Yes!  Strawberries are in season!  While they are perfect as they are, I love making them into jams, lemonades and smoothies.   Today, I attempted something totally new with strawberries.  This idea was inspired by my local bakery’s strawberrilicious pastries.  Everyday they have a scone-of-the-day that is inspired with what is in season.  Lately they’ve been making this strawberry scone that is out of this world.

So I thought to myself, why not use strawberry in other things? My brain starts churning out ideas and then it came to me.  My local bakery makes one of the most amazing pizzas in San Francisco and they sell their pizza dough fresh everyday.  Why not use strawberry with pizza? And while we are at it, why not throw in some chocolates, too?  The result of this random concoction is far beyond my expectation.   The strawberry flavor bursts in your mouth when you take a bite into it and is followed immediately with rich and gooey chocolate, giving you an explosive tasting experience.

The process is pretty simple, but a little sticky.  I think chocolate is a better choice than a spread like nutella or jam because when you seal the seams, it might get messy and stain the dough.

The other thing I noticed is that the bunny ears need to be placed closer to each other because when the dough rises in the oven, it spreads the ears apart, but I am totally ok with parted ears because parted or not, they are delicious!Some are larger than others, some have really parted ears, almost on the verge of looking like a piglet, but it’s ok, c’est la vie!Don’t worry about the bunnies hopping away, they will be polished off in no time!

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Explosive Strawberry Chocolate Bunnies with Pizza Dough (Yield: 6 bunnies)

Level:   (easy to hard)

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes

Tools:

• 18” x 13” x 1”deep baking sheet (baker’s half sheet)
• Parchment paper or silicone baking mat
• Plastic wrap or wet towel
• 1 Chopping board and knife
• 1 Large bowls
• Brush
• Toothpick

Ingredients:

• 1/2 pound store bought pizza dough (Prepare dough according to the package instructions. I used our local bakery’s pizza dough here)
• 1 oz semi sweet chocolate (roughly chopped into 14 pieces)* or 3 tablespoons nutella (1/2 tablespoon per bun)
• 6 frozen strawberries*
• 1 egg for egg wash*
• Unbleached flour for dusting work surface*

*Organic

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 500°F degrees.
2. Line the baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
3. Place rested dough onto lightly floured work surface. Divide dough into 7 pieces (1 piece will be saved for bunny ears and tails)
4. Dust your hands with flour, and shape each piece into a ball.
5. Work with one ball at a time, flatten the ball and place a strawberry and 2 pieces of chocolate in the center. Fold each side to close the filling, pinch seams to seal. Turn it over and place seam-side down onto the baking mat.
6. Shape the filled ball gently into an oval shape. Repeat for 5 more pieces.
7. Divide the 7^th piece into 12 small pieces (6 pieces for tails, 6 pieces per pair of ears)
8. Round the small pieces into a small ball. Place a small ball (6) to one end of the oval shaped dough. For bunny ears, cut the small balls (6) in half, then press each half onto the face of the bunny.
9. Beat 1 egg with 1 teaspoon of water and brush on the finished bunnies.
10. Bake for 20-22 minutes until golden.
11. To decorate the eyes and nose, place 2 pieces of chocolate on the still hot baking mat. Use a toothpick and dip into the melting chocolate as ink and draw eyes and nose for each bunny.

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