By: Ilona Salim
Blessing your feed with some doggo butter-filled espresso buns!

Been missing home lately, and something that screams home to me is the buttery coffee aroma of espresso buns. There is a “Rotiboy” shop (a famous espresso bun chain in Indonesia) in Jakarta’s airport and whiffs of their fresh baked buns would always welcome me home. It's highly unlikely that I drive home from the airport empty handed, without an espresso bun! To make it CUTER, I shaped them as dachshunds -- because my oh my do I miss my dog Bowie! 🐶 He is a miniature dachshund who LOVES napping, so here are some Bowie Espresso Buns!
If you own a wiener dog, I'm sure you can definitely relate to that curled up sleeping position
To make these, I simply used a coffee bun recipe and shaped the buns into dogs instead of spherical balls. I truly felt like I was in an art sculpting class!
Hope you enjoy!
The Recipe
Dough:
- 1 Tsp Yeast
- 1 Tsp sugar
- 150 ml warm milk
- 200 grams bread flour
- 50 grams all purpose flour
- 1 Tbsp sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/2 Tsp Salt
- 30 grams of Unsalted Butter, room temp
Espresso Topping :
- 1 Tsp Instant coffee
- 1 Tsp hot water
- 50 grams unsalted butter
- 50 grams powdered sugar
- 50 grams of cake flour
- 1 egg
Filling:
- 8 - 8gram cubes of unsalted butter (depends on the number of buns you are making)
Steps:
1. Warm 150 ml of milk. I warmed mine up in a microwave for 20 seconds.
2. Add in 1 tsp of yeast and 1 tsp of sugar. Mix and let it bloom for 5-7 minutes.
3. In a medium sized bowl, add in bread flour, all purpose flour, 1 tbsp of sugar and 1/2 tsp salt. Mix the dry ingredients.
4. Add in your whisked egg into the dry ingredients.
5. Additionally, add in your yeast & milk mixture into the same bowl.
6. Using a spatula, mix well until all incorporated. It should form a slightly scraggy dough. If kneading by hand, knead for 1-2 minutes.
7. Then, add in 30 grams of softened unsalted butter. Knead until smooth and butter is fully incorporated. If kneading with hand, knead for 10-15 minutes.
8. Once it forms a smooth dough, form a ball and let rest in a clean bowl for an hour or until it doubles in size.
9. Meanwhile, work on the espresso topping. In a small bowl, mix instant coffee mix with hot water.
10. Whisk unsalted butter with a hand mixer until smooth and fluffy.
11. Add in powdered sugar and whisk again until fully incorporated.
12. Add in your cake flour and whisk for another 1-2 minutes.
13. Add in your egg and instant coffee mixture.
14. Once smooth, place in a piping bag and let cool in the fridge.
15. Back to the dough! Once the dough has risen, divide into 8 parts. You can make them into the traditional round spherical buns, or shape them into dog shapes like ours!
16. Let rise for 5-10 minutes, before filling it with the unsalted butter cubes.
17. Reform into final shapes and place on lined baking tray.
18. Let the dough rise one last time for 30-40 minutes. Cover with warm cloth.
19. Preheat oven to 350F.
20. Once the 30-40 minute passed, pipe the espresso topping on to the bun in a circular spiral pattern. For the doggos, I just went in zig zag lines across the top, ensuring to cover as much surface.
21. Bake for 15 minutes.
22. Decorate with chocolate, if desired!
Enjoy!