Mini Hot Cross Buns

I feel like a giant when I eat these.  I deliberately move in slow motion and make a loud scoff sound.  Please don’t feel obliged to do this though.  It does make eating them far more fun…

Easter wouldn’t be complete without hot cross buns and these are my favourite apple and cinnamon ones.

Plus, these are living proof that if you put something tasty on a stick, people will say ‘awwh’…

Ingredients

Zest of one lemon and one orange

100gr sugar

650gr apple and cinnamon bread flour (or 630gr strong white bread flour, 2tsp ground cinnamon and 20gr dried apple, cut into small pieces)

Pinch of salt

1tsp mixed spice

1 packet of easy blend fast action yeast (7g)

140gr sultanas (chopped up finely)

1tbsp brandy

1 egg

300ml warm milk

Plus flour and water blended together to make a thick paste for piping the crosses on top. 

Method

1, Mix the zests with the sugar and leave to one side for a couple of minutes

2, Sift the flour, salt, spice and yeast into a large mixing bowl and add the apple chunks left in the sieve in too.

3,Take a tablespoon of the flour mix and toss the sultanas in them, set these aside as well.

4, Stir in the sugar.

5, Beat the egg and add that to the bowl with half of the warm milk. 

6, Stir slowly, adding the rest of the milk bit by bit until you get a very slightly sticky dough.

7, Turn the dough onto lightly floured work surface and knead for 5 minutes until the dough is soft and elastic. Knead in the chopped sultanas in well 

8, Put into a greased bowl and cover with cling film and leave to double in size in a warm place for an hour or two.

9, Knock back the dough with your fist and give it another quick knead.

10, Return to the greased bowl, cover back up with cling film, return to the warm place for another hour.

11, Divide the dough into little balls and place in a greased oven proof square dish.  I made 24 mini ones and 4 average sized ones.  Pipe a thin cross of the flour/water paste onto each of the buns

12, Cover and leave somewhere warm for another 15-30minutes

13, Preheat the oven to 220o/c and bake the small ones for 8 minutes and the big ones for 10 minutes until they are golden brown.

14, Brush the tops with sugar syrup mixed with a little mixed spice when they are fresh out of the oven and leave to cool slightly before eating.  Keep in an airtight container. 

Oh! It’s also my hundredth post! That sneaked up quickly!