Friday 10 April 2009

Ta daaaa!

Ooooh, the hot cross buns are indeed gooood! And the house still smells amazing...



I've been pinching tips from various recipes and here's the version I came up with. I decided to cut the crosses into the top rather than pipe a paste, as last year they just got picked off. They don't look quite as good this way, but it's less fiddling around.

Hot Cross Buns

450g strong flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp all spice
1 sachet dried yeast
75g raisins
75g glace cherries, roughly chopped
zest of 1 orange, lemon and lime
110g caster sugar
50g unsalted butter
250ml milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg

2 tbs brown sugar
3 tbs milk
1 tbs marmalade

Sift the flour, spices and salt into a bowl and stir in the yeast, fruit, zest and sugar. Melt the butter in a saucepan, then add the milk and vanilla and warm until tepid. Whisk in the egg, then add to the flour bowl and mix to a loose dough. Knead for 10 minutes (add extra flour as necessary) until the dough is springy. Divide into 12 pieces, shape into balls and arrange on a baking tray. Cover with a damp tea towel and leave in a warm place for 90 minutes, until double in size. With a sharp knife, cut a cross in the top of each bun. Bake at 180c for 10 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 150c and bake for a further 15 minutes. Whilst they are in the oven, mix together the brown sugar, milk and marmalade to make the glaze. As soon as the buns come out of the oven, brush them with the glaze then leave to cool enough so that you don't burn your tongue as you wolf then down, smothered with butter!

I'll make some more for Sunday, but K doesn't like raisins so I'm going to try NQN's cinnamon chocolate version:

http://www.notquitenigella.com/2009/04/09/cinnamon-chocolate-chip-hot-cross-buns/#more-12983

Enjoyed a second brisk walk to school this afternoon. I wonder if I'll still be this enthusiastic by the end of next week? Got to make the most of this weather (and the fact that the mozzies aren't biting yet). Here's some of the en-route scenery:



8 comments:

  1. Marmalade! Of course!!

    I'll have to make some more now...

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  2. lol! yeah, I suppose you must... *sigh*...

    PS The second batch turned out even better!

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  3. Stop, stop, stop the both of you!!! You are making me so hungry.. the presentation is fabu Anchan! I am SOOOOO jealous of your garden...

    Happy Easter Dear Friend!!

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  4. Yum! They look fantastic and I like the idea of cutting the crosses out )the crosses are always so disappointing aren't they). Happy Easter to you and your family Angela! :)

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  5. All the blogs at the moment about hot cross buns have forced me to make two different batches today. I'm having trouble with the Japanese yeast at the moment though... which yeast do you usually use?

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  6. Happy Easter All!

    GJ, sadly that's not my garden! I have brown fingers, although I am a tryer... just started a veg patch!

    Jo, the yeast I use is Nippn's fukkurapan dry yeast. Worked each time so far :)

    Made some HCBs for breakfast this morning - prepared the dough last night and left it to prove in the fridge overnight (all thanks to dear Nigella for the top tip, it rose massively!), so all I had to do when I got up was knock the dough back, shape and let rise for 30 mins. Otherwise we'd have had to wait until lunch time! xxx

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  7. Oh Me too.. I am a BLACK thumb.. = ( my tree I had to trim outside, was a fir pine, and I was hoping to have it grow to a larger tree for Christmas this year..... = (

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  8. thank you anchan you have a happy easter too and enjoy those wonderful hot cross buns and that beautiful scenery. we have a happy life because of Him. i love Jesus!

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