Hot cross buns, cherub style..........

 

Cherubs one and two took on the making of chocolate chip hot cross buns today, no small feat for a 1 and 3 year old.  But I shall have them do it every year..............they are just delicious!!!

They helped me measure out and put the ingredients into bowls and then they did the mixing and rubbing and stirring.

I was left with setting the dough out to rise, shaping and then putting on crosses before baking in the oven....how easy was that!!

We made one batch yesterday - just for taste testing you understand and then another today for real.

Happy Good Friday to you all.

Emma (Poires au Chocolat) provides a lovely delve into why Easter and why Hot Cross Buns, worth a read, might whet your appetite (pardon the pun) to do a bit of your own research into HC Buns or other traditional foods.......In our house it is all about life, reproduction and the Easter Bunny.


Makes 12 large buns

1 1/4 C organic full fat milk
1/4 C organic raw sugar
2 tsp active dried yeast granules


Warm the milk just enough to feel just warm to your finger tips so that it will encourage the yeast to grow and not kill it. Mix the milk, sugar and yeast together in a bowl and set aside for about 6 minutes until you get a nice froth formed.


4 C organic plain flour
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp mixed spice
1 tsp sea salt
65g salted butter
1 C chocolate chips
2 free range eggs

Sift the flour, spices and salt altogether into a mixing bowl, mix up.
Rub in the butter.

Add the chocolate chips and stir to mix in.

Add the eggs (lightly beaten) and the frothy yeast mixture and combine to a dough.

 

 

 

Knead the dough by hand for about 4 minutes or so so that it becomes smooth.

Place the dough ball in a greased bowl and cover. Allow to rise over about 50 minutes or so, it should get to almost double in size.

Now give it a small second kneading and press out into a large rectangle on your baking tray - leaving the dough about 2 inches in height. Using a knife, divide into 12 pieces, nestled up against each other (if you prefer to shape each into a round you can do so now, but we like it rustic in this house). Cover again.

Let them rise whilst you make the cross mixture.

Mix about 1/4 C self raising flour with some water to get a thick, sticky dough that will almost run into the piping bag. Use a small circle nozzle.

Once the buns have had another 10 minutes or so to rise on the baking tray, pipe the crosses onto them.

Bake at 180 degrees Celsius for around 25 minutes until the buns have risen further and are no longer doughy inside (tap for a hollow sound or use a skewer). It's not a complete disaster if you do pull them out with a little stickiness right in the centre as they can be split and toasted under a grill anyway.

When you pull then out of the oven, whilst still hot, you can brush them with some homemade marmalade (just the jelly no peel) to give the buns a lovely glaze and a slight citrus zing to the outside.