This Easter Hot Cross Buns recipe is easy to make and sure to delight everyone at the table!
Course Appetizer, Side Dish
Prep Time 1 hourhour30 minutesminutes
Cook Time 20 minutesminutes
Servings 15Buns
Ingredients
18ozWhite Flour
10ozWhole Milk
2 1/2ozPowdered Sugar
2 1/2ozSultana GrapesThompson Seedless
2ozButter
1tbspSalt
1tbspSunflower Oil
1tbspGround Cinnamon
1Egg
1Easy-Blend Yeast Packet
2ozMiked Peel
Orange Zest
1ApplePeeled, Cored, and Chopped into Fine Bits
2 1/2ozWhite Flour
3tbspApricot Jam
Instructions
First of all, you need to bring your milk to a boil. When that is done, you remove it from the heat and then add in the butter.
Let it cool until it reaches a comfortable temperature and then mix the flour, sugar, salt, and the yeast in a bowl.
Make a small well in the center of the mixture of ingredients and add in the egg. Use a wooden spoon to mix it well until you have a dough that is sticky; use your hands if needed.
Lightly cover a surface with flour and pour the mix on it. Knead the dough by holding it with one hand and stretching it with the heel of your other hand and then folding it on itself. Keep kneading until the dough is elastic, uniform and smooth and then place it in a lightly oiled bowl.
Cover it with plastic wrap to isolate it from the outside air and then leave it in a warm place to rise. You can leave it for an hour or until it has doubled in size and your finger leaves a dent when you press it down.
Now that the dough has risen, keep it in the bowl; add the sultanas, mixed peel, orange zest and apple with the cinnamon. Knead all of these ingredients into the bowl and make sure everything is equally distributed.
Let it rise for another hour until it doubles in size, once again covered with some plastic wrap.
Separate the dough into fifteen pieces and roll each individual piece into a ball.
Flour the pieces lightly and place them on two trays lined with the needed parchment. Make sure you place them with enough space between them so they have room to expand as they bake. Cover them with a towel or some plastic wrap and leave them like that for one hour.
Meanwhile, heat up the oven to about 400°F and mix the white flour with about five tablespoons of water to make the cross paste. Add your water one tablespoon at a time so the paste can be thick enough and then use a piping bag with a smaller nozzle.
Pipe a cross on each bun and bake them for 20 minutes until they are golden-brown in color.
Once they are done, heat up the apricot jam and sieve it to ensure there are no chunks. Finally, brush this on the top of the warm buns and leave them to cool.