Breakfast

Chocolate Hot Cross Buns

What is better than chocolate hot cross buns with some butter and a cup of tea.? It’s got chocolate in with the little cross on and all glazed up. It’s going to be lovely and it’s so nice to make it at home and your house will smell gorgeous with this delicious recipe.

Take grams of butter and into a small pan, melt it nice and slowly then take one heaped teaspoon of mixed spices, add grams of golden caster sugar which is just over one tablespoon, add half a nutmeg, and just give it a nice grating. Let that come together and do its magic in the heat.

Get yourself a large bowl and add 400 grams of flour, make a little well in the middle and add some yeast. After about one minute, the mixture in the heat is ready, turn the heat off and let that cool down. Add 200 ml of milk to cool the pan down and give it a nice mix.

Once cooled, add one egg, give it a little whisk then add that to the bowl containing the flour. Add 50 grams of cocoa powder with a good pinch of salt, as it becomes too hard, place it on the working surface and give it a good knead.

Add one hundred grams of good raisins to the dough while continuing to knead it, we also going to add 150 grams of chocolate so break that into little chunks and continue to knead the dough. When the yeast starts to activate, it will start to let the chocolate chunks most beautifully.

So pop that in a bowl, cover that and keep it proof for one hour until it doubles in size. After an hour, place the dough on your surface and roll it then cut it in half and then cut it in half again and then each of those into three-quarters balls.

Flatten the dough take some chocolate, place in the middle and pull the sides. You get a nice little ball. Align them to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, and let that prove for another 45 minutes. For the white paste, simply take two tablespoons of flour and two tablespoons of water, and stir until it thickens like a pancake paste.

Use a piping bag to squeeze the paste from the bottom tip of the bag to draw crosses on the chocolate hot cross buns. Place them in the oven for 25 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius. That is going to be gorgeous, the smell is amazing. You can then rub it with some honey and rosemary.

Ingredients;

  • 50 g unsalted butter
  • 50 g golden caster sugar
  • 1 heaped teaspoon mixed spice
  • 1 whole nutmeg, for grating
  • 200 ml semi-skimmed milk
  • 1 large free-range egg
  • 400 g strong white bread flour, plus 2 tablespoons and extra for dusting
  • 50 g quality cocoa powder
  • 1 x 7 g sachet of dried yeast
  • 150 g quality dark chocolate
  • 100 g raisins, or mixed dried fruit
  • 3 tablespoons runny honey

Instructions;

  1. Place the butter, sugar, mixed spice, a good grating of nutmeg and a pinch of sea salt in a pan over low heat and warm gently until melted, stirring occasionally.
  2. Remove from the heat, pour in the milk, then crack in the egg and whisk well.
  3. Sift the flour and cocoa powder into a large bowl and tip in the yeast.
  4. Make a well in the middle, then gradually pour in the milk mixture, stirring and bringing in the flour from the outside to form a rough dough.
  5. Knead on a flour-dusted surface for around 5 minutes, or until smooth and springy.
  6. Chop half the chocolate into 12 equal-sized pieces and put aside, then finely chop the remaining chocolate into tiny chips.
  7. Roughly stretch and flatten out the dough, sprinkle over the chocolate chips and raisins
  8. Roughly fold over and continue to knead for a few minutes, pushing any chocolate or fruit that escapes back into the dough.
  9. Place in a flour-dusted bowl, cover with a clean damp tea towel and prove in a warm place for 1 hour 30 minutes, or until doubled in size.
  10. When the dough is ready, transfer to a clean surface and use your fist to knock out the air, then knead for a few minutes until smooth again.
  11. Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/gas 4, and grease and line a 25cm x 35cm baking tray.
  12. Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces. Flatten one piece slightly, push a piece of chocolate into the centre, snapping it to fit, if needed, then fold the dough back over the chocolate to trap it inside.
  13. Shape the dough into a neat ball and place on the prepared tray.
  14. Repeat with the remaining dough, leaving a small gap between each bun.
  15. Cover with a damp tea towel and leave to prove in a warm place for around 45 minutes, or until doubled in size.
  16. Mix 2 tablespoons of flour with enough water to give you a pancake batter consistency, then transfer to a piping bag. Pipe thin crosses across the top of the buns.
  17. Bake for 25 minutes, or until golden, then transfer to a cooling rack.
  18. Warm the honey a little to loosen, then gently brush over the buns to glaze.
  19. Slice open while warm to enjoy the melting middle – delicious served with a little butter and a pinch of sea salt, if you like.

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