Hot Cross Buns

This is the third attempt at this recipe, and I have to admit, that there is a world of difference between the recipe my forenannas prepared and what I ended up baking here. I first cooked this two Easters ago, when I was still in Brisbane. It was a very warm weekend, and I had very little to do but bake, and binge watch Game of Thrones on my newly purchased HD television. (My god what took me so long to make the shift from huge analogue to slim and light digital...?) The time spent at JB Hi Fi perusing all the shiny things meant I went home with a new digital radio and some DVD boxed sets as well... 

I had Easter dinner with my lovely friend Kylie, and I told her I'd bring hot cross buns fresh from Nanna's cookbook! Well. They ended up being Hot Cross Rocks, and not that great to look at. I did not bring them to dinner with me I was terribly embarrassed at my effort. So not great that I didn't take photos of them at the time unfortunately. The first recipe here is closer to a rock cake than a bready spicy bun, so maybe on some level they could work if you didn't cook them at Easter time. The second recipe, is what I cobbled together after reading a few other recipe books and googling many things, and is a much better version. I even gave some to other people to eat I was so happy with them in the end. 

Hot Cross Buns - Nanna's Recipe (the one that didn't work)

1½  plain flour

1 tsp. baking powder

¼ cup caster sugar

60g. butter

Pinch salt

1 tsp. allspice

60g. currants

2 eggs

2 tbsp. milk

Flour and milk for pastry cross

Preheat oven to 160°C

Mix the dry ingredients together, then rub in the butter and add currants. 

Add the beaten eggs and eggs to mixture.

Knead and then form into bus, 

Form into buns, laying four and milk mixure in a cross onto each bun (or cut with a knife). 

Lay on a greased baking tray and bake for 20-30 minutes.

While still hot, brush with a mixture of hot milk and sugar, dry in oven for a minute.

Hot Cross Buns - the recipe that did work (as pictured)

4 cups plain flour

14g dried yeast (2 sachets)

1/4 cup caster sugar

3 tsp. mixed spice

pinch salt

1½ cups mixed fruit 

50g butter

300ml milk

2 eggs

Crosses

½ cup plain flour

5 tbsp. water

Sugar Glaze

⅓ cup water

2 tablespoons caster sugar

Mix together flour, yeast, sugar, mixed spice, salt and currants. 

Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat, then add milk and heat for 1 minute. Add warm milk mixture and eggs to currant mixture. 

Mix together with a flat bladed knife until dough forms, then turn out onto a floured surface and knead for 10 minutes until smooth. 

Place into a slightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic, and leave it in a warm spot until dough has doubled in size (90 minutes or so)

punch dough until it returns to its original size, then knead again on a floured surface, until the dough is smooth and springs back when pressed. 

Divide into 12 portions, shaping each into a ball. 

Place balls onto a lined tray, around 1cm apart, cover with plastic and set aside for a further 20minutes. Preheat oven to 190°C.

At this point,you should make the flour paste, and just before putting the buns into the oven, pipe the paste on tops of buns to form crosses. Bake for about 20 minutes.

To make the glaze, heat the water and sugar in a saucepan over low heat. Bring to the boil and simmer (fast) for 5 minutes. Brush the glaze when warm over the buns when they are just out of the oven. Eat with lots of butter while still warm!

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For those of you who are not in Australia, please find here a selection of Measurement & Temperature Conversion Charts which should help with the accuracy of your own cooking.