Easter Eatings - Hot Cross Buns and Fairtrade Chocolate

Happy Easter everyone! It just isn't quite Easter without some hot cross buns and this year I decided to bake some for my family instead of buying them.

To be honest, I've never been a big fan of hot cross buns but my parents seem to love them so I baked some for them. But I do know that I love freshly baked bread so eating these buns still hot from the oven and slathered with melted butter made them taste much better :)

And just in time for Easter, I received a block of Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate from the lovely people at The Online Circle.

The great thing about Cadbury Dairy Milk is that it now uses Fairtrade products which means that the cocoa farmers get a fair price for their products as well as extra money to invest in social, economic and environmental development in their own communities. Yet another reason to indulge in some chocolate this Easter!

Hot Cross Buns

16g dried yeast

½ cup (110g) caster sugar

350ml warm milk

4 ½ cups (635g) plain flour, sifted

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp allspice (feel free to up the dosage of the spices if you like it extra spicy!)

50g butter, melted

1 egg

1 ½ cups sultanas

½ cup (75g) flour, extra

1/3 cup (60ml) water

For the glaze:

¼ cup (55g) sugar

¼ cup (60ml) water for glaze

1. Whisk yeast, 2 teaspoons of the sugar and milk in a bowl; cover and set aside for 10 minutes until frothy. Add the sifted flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, butter, egg, sultanas and remaining sugar to the yeast mixture and mix using a butter knife until a sticky dough forms. Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface for 8 minutes until smooth and elastic. Place in an oiled bowl, cover with a clean tea towel and leave in a warm place for 1 hour or until doubled in size.

2. Punch down the dough and knead until smooth. Divide the dough into 16 pieces and roll into balls. Grease and line a 23cm square cake tin. Place dough balls in tin, cover and set aside for another 30 minutes to rise. Preheat oven to 200°C. Whisk extra flour and water together until a smooth paste forms, spoon into a piping bag and pipe crosses on the buns. Bake for 10 minutes at 200°C then reduce temperature to 180°C and bake for a further 15-20 minutes until browned and the tops sound hollow when tapped.

3. For the glaze, dissolve the sugar and water over medium heat and simmer for 1-2 minutes until thickened. Brush glaze over hot buns.