Prep Time: 1 hour, 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Yield: 8
Today is my husbands birthday. So instead of having a weekend lie-in, I got up at 6.30am to make him a freshly baked breakfast of chocolate chip hot cross buns.
As I didn’t have time to bake yesterday and we had guests I bought some Tesco Finest Toffee Fudge and Belgium chocolate hot cross buns….I have just checked and these had over 3 teaspoons of sugar per bun and their regular ones have over 4 teaspoons of sugar per bun!
These little gems have 1/2 teaspoon of fructose-free sweetener per bun so I can feel a little better about indulging in these for breakfast!
This recipe has been adapted from a Sarah Wilson recipe.
This makes 8 buns.
- 1/2 tablespoon dried instant yeast.
- 1/2 teaspoon rice malt syrup.
- 280g wholegrain spelt flour (Sarah uses white spelt flour but I only had whole)
- 150ml full-fat milk, lukewarm (not hot, otherwise it will kill the yeast).
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt.
- 1/2 tablespoon stevia granules (I used Natvia)
- 30 g butter, at room temperature.
- 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon, ground.
- 1/2 teaspoon allspice.
- 1/2 egg, lightly beaten.
- 25 g 85-90% dark chocolate, chopped finely.
Method:
- Mix together the yeast, 1 tablespoon of spelt flour, rice malt syrup and the warm milk. Cover the bowl and leave to stand in a warm place for around 15 minutes.
- In a large mixing bowl combine the flour, salt, stevia and spices. Mix well.
- Add the butter to the flour mixture and rub it in with your hands until combined.
- Once the yeast mixture is frothy and this to the flour mix and the whisked egg and stir well. Add in the chocolate pieces and fold in.
- Cover the bowl again and leave to stand in a warm place for 40 minutes – the dough should have almost doubled.
- Preheat oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas Mark 6 and add some parchment paper to your tin.
- Knead your dough on a floured surface. The dough needs to be smooth and elastic.
- Cut your dough into 8 equal pieces and read each one into a round shape.
- Place the buns on your baking tray in to 2 rows – don’t worry if they don’t touch as they will expand while baking. Cover them again and leave to stand in a warm place for 15 minutes.
- While your buns are expanding in the warmth mix up your ‘cross’ mixture. Mix together 35g spelt flour and 60ml water to form a paste (if it’s too runny just add more flour). Fill this into a piping bag (or a small ziplock bag with a corner cut off) and pipe your crosses over the buns.
- Place the buns in the oven for 20 minutes.
-
- 1 teaspoon rice malt syrup.
- 1/2 tablespoon boiling water.
Method:
- Mix together the syrup and water. Once the buns have cooked, remove them from the oven and immediately brush with this glaze.
And there you have it….serve these warm with a generous lump of butter!
My opinion on these? They were quite dry so definitely needed the butter, and I would personally add more spice to them next time. However, they were a lovely treat and went down well. Kieron topped them with honey and went back for thirds so I think that meant he liked them too!
Happy Easter everyone! I hope you get to eat lots of chocolate this long weekend!
Leave a Reply