Halloween Buns

Here's how:

• 1

  Crumble the yeast into a bowl, add the milk and water, and mix. Add the remaining ingredients and let the bread machine knead the dough for about 10 minutes. When the dough is smooth and pulls away from the sides of the bowl, it’s ready.

• 2

  Roll out the dough on a clean kitchen counter. Divide the dough into 24 equal pieces and place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. If you want the buns to be the same size, you can use a kitchen scale and weigh each piece of dough to about 80 g per bun. 

• 3

  Cover the dough pieces and let them rise for about 60–90 minutes, or until the buns have doubled in size. Preheat the oven to 200 °C using standard top and bottom heat.

• 4

  Bake the buns for about 10–13 minutes or until they turn golden brown. Keep an eye on them, as baking time may vary depending on the oven. Then let the buns cool on a wire rack after baking.

• 5

  Icing: Make a thick icing using powdered sugar and water. Use the icing to make round “eyes” on the buns. Be careful not to use too much water, or the icing may run off the buns.

• 6

  Decoration: Roll out orange and black marzipan to make the pupils. Use round cookie cutters to cut out the right sizes. We used small corks of various sizes to get the right size. Attach the marzipan to the center of the icing. Once the icing has set slightly, carefully draw a red “blood vessel” with a toothpick.