Ok so we’ve had recipes for Christmas, then the Chinese New Year, then St David’s Day, and then last week St Patrick’s Day. What’s up next? That’s right Easter.
So with Easter just a few days away we thought it seemed only right to dig out a recipe for Hot Cross Buns.
They are a pretty versatile food too, as they can be served hot or cold, or eaten for breakfast or just simply a mid-morning / afternoon snack, and naturally not just for Easter – although tradition would have it that they should be eaten on Good Friday.
These ones are also dairy free, and although you pretty much won’t be able to taste the difference you can just change them back if you really want. The two ingredients replaced are milk and butter. Water was opted for instead of milk, however you could totally use a dairy free milk such as almond or soya instead.
And to replace the butter sunflower oil was used, but you could also melt some coconut oil down and use that.
And if you’re not a fan of sultanas, don’t worry, cause you can easily substitute them for chocolate chips, cherries, toffee, cranberry, apple, cinnamon, or apple.
Dairy Free Hot Cross Buns Recipe
Prep Time: 3 hours / Cook Time: 20 minutes / Total Time: 3 hours, 20 minutes
Yield: 12
Ingredients
* 200ml water or dairy free milk
* 15g instant yeast
* 1 teaspoon sugar
* 450g strong (bread) flour
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 teaspoon cinnamon
* A good scraping of nutmeg (about 1/2 teaspoon)
* 50g sugar
* 50g vegetable oil or melted coconut oil
* 1 egg, beaten
* 150g sultanas, raisins or currants, or a mixture
* 50g shortcrust pastry
Glaze
* 3 tablespoons sugar
* 4 tablespoons hot water
Instructions
1. Mix the warm water/milk with the yeast and the teaspoon of sugar. Add in 100g of the flour, stir well and leave in a warm place for 20 minutes to become frothy.
2. Sift the remaining flour, salt, spices and sugar into a large bowl.
3. When the yeasty mix is frothy, mix in the oil and beaten egg until well combined.
4. Pour this onto the flour mix, add in the dried fruit, and stir well. You want the batter to be relatively soft, add in another tablespoon of water if it is looking to dry and hard to work with (but don’t let it get too wet either!)
5. Tip the dough out onto a floured work surface and knead it as if you were making bread. Wipe the doughy bowl round with a little more oil, then pop the dough back into the bowl and cover with a lightly oiled piece of cling film. Store in a warm place until the dough has doubled in size which may take up to 90 minutes.
6. Tip out again onto the work surface and knock back by punching the air out of it. Divide into 12 even pieces and roll each one into a ball.
7. Flour a baking sheet or two, and put each bun on the sheets with plenty of room around them. Press down in each one gently with your palm to flatten them slightly.
8. Cover with more oiled clingfilm, and let rise until doubled in size which should only take about 30 minutes this time.
9. Meanwhile, roll out the small piece of pastry until really think & slice into thin strips.
10. When the buns are ready, brush the tops of the pastry strips with water and lay out on top of each buns to form a cross, damp side down.
11. Trim the pastry ends and tuck them underneath then bake in an oven preheated to 90/375/gas 5 for 20 minutes or until golden brown and firm.
12. Whilst they are baking make the glaze by boiling the kettle and measuring out 4 tablespoons of water to dissolve the sugar with.
13. As soon as the buns are out of the oven, brush each one with the glaze, then go back and do it a second time to that they glisten and shine.
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