These little guys are made from a German version of brioche-like bread. Depending on the region, they are traditionally eaten for Saint Martin's day in mid-November or Saint Nicolaus' day on December 6th. I remember receiving one of these from my elementary school every year after our Saint Martin's parade, where children would walk around with their self-made paper lanterns, singing traditional Saint Martin's songs. The added bonus was always that my parents would make an exception and let us eat Nutella with our Weckmann, which was usually reserved for weekends only! ;) For me, Weckmänner are associated with lots of childhood memories, but I hope that you will enjoy baking these even if you had never heard of them before!
Ingredients:
Dough:
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter (~125 g)
- 3 tsp instant yeast
- 1 cup 2% milk (~ 200 ml)
- 1/3 cup caster sugar
- 1 medium egg
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Egg wash:
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 tbsp whipping cream
Semi-sweet chocolate chips
Yields 5 Weckmänner
Stir instant yeast into warm (but not hot, should be comfortable to touch!) milk and let is sit for approximately 10 minutes. Mix the flour, softened butter, caster sugar, egg and salt in a big bowl. Add the yeast mix and knead well. Let the dough rise for 1 h - 1 1/2 h at room temperature (covered with a damp kitchen towel, you don't want the dough to get too dry).
Split the dough into 5 even parts. Roll each into a thick, oval "sausage". Form one of the ends into a ball and make two incisions on the sides, as well as another one at the bottom. Move the arms away from the main body so that they don't merge in the oven. The dough should now look something like this:
Pre-heat the oven to 350°F. Let the dough rise for another 15-30 minutes while covered with a damp towel. Add chocolate chips (or more traditionally, raisins -> not a big fan D:) as eyes. Apply egg wash with a brush. Bake for approximately 20-25 minutes until golden-brown.
Done! :)
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