Strawberry Lime Brioche Buns

This year my family is seriously considering banning me from any further Christmas celebrations.  It isn't my fault -- really.  It all stemmed from an unfortunate glitter wrapping paper debacle.  (I blame the glitter - not myself.)  Here's the true story. (my version)  I found the cutest Christmas snowman wrapping paper on CLEARANCE at TJ Maxx.  Seriously - THE CUTEST.  ⛄️ Standing in line, checking out with my 4 rolls of snowman paper, I noticed that it had some sparkle to it but it wasn't until I got it home that I realized just how much glitter there actually was on this paper.  (Did I mention that it was on clearance?) 

​After wrapping my very first gift in the now infamous paper, I realized that the glitter was jumping right off the paper and adhering to EVERYTHING within a 5 foot radius.   The counter, the scissors, the tape, the gift, my hair, my eyes, my clothes - everything was enveloped with glitter.  I found glitter in places that it had no business being.  😳

In retrospect, it was at this point that I should have chalked up the glitter wrapping paper as a loss and bought some new Christmas wrapping paper.  I didn't.  😂 I moved my wrapping station to the back porch, so as to not cover the house in glitter, and I continued to wrap the remaining gifts.  When I was finished, I hosed the glitter off of the porch and I washed, rinsed and repeated at least 3 times to remove all glitter from myself.  

This is where the story takes an interesting turn.  I carefully packed up all of those carefully wrapped glitter bombs and sent them off to Boston to be opened on Christmas Day at my brothers house.  😬  We all gathered in his pristine living room on Christmas morning and began to pass out Christmas gifts.  You can guess what happened next.  It's safe to say that after the first gift was opened, we all gave up and decided to see who could extract the MOST glitter from the reprehensible paper.  

After a lot of vacuuming and endless hours of lint rolling, I'm STILL getting calls about the remnants of the glitter paper from my ​brother.  My mom is hosting Christmas at her house this year and she's already called to tell me that under no circumstances should I try and bring glitter paper into her house.  😂 I am fully expecting my gifts to be inspected for any trace of glitter before being allowed to be placed under the tree.  It looks like I won't be able to get away with any clearance Christmas paper this year.   It's full price, glitter free wrapping paper for this girl.  

​In and effort to get back in good graces with my still angry ( and glitter covered) family - I'm considering making some brioche buns for Christmas morning this year.  I'm not sure that these will make up for the explosion of glitter that blanketed my brother's house last year but it's worth a try.  😇

Brioche Buns

• 5 cups bread flour
• ½ cup sugar
• 1½ teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons yeast
• 3 large eggs
• 1/3 cup + 2 Tablespoons milk
• 3/4 cup + 2 Tablespoons water
• 14 Tablespoons butter, cubed

Strawberry Filling

• 10.5 ounces  frozen strawberries, thawed
• 1 lime, zested and juiced
• ¼ cup sugar

Lime Icing

• 2 limes, zested and juiced
• 2 Tablespoons powdered sugar

Combine yeast, water and 2 T. sugar in bowl.  Let sit for 5 minutes.  

Combine flour, salt and remaining sugar in bowl of standing mixer. 

Add yeast, eggs and milk.   Knead 2 minutes. 

Add butter, one cube at a time.  Knead 5-6 minutes.  

Place dough in a greased bowl and cover.  Let rise in frig for 2 hours or overnight. 

Roll dough into a large rectangle. 

Process strawberries in a food processor or blender until smooth. 

Transfer to a saucepan and add sugar, lime zest and juice. 

Cook on low for 10 minutes until thickened.  

Press mixture through a strainer and allow to cool.  

Spread strawberry filling over dough.  

Fold dough in half. 

Cut into 2" strips starting at fold.  

Twist each strip around finger and into a circle.  Place on silpat lined baking sheet. 

Let rise 40 minutes. 

Combine lime juice and powdered sugar for icing.  

Bake rolls 20-25 minutes at 350.

---

Drizzle warm buns with icing.  

---

Here's hoping my family allows me back in the Christmas celebrations after the glitter bomb of 2018.  😬

​Ciao!

Click here for a printable version of this recipe