Brioche Hamburger Buns, Or Let’s Get That Grill Fired Up

Medically reviewed by Christiana George Updated Date: June 8, 2023

brioche hamburger buns

I don’t know about you, but I’ve always viewed hamburger buns as purely functional things. They’re receptacles, carb-wrappers, so you don’t get your hands dirty while eating the truly desirable bits within. Cheese, for instance, and grilled onions, and sauteed mushrooms. Oh right, and the patty too.

Buns are integral to the entire structure of the burger, yet they’ve done little to niggle my desire, warrant my enthusiasm, or raise lustful thoughts (and shouldn’t they? Given their namesake and all). Until now, that is.

These buns—blogged about by Deb and later Sara—are dreamy: as in, they bake like a dream, come together in a cinch, and their ingredients can be found in most anyone’s pantry. They’re also versatile: I chose all-purpose, whole wheat, and rye flour to go in mine, and they came out hearty but light, soft but complex. But most importantly, they raise the hamburger bun to a higher echelon, one that will no longer be left until the end as an afterthought. And is there anything worse than forcing yourself to eat afterthoughts?



You’ll be ready to fire up your grill after making these.

Brioche Buns

BRIOCHE HAMBURGER BUNS

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen and Sprouted Kitchen
Makes 8 regular-sized buns

Ingredients:

3 Tbsp warm milk
2 tsp active dry yeast
2-1/2 Tbsp sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup rye flour
2-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 tsp salt
2-1/2 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened
sesame seeds (if desired)

Directions:

In a glass measuring cup, combine one cup warm water, milk, yeast and sugar. Let stand until foamy, about five minutes. Meanwhile, beat one egg.

In a large bowl, whisk the flours with the salt. Add the butter by rubbing it into the flour between your fingers, making crumbs. Stir in the yeast mixture and beaten egg until a dough forms. Scrape onto a clean, well-floured counter and knead (by scooping it, slapping it onto the counter, and turning) until smooth and elastic (8 to 10 minutes). It should be sticky, so try not to knead in too much flour.

Shape the dough into a ball and return it to the bowl. Cover it with plastic wrap and let it rise until doubled (1 to 2 hours).

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Divide the dough into 8 equal balls. Gently roll each ball and arrange them 2 to 3 inches apart. Cover the baking sheet loosely and let the dough rise until doubled (1 to 2 hours).



Set a shallow pan with water in it on your oven floor or lower rack. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Beat the other egg with 1 Tbsp of water and brush the egg wash onto the buns. Sprinkle sesame seeds on top, if using. Put the baking sheet in the oven and bake for about 15 minutes (turning halfway through), until the buns are golden-brown. Transfer to a rack and cool.

Note: I kept them in the fridge for about a week after I baked them and they still tasted good. Just heat them up on the grill or toast them right before eating.



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Birthday Cake Oreo Mini Donuts

Christiana George

Last weekend we celebrated my daughter’s 8th birthday.  The theme this year was donuts.  I made four different types of mini baked donuts including these Birthday Cake Oreo Mini Donuts.  If you haven’t eaten a Birthday Cake Oreo yet, you have got to try them.  They are so good.  I used them both in the donut mix and in the frosting.  They were a big hit at the party.  I even topped them off with Birthday Cake M&Ms to keep the celebration going. 
Here is a peek at the “Krispy Kreme” themed party.  My daughter even wore her donut tee- shirt for the event.  She spent all week helping me put together the decorations.

The inspiration for the theme had come from Pinterest of course.  My daughter was all for it, so when Party Pail contacted me to ask if I wanted to review some of their products, I knew exactly what I wanted.  They sent me some white tissue paper fans, red and white honeycomb balls, and some red cocktail napkins.  They have everything you need to throw a party in lots of different colors and themes, just go to partypail com and check it out for yourself.

At first I was going to hang the decorations in a lovely pattern, but since I was not doing the party at home, I opted to be creative and make some decorations that were easily transportable.  Party Pail’s supplies worked out perfectly.  I was able to make a fun centerpiece and some cute topiaries.  The tissue paper fans and honeycombs balls were very sturdy and easy to work with.  I would definitely recommend their products. 



Here’s a look at the donut cake.  It was kind of an afterthought since I was concentrating so much on making all the other mini donuts, but all the kids loved it.  What kid wouldn’t love a stack of donuts?

Back to the Birthday Cake Oreo Donuts.  I adapted the recipe for my Mini Chocolate Oreo Donuts.  I left out the cocoa and added extra crushed Oreos instead.  I wanted to make sure not to lose the taste of the birthday cake cream.  I used the chocolate ones, but I suppose you can try the golden ones also.

Now the original recipe calls for buttermilk, if you have some on hand, that’s great.  I never do, so I just make a simple substitute of milk and vinegar and let it curdle.  Typically you use white vinegar, but lately I have been using rice vinegar because it has a sweeter taste and my donuts have been coming out perfect.  I use rice vinegar a lot for dinner recipes so I always have it on hand.

I used my Babycakes machine to make these, which was great because it didn’t heat up the whole kitchen.  It’s already hot enough outside, I really didn’t want to warm up the inside of the house.  You only need to bake them for 3-4 minutes.  I just use the timer on my microwave, not the one on the Babycake machine.  The frosting was super easy.  I just adapted a marshmallow fluff frosting recipe to include the crushed Birthday Cake Oreos.  It’s hard to decide which is the best part, the donut or the frosting.  If you can find the Birthday Cake M&M’s, they make a great topper for these donuts.  I found mine at CVS pharmacy.

When I originally tested this recipe, I did not glaze the donuts.  They were eaten within two days, so no worries.  For my daughter’s party,  I started baking the donuts on Monday for her party on Saturday.  I didn’t want them to dry out, so I did glaze them all before frosting them.  They stayed nice and moist.  The glaze was just a simple powdered sugar glaze.  You can get the ingredients here.  I don’t feel the glaze is necessary if you are going to be consuming the donuts within two or three days.  I did keep mine refrigerated for the simple fact that it’s darn hot in these parts.  That’s why we had my daughter’s party at the neighborhood pool clubhouse.  Everyone was able to keep cool while celebrating.  Now I have to start planning my son’s birthday party.

Birthday Cake Oreo Mini Donuts

by The Sweet Chick



Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 3-4 minutes

Keywords: bake dessert snack Birthday Cake Oreos marshmallow fluff birthday donuts American

Ingredients (36 mini donuts)

For the donuts

  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1 1/2 cup crushed Birthday Cake Oreo cookies (about 15-17 cookies)
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 1 cup buttermilk (or substitute, see note below)
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For the frosting

  • 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 1 cup marshmallow fluff
  • 5 Birthday Cake Oreos, crushed

Instructions

For the donuts



Preheat your Babycakes Mini Donut Maker.

Using a food processor, crush the Oreo cookies until you yield 1 1/2 cup of mixture.

In a medium bowl mix the flour, sugar, baking powder and crushed Oreo cookies.

Next add the egg, buttermilk, milk, vegetable oil and vanilla. Using a hand mixer, blend until mixture is smooth.

Fill a piping bag or a Ziplock bag (with tip cut off), with the batter and fill each donut reservoir of your donut maker with about 2 tbsp of batter.

Bake for about 3-4 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of donut comes out clean.

Place hot donuts on cooling rack and cool completely before frosting.

For the frosting

In a stand mixer, cream together the butter and the powdered sugar.



Then add the marshmallow fluff and mix on medium until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

Add the crushed Oreo cookies and mix until well blended. (Go on, try a spoonful, don’t be shy.)

Optional Toppings

Feel free to top these donuts off with chunks of broken Oreos, sprinkles, or Birthday Cake M&Ms.

Notes:

If you are using a mini donut pan, bake your donuts in the oven at 425ºF for 3-4 minutes or until toothpick inserted in middle of donut comes out clean.

As a substitute for buttermilk, I used 1 tablespoon vinegar (white or rice) plus enough milk to equal 1 cup.

Frosting recipe adapted from L’il Luna

Disclaimer: Party Pail did provide me with some products to review, but I was under no obligation to develop a recipe for them nor provide a favorable review.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.



This recipe may be shared at these fabulous parties.



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