wash. Next, brush the Santa Heads on the lined baking sheet with egg wash using a food brush.
- Fold the bottom part of the triangle-shaped hat up to create the illusion of the furry part of Santa’s hat.
- Place the dough hat onto the Santa Head. You can decide how low you would like to have the hat sit. If you place it over half of his head, it will look like he is sleeping with his hat pulled over his eyes. You can be creative 🙂
- Then with a knife, make a small hole where you like his nose to be. Take the nose ball and, with your hand, carefully roll it into the shape of a drop. Push the pointed side of the nose through the hole to connect with the face and prevent the nose from rolling off.
- Take the mustache and slide it under the nose.
- Add cranberries, raisins, or chocolate chips for the eyes.
- Next, cut a mouth with scissors and brush the Santa Head with egg wash. Let it rest for 30 minutes.
- Then brush with egg wash again, sprinkle sugar crystals over his hat, and bake at 390°F or 190°C for 15-20 minutes.
E Guete, (Bon appétit)!! Don’t forget to share some pictures with me and tell me how you liked this Sweet Bread Santa Head. Also, it would make my day if you tag @mirjamskitchenyodel on Instagram, share on Facebook or pin on Pinterest.
You might also like to try these Holiday recipes:
Zimtsterne – Cinnamon Star Cookies
Chocolate Cinnamon Winter Cake
Brunsli – Chocolate Almond Cookies
Sweet Bread Santa Head
Equipment
Ingredients
- 500 g All-purpose flour
- 30 g Granulated sugar
- 12 g Salt
- 7 g Instant dry yeast
- 320 ml Milk
- 60 g Butter melted
- 1 tbsp Orange juice + zest from one orange optional
Decoration
- Sugar crystals
- Cranberries raisins or chocolate chips work too
Instructions
Dough:
- Add All-purpose flour, sugar, salt, instant dry yeast, and orange zest to your stand mixer and mix for a few seconds. Use a big mixing bowl if you don't have a stand mixer.
- Carefully melt the butter in the microwave on the melt setting or in a small pan over low heat.
- Then add the milk, melted butter, and orange zest to the dry ingredients.
- Knead the dry and wet ingredients together until you have a smooth, stretchy dough. If you use a stand mixer, start on slow speed for about 5-10 minutes, then turn it up to a faster speed for the last 5 minutes. If you knead by hand, do so for about 15-20min. I know it's a workout, but to achieve light and airy bread, you need to work that dough until it is nice and smooth. A good sign that the dough is done is stretching it very thin without breaking.
- Form the dough into a ball. Place it in a big, lightly floured bowl and cover it with a wet kitchen towel, or something similar, to keep it from drying out. Let it rest to rise for at least 1 ½ hours.
Shaping the Santa Heads:
- Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper. Then preheat the oven to 390° or 190°C.
- This recipe will make 4 Santa Heads.
- Take the risen dough, get it out of the bowl, and onto the working surface. With a kitchen scale, measure 7x120g dough pieces and form each into a ball. Let them rest for 5 minutes.
- With a rolling pin, flatten four balls into oval shapes about a half-inch thick (2cm) and place them on a lined baking sheet.
- Then cut the other three dough balls in half, roll four of the halves into balls and let them rest while you work on the other two halves.
- Cut the two halves into four round balls for the noses and four elongated dough pieces for the mustaches. Roll the mustache dough pieces with your hands and press down in the center of it with your middle finger while still rolling to create a dent (the dent is where the nose will sit). Make both ends pointed to give it the illusion of a real mustache.
- Take the four halved balls and, with the rolling pin, roll them into a triangular shape 1/4 inch thick (1/2 cm). This will be the hats.
- Crack an egg into a small bowl and whisk it to make the egg wash. Next, brush the Santa Heads on the lined baking sheet with egg wash using a food brush.
- Fold the bottom part of the triangle-shaped hat up to create the illusion of the furry part of Santa's hat.
- Place the dough hat onto the Santa Head. You can decide how low you would like to have the hat sit. If you place it over half of his head, it will look like he is sleeping with his hat pulled over his eyes. You can be creative 🙂
- Then with a knife, make a small hole where you like his nose to be. Take the nose ball and, with your hand, carefully roll it into the shape of a drop. Push the pointed side of the nose through the hole to connect with the face and prevent the nose from rolling off.
- Take the mustache and slide it under the nose.
- Add cranberries, raisins, or chocolate chips for the eyes.
- Next, with scissors, cut a mouth and brush the Santa Head with egg wash. Let it rest for 30 minutes.
- After resting, brush them with egg wash again, sprinkle sugar crystals over his hat, and bake at 390°F or 190°C for 15-20 minutes.
