Hot Cross Buns

Homemade Hot Cross Buns are just the best. Even so, I used to buy them at the supermarket or bakery as I was usually busy around Easter time and buying them meant I could eat more of them! Cut in half and toasted then spread with a little butter - a delicious breakfast or afternoon tea.

Here in France they are not Easter fare though. Easter fare also excludes cream-eggs, marshmellow eggs, caramel eggs and just a whole season of chocolate indulgence - the French, at least people I know, seem better at just celebrating with Easter food on Easter weekend and even then, it's more the roast lamb they look forward to than sweet treats (except the kids who do get an Easter Egg hunt). As a vegetarian, I was much more looking forward to the sweet offerings and started looking for my beloved-once-a-year hot cross buns which were nowhere to be found. So, unable to accept cultural difference in this instance, turned to a Kiwi chef whose home cooking, enjoyed by adults and children alike,  my generation thrived on. Thank you Alison Holst for letting me share a Kiwi (originally English?) favourite with my French friends.

I took them to a pot-luck afternoon tea with international and French friends and we ate them still hot from the oven with salted French butter. Superb. The ones I made were not huge - I was running out of time to let them rise again once made into buns - but the texture was still great, not heavy little rocks like my previous attempts (before I found Alison Holst's recipe). Makes 30

Ingredients

2 tablespoons active dry yeast, e.g. Surebake active yeast mixture
2 cups flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1 cup milk, cold
1 cup boiling water
50 g butter, melted
1 egg
1 cup mixed fruit (I prefer just raisins usually but for these used dried mulberries too)
1 tablespoon mixed spice
1 tablespoon cinnamon
3 -4 cups flour

Crosses

1/2 cup flour
2 tablespoons oil
water, to taste

Glaze

2 tablespoons water
1/4 cup sugar

Directions

1. Measure the yeast mixture, flour, brown sugar and salt into a large bowl. Stir to mix and then add the cold milk followed by the boiling water. Stir thoroughly to mix.
2. Leave to stand for 3 minutes. Melt the butter and assemble the rest of the ingredients.
3. Once the 3 minutes is up, stir in the rest of the ingredients except for the flour. 
4. Now add as much flour as need to make a dough just firm enough to turn out on a board and knead. [The original recipe suggests 3 cups. I needed 4.]. 
5. Knead the dough for 5-10 minutes until smooth and satiny and it springs back when you press it with a finger.
6. Oil a large bowl and turn the dough ball in this until it is all coated. Cover the mixture with plastic wrap and leave to stand until it doubles its original bulk.
7. Turn out on a floured board, knead lightly and cut into 30 evenly sized pieces.
8. Form each piece into a ball and arrange the buns in rows in a dish or pan with at least 1 cm between them. A roasting dish works well and takes about 15 buns.
9. Preheat the oven to 220°C/425°F and when ready turn the heat down to 200°C/400°F.
10. Put crosses on the buns.Make a paste of the flour and oil and then add enough water to make a dough that can be forced out of an icing bag. Pipe the crosses on the buns.
11. Put the buns in the oven and bake for about 15 minutes until they brown slightly and feel firm. Remove from oven and glaze with a hot syrup made by heating sugar and water.
12. Cool buns on a rack. Store in airtight containers when cold.

If you want to make a smaller quantity, halve the ingredients except for the egg. You may need more flour.