Easter Hot Cross Buns

The smell of Hot cross buns just reminds me of being back in South Africa on an Easter long weekend with my family. I went to Jax's house for the morning and we attempted to make hot cross buns. It was such fun making them together, a first attempt for both of us. The recipe is very easy to follow and they come out perfectly. They taste just like how I remember.

There is nothing better to wake up to a warm, toasted hot cross buns smeared with some butter and a cup of tea for Easter morning, this is what I will be doing. I hope that you all will be excited to make your own hot cross buns so you can also enjoy them on Sunday. I'm sure everyone is having an amazing Easter weekend. I have a fun easter egg nest cake that I will be posting on C'est la vie tomorrow.

Ingredients

4 cups plain flour

2x 7g sachets of dried yeast

1 1/2 tsp's of mixed spice

1/4 cup sugar

Pinch of salt

1 1/2 cups of raisons

40g butter

300ml milk

2 eggs, beaten

Flour Paste

1/2 cup plain flour

5 Tbsp water

Sugar Glaze

1/3 cup water

2 Tbsp sugar

Butter to serve

Method

1. Combine flour, yeast, sugar, mixed spice and raisons in a large glass bowl.

2. Melt the butter and milk in a sauce pan over a medium heat

3. Add the warm milk and egg mixture to the raison mixture

4. Using a butter knife to mix the dough until it comes together

5. You can sprinkle over some flour on to your hands if you feel the dough is too sticky

6. Use clean hands to finish mixing the dough together

7. You can then knead the dough on a flour service for 10 minutes until the dough is smooth

8. Place the dough back in the big glass bowl, that should be slightly oiled now. Then cover with cling wrap

9. Set aside in a warm area for 1 and 1/2 hours or until doubled in size

10. Line a large baking dish or tray with non stick baking paper

11. Punch dough down till its original size

12. Knead the dough again for about 30 seconds

13. You will need to divide the dough into 12 equal balls, just smaller then a hand full

14. Place each ball in the baking tray and then cover with cling wrap for another 30 minutes

15. Pre heat oven to 180 degrees fan-force

16. Make the flour paste- mix the flour and water in a bowl until smooth, you can add a little bit more water if the paste is too thick

17. Spoon the paste into a piping bag or zip lock bag, snip off the corner of the bag

18. Pipe the flour over the tops of the buns to form crosses

19. In the oven for 25 minutes

20. While they are in the oven, make the sugar glaze

21. Place the sugar and water into a small saucepan over a medium heat and bring to boil about 4-5 minutes

22. Using a glazing brush glaze the sugar glaze over the tops of the hot cross buns

23. Serve warm, straight from the oven, cut in half and spread over some butter