Recipe: How to make German Easter bunny strudels

The recipe below is for an all vegetable version. It has a mix of asparagus, carrots, onions and yellow pepper. However, you can easily substitute for your favorite vegetable combination or a lovely mix of seasonal spring vegetables. Additionally, you could add potatoes, cheese – and even ground meat for a non-vegetarian version.

To create the shapes, you will need a 20cm rabbit shaped cake pan, cardboard cutout or chocolate mold. Use any of these to trace rabbit shapes onto the rolled out puff pastry. Creating these strudels is a fun Easter holiday kitchen project to do with children.

Easter Rabbit Vegetable Strudels

Prep Time: 40 minutes 

Cook Time: 30 minutes 

Yield: 4 Strudels 

Ingredients:

    •    1 package of puff pastry (about 1/2 kilo total)

    •    1 large egg

    •    30g butter

    •    75g shredded carrots 

    •    8 baby asparagus spears

    •    1 yellow onion

    •    1 yellow pepper

    •    1 tablespoon chopped chives

    •    1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves

    •    Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Directions:

    •    Defrost the puff pastry. 

    •    Chop the asparagus spears into pieces. 

    •    Peel the onion and chop into small pieces. 

    •    Dice the yellow pepper into small pieces. 

    •    Place the  butter in a medium sized skillet over medium heat. 

    •    Add the onions and cook until almost transparent. Add the asparagus, shredded carrots, and yellow pepper. Cook, stirring frequently until the vegetables start to soften but are still crisp. Do this for about 10 minutes.

Photo: Lora Wiley Lennartz

    •    Mix in the chopped fresh chives and fresh thyme.

    •    Season the vegetable mixture with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. 

    •    Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C.

    •    Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. 

    •    Roll out the puff pastry. Place the rabbit shape on top of the puff pastry and use a sharp knife to cut around the shape to create a rabbit shaped piece of puff pastry. Repeat this 7 times. 

    •    In a small separate bowl beat the egg with a fork. Use a pastry brush to coat the edges of four of the puff pastry rabbits with the egg. About 1.5 cm all around.

    •    Divide the cooked vegetable mixture evenly on the puff pastry shaped rabbits with the egg brushed frames. 

    •    Working with one piece at a time, place the top pieces of puff pastry over the vegetables and use your fingers to carefully but firmly seal the edges together. 

    •    Use the scraps of the puff pastry to roll small balls and larger balls, one each for each puff pastry rabbit. Place the smaller balls on each rabbit for eyes. Place the larger ones where the tail should be. 

    •    Transfer the puff pastry rabbits to the parchment paper lined baking sheet. Brush the outside of the rabbits with the leftover egg. 

    •    Place in the oven and bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown. 

    •    Remove from the oven. Transfer the rabbits to a wire rack and let cool for 15 minutes before serving.

Lora Wiley-Lennartz is an Emmy nominated television producer and a food/destination blogger who splits her time between Germany and New York City. Read her blog Diary of a Mad Hausfrau or follow her on Facebook for traditional German recipes with a twist.