Melon Pan Santa Claus

First time tried out Melon pan recipe and was toying the idea of shaping the buns into something.  Santa Claus ! They looked like Santa Claus with snowy hat and beard initially before landing in oven ... but somehow the positions of hat and beard 'drifted apart' from the face after baked, resulted a batch of grumpy looking old men ... :( opps !
Anyway, I had some fun in shaping the buns ^-^!

Recipe adapted from Melon Pan , Tokyo Mari
Below my slightly modified version.
Santa Claus Melon Pan
Ingredients (Makes 5 buns)
Bread dough ingredients :
150g of bread flour
1 tablespoon milk powder
2 tablespoons of egg (lightly beaten)

(A) 1 teaspoon of dry yeast
(A) 2 tablespoons of sugar
(A) 55ml of warm water

(B) 30g of unsalted butter (room temparature)
(B) a pinch of salt

Some dessicated coconut (about 1.5 tablespoon)
Some chocolate chips to decorate as eyes

Cookie dough ingredients :
100g of all-purpose plain flour (sifted)
30g of butter (room temparature)
2 tablespoons of caster sugar
1/2 an egg (lightly beaten of 1 whole egg but use half)

Method:
Make the cookie dough first :
In a clean mixing bowl, cream the butter and caster sugar till pale and creamy with electric mixer.
Slowly add in the egg and continue beating. Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl and beat for another 1 - 2 minutes.
Add the sifted flour to the mixture and mix it with spatula. Cling wrap dough and leave in the fridge for about 30 minutes.

To make the bread dough:
Place all the ingredients (A) in a cup, stir and allow to sit for 10 minutes.

In a big bowl, combine bread flour, egg, milk powder and gradually add in mixture (A), mix well to combine with a spatula.

Add all the ingredients (B) to the big bowl and mix it until it combine together. Transfer onto lightly floured surface and keep kneading and stretching the dough until it become smooth and pliable. (it will get less sticky as you knead).

Shape into a ball and place the dough into a greased bowl, cover with cling wrap and let it rise in a warm place until it has doubled in size, about 30-40 minutes.

Take out the dough, pinch down, and divide into 5 portion. Roll each piece into a ball, let rest for 10 minutes under a damp cloth.

Take out the cookie dough and cut into 5 portions (about 35g each). Flatten out into a thin round with cling wrap. Remove the cling wrap, use a cookie cutter to cut half. 1 portion as beard and the other as hat. Sprinkle some dessicated coconut on cookie dough. Place it over the bread dough. Insert chocolate chips as eyes on the bread dough.

Cover with damp cloth and proof for about 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 180 degree C. Position the rack in the center.
Bake the buns for 10 minutes first (to make the cookie dough crispy), then turn down temperature to 160 degree C and bake for another 12 minutes or lightly browned. (*Note : The temperature of the oven may vary, do adjust accordingly).

Do give it a try in shaping cute (not grumpy) Santa Claus ... Hee .. hee... Happy baking!