Hot Cross Bun Heaven

Variety Hot Cross Buns - Caramelized Apple & Cinnamon, and Double Chocolate
Home Cooking




It's nearly Easter already; lo and behold 1/4 of the year is over and the 1/3 marker is on its way.

I've already professed my love for choc-chip hot cross buns and so it shouldn't come entirely at a surprise that I decided to bake my own. Originally, it was planned as a Good Friday kill-time activity (sleeping and reading in bed can only take you to about noon; the afternoon still has to be dealt with) but I came down with a bug these last couple of days, was forced to stay at home and so... why not do a bit of comfort baking?


I know hot cross buns are an Easter tradition but to me, they're very much a form of comfort food: warm, sweet and aromatically spicy. Add a bit of chocolate and they're bound to do some good for the soul.

Furthermore, Nigella Lawson accurately points out in "How to be a Domestic Goddess" that cooking is not just comforting because of the food, it's the process too and also, the sense of achievement. Rather than lying in bed feeling sorry for myself, I decided to bustle around the kitchen for a while and raise my energy levels.



Trust me, it's working :).

Since I had been planning to make hot cross buns for a while, I had ages to ponder over which variety to make. I was very much against making a choc-chip version since it's so easy for me to drop by at a Brumby's and pick one up with out much effort at all. This is why I decided to get creative and make a type that I can't buy in stores. I know this is steering further and further away from convention but I can easily justify my picks:

1. Caramelized Apple and Cinnamon: when I was thinking about what add-ins would work with a hot cross bun base, my main concern was the 'spiciness'. Various crazy options went through my mind before I realized that apple would go perfectly well with the spice. After all, apple & cinnamon frequently go hand-in-hand. I also reasoned that traditional hot cross buns often have dried fruit so dried apple isn't really deferring from that, it's just narrowing down the type of fruit. I incorporated a bit of caramel because well, no other reason than the fact that I have a sweet tooth and I like caramel.
2. Double Chocolate: this was a last moment decision. I wasn't going to make 2 types of hot cross buns, especially since before this year, I had never even made a single one. I was reading a recipe for hot cross buns and at the end, there was a suggestion for replacing part of the flour with cocoa powder to create chocolate hot cross buns. I've only ever had hot cross buns with chocolate added in, never an actual chocolate base. To make this a 'double chocolate' event, I happened to have some chocolate-covered fruits and nuts from Darrel Lea lying around. Again, I reasoned that this was just dried fruit covered in chocolate and should therefore bring my hot cross bun closer to 'traditional'.

It was a bit bothersome getting 2 different types of dough ready at the same time. I basically made the yeast/milk mixture first and then measured out the ingredients for the dough (flour, sugar, cocoa powder, spices, butter and egg) into 2 separate bowls. When my yeast/milk mixture became frothy, I just poured 1/2 of it into each bowl.

The recipes below are written with the assumption that you WON'T be making both batches at the same time. I doubled the quantities that I used so that each recipe yields half a dozen hot cross buns of that variety. Original recipe from here.

Caramelized Apple & Cinnamon Hot Cross Buns
Makes 6

Ingredients:

For the caramel

• 4 tbsp butter
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2-3/4 cup thickened cream

• 1/4 cup dried apple rings, cut into small pieces

For the hot cross bun base

• 3/4 cup warm milk
• 1/2 sachet dried yeast (1 sachet is 7g)
• 1 tbsp white sugar
• 2 tbsp caster sugar
• 2 cups plain flour (my recipe recommended Tipo 00 flour but not all recipes specify that)
• 30g butter
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp mixed spice
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 egg, beaten

For the crosses

• 1/2 cup plain flour
• 1/3 cup water

Procedure:

1. Make the caramel first: melt the butter in a small, non-stick saucepan over low heat. Stir in the sugars with a wooden spoon until dissolved. Add the cream in bit by bit whilst constantly stirring until the desired consistency is achieved. You want the caramel to be moderately viscous (not too runny or thick) with an even, smooth texture.
2.Drizzle some of the caramel (about 2 tbsp) over the apple pieces and toss to coat evenly. Reserve the rest for glazing.3. Combine the dried yeast, warm milk and 1 tbsp sugar in a large bowl. Stir to mix evenly and cover with cling wrap. Put the bowl in a warm place for around 5-10min. When ready, the surface of the liquid should be foamy/bubbling.
4. In the meantime, mix together the flour, caster sugar, salt, mixed spice and cinnamon. Add the egg and stir together. Add the butter and rub together with the other ingredients until you a breadcrumb texture.

Ingredients before being combined

5. When the yeast/milk mix is ready, add it to the other ingredients and combine to form a dough. If the dough is too sticky, add a bit of flour until it forms a workable ball.
6. Knead the dough on a floured bench until it's elastic. When you press the dough, the indentation should bounce back.
7. Form the dough into a ball and spray some oil over it. Place in a large bowl, cover with cling wrap and place in a warm spot. Wait for 1-1.5hrs until the dough has doubled in size.
8. Knock the dough back by punching it down and releasing the air. Roll it out and add the caramelized apple pieces on in a layer. Form it back into a ball. The dough is difficult to knead now because of the apple pieces.
9. Form the dough into 6 even balls.
10. Place in a tray, cover with cling wrap and let it rest for another 30min or so until the balls have each doubled in size.
11. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Combine the water and flour together for the crosses. Put it into a plastic freezer bag and cut the corner off (alternatively, use a piping bag) - use this to pipe crosses onto the buns.12. Bake for 20-25min until the tops are nice and golden.13. Let the buns cool on a rack for 5-10min before brushing on the caramel glaze (you may need to reheat the caramel to be able to brush it on).

Heavily coated with caramel sauce = perfection

Double Chocolate Hot Cross Buns
Makes 6

Ingredients:

For the chocolate hot cross bun base (note: I think the proportion of cocoa: flour in this recipe is incorrect; see below for my suggested alternative)

• 3/4 cup warm milk
• 1/2 sachet dried yeast (1 sachet is 7g)
• 1 tbsp white sugar
• 2 tbsp caster sugar
• 1.5 cups plain flour (my recipe recommended Tipo 00 flour but not all recipes specify that)
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 30g butter
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp mixed spice
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 egg, beaten

Add-ins

• I used chocolate-coated fruits and nuts - you may substitute with plain chocolate chips, sultanas, dried fruit, chocolate-coated almonds or sultanas etc.

For the crosses

• 60g white chocolate, melted

Procedure:

1. Combine the dried yeast, warm milk and 1 tbsp sugar in a large bowl. Stir to mix evenly and cover with cling wrap. Put the bowl in a warm place for around 5-10min. When ready, the surface of the liquid should be foamy/bubbling.
2. In the meantime, mix together the flour, cocoa powder, caster sugar, salt, mixed spice, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add the egg and stir together.

Ingredients before combining

Add the butter and rub together with the other ingredients until you a breadcrumb texture.3. When the yeast/milk mix is ready, add it to the other ingredients and combine to form a dough. If the dough is too sticky, add a bit of flour until it forms a workable ball.
4. Knead the dough on a floured bench until it's elastic. I found that the chocolate dough never got as elastic as the plain one (used for the caramelized apple and cinnamon hot cross buns, above) and that might be due to the addition of cocoa powder.
5. Form the dough into a ball and spray some oil over it. Place in a large bowl, cover with cling wrap and place in a warm spot. Wait for 1-1.5hrs until the dough has doubled in size.
6. Knock the dough back by punching it down and releasing the air. Roll it out and add the chocolate-covered fruits and nuts in a layer. Form it back into a ball.7. Form the dough into 6 even balls. 8. Place in a tray, cover with cling wrap and let it rest for another 30min or so until the balls have each doubled in size. If you have 1/2 an egg left over, you can use this as an egg wash. Just add 1 tbsp milk and mix together before brushing over your hot cross buns. Do this just before baking.
9. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
10. Bake for 20-25min until the tops are nice and golden.
11. Let the buns cool on a rack completely before piping the white chocolate on as a cross.12. Serve warm with cream or ice-cream.

The verdict:
The smell of these hot cross buns baking nearly drove me crazy! I would say it's a worthwhile venture just to get a whiff of that...

Caramelized apple & cinnamon hot cross buns with caramel sauce

which is why it's a bonus that the hot cross buns also tasted FABULOUS.

I'm not going to lie - there were some problems. I thought my dough was a bit hesitant to rise. I probably could have (and should have) let it sit for longer but I chose not to. The chocolate dough, in particular, did not rise much in the 2nd rising (when it's already in individual balls and you let it double in size in the tray).

Oddly enough, my biggest problem was in the piping of the dough crosses. The white chocolate crosses on the chocolate hot cross buns were easy enough but the ones on the apple hot cross buns were a nightmare. I think I accidentally used water that had a bit of yeast and mixed THAT with flour - the resultant piping dough was sticky and disobedient. My crosses turned out fat and ugly - they didn't taste good either! I hope to improve on that next year because after all, the crosses are what formally defines these as hot cross buns.

I preferred the caramelized apple andcinnamon hot cross bun to the double chocolate. Not only did the base work out better, the flavors of creamy caramel, sweet apple and spicy cinnamon were a heavenly match. My caramel had a slight saltiness to it (I didn't add salt but my butter is salted) which cut the sweetness of the rest of the bun just perfectly.

Close-up of apple and cinnamon hot cross bun insides

The apple and cinnamon buns were perfect drizzled heavily with left-over caramel sauce and I imagine it to go well with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream.

The chocolate hot cross buns didn't rise to a nice shape. The end result looks a bit like chocolate dessert buns (which, I guess they are since I ventured so far from what is normal). They tasted a bit bitter too. Next time, I would use LESS COCOA POWDER - I believe this will improve the properties of the dough and fix the bitterness.

Suggested chocolate dough ingredients: 1 and 3/4 cups plain flour, 1/4 cup cocoa powder, 1/4 cup caster sugar - with the rest of the ingredients remaining the same.

I would serve the double chocolate hot cross buns plain or with a dollop of whipped cream. In these photos, I had a bit of fun with the styling - I broke a hollow chocolate egg up, drizzled molten white chocolate on the inside (left over from the piping) and stuck chocolate-coated fruits and nuts inside.

Close-up of chocolate hot cross bun inside

Baking hot cross buns is a great idea for the long weekend. It might take a long time but that's the whole point... I thought it was a fun activity and when they turn out awesome, that's an extra plus!