Friday 6 April 2012

one a penny, two a penny...

We heard and sung the hot cross buns nursery rhymes many many time when my kids were toddlers...but this is the first time I have ever made or eaten them!


Thanks to Laureen of Eat and Be Happy for sharing her chocolate chips hot cross buns last easter...I have bookmarked her recipe for over a year, and I finally got down to make them!


The dough was rather soft and sticky, and I had a hard time trying to knead it. After a couple of minutes, I gave up wrestling with the dough and proceed to leave it to proof. (on hindsight, I should have used my bread machine to do the kneading.) I was lucky, all went well and in no time, I was rewarded with a tray of hot cross buns...I don't think I deserve it for the little effort I had put in ;)


These hot cross buns are really awesome, soft and fragrant, they are worth every penny! Deliciously scented with cinnamon, just one bite will make you feel good, and when the chocolate chips melt away in your mouth, you will feel even better.


I guess from now on, I won't be spending easter without a batch of hot cross buns :)

Happy Easter!


Chocolate Chips Hot Cross Buns

Ingredients
(makes 15 ~ 16 buns)


300g plain flour
30g caster sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon mixed spice (I omitted this)
1/2 teaspoon salt
40g unsalted butter, cut into cubes
5g Instant yeast
30g egg, lightly beaten
125 ml milk
40ml warm water
150g chocolate chips (I used dark chocolate chips)

Flour paste for crosses:
1 tablespoon plain flour
1 1/2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon of caster sugar
1 tablespoon cold water

Glaze:
2 tablespoons of caster sugar
2 tablespoons of water


Method

* Place flour, caster sugar, cinnamon, mixed spice (if using) and salt into a mixing bowl. Stir with a whisk to combine. Rub in the butter. Add instant yeast, stir to combine. Make a well in the centre, add in eggs, water, milk, mix to form a soft dough.

* Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes (or knead with bread machine or stand mixer for about 5 minutes) until the dough is smooth and elastic. Knead in the chocolate chips. Smooth dough into a round ball, place in a greased mixing bowl, cover with a damp cloth or cling wrap and leave to rise for about one hour or until dough has doubled in size.

* Divide the dough into 15 portions and roll each portion into a ball. Place the balls, almost touching, on a greased rectangular pan (if using a square pan, divide into 16 portions). Cover with damp cloth or cling wrap and leave to rise for about 30~45 minutes or until dough has doubled in size. Preheat oven to 200 degC.

* To make flour paste crosses:
Sift flour, cocoa powder into a small bowl, stir in the sugar. Add in water and keep stirring with a spoon to make a smooth thick paste. Place the flour paste into a plastic bag and snip off the corner (Note: snip off a very tiny bit will do so that the hole will not be too big). When the doughs have doubled in size, pipe a continuous line down the centre of each row of buns, length wise and width wise, to form crosses.

* Bake:
Bake buns at 200degC for about 15~16 minutes or until golden brown.

* To make glaze:
While the buns are baking, place sugar and water in a small saucepan and stir over low heat until the sugar dissolves. Transfer the baked buns to a wire rack, brush the tops with glaze. Serve warm.

Note: The dough can be made the day before up to the shaping stage, cover with cling wrap and refrigerate over night. The next day bring to room temperature leave to rise till double in size, pipe on the crosses and bake.

Recipe source: adapted from Eat and be Happy

28 comments:

Unknown said...

Your hot cross buns looks delicious. I like the chocolate paste topping. I notice all-purpose flour is used. Do we need to knead the dough till elastic stage like bread flour? Are those buns still stay soft the next day? Thanks! Have a nice weekend :)

charminee said...

hi HHB, can bread flour be used in place of plain flour? (is plain flour the same as cake flour?)

Sonia ~ Nasi Lemak Lover said...

Beautiful hot cross buns! Every year i also forgotto make this bun which i have bookmarked , maybe due to i am not celebrating Easter day..hehehe..Ya, about the potato buns that i made, in fact this bun is very soft on the same day, just turned little bit dry on the next day but still soft..i wish you can give it a try..maybe you need to adjust the amount of the water because mashed potato also contain water..Happy weeekend ahead to you..

Shoutforfood said...

I truly appreciate all your hard work and effort in sharing such a delicious recipes.

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Vivian, no, it is not necessary to knead until window pane stage, since it is using plain flour...and actually I didnt do much kneading. The bread is best freshly baked, but the next morning, I warm them in the oven, and they taste as good, not hard or dry :)

Charminee, plain flour is not the same as cake flour...if you want to use bread flour, maybe you can try half bread flour and half cake flour. Hope this helps.

Sonia, I like the potato and bacon filling, but likely I will fall back on the tangzhong method for the bread dough. So far tangzhong gives me the best bread.

Loveforfood, thanks for your kind words :):)

FaithHopeLove said...

wow~ your hot cross bun looks real good~ I like it very much~ I should bookmark this and give it a go next year!

Tq for the sharing~

Elin said...

I made these too for Good Friday :) Yours truly looks mouth watering with the chocolate and I think the next Easter, I shall try making yours. Have a wonderful Easter!

Joyce @ Chunky Cooky said...

The hot cross buns look lovely ! And I never knew plain flour only can be used to make bread !

Anonymous said...

oh boy! Your buns look so scrumptious! I'm totally digging them. :) It was my first time making Hot Cross Buns these year too!! I would definitely love to experiment more with their flavours!

Anonymous said...

hi HHB, not relevant on this post at all, i have chanced upon some of your other recipes and wonder if i could bake with a microwave instead of an oven? bake muffins, cookies or cakes etc. :)
thanks!

thecoffeesnob said...

I'm so pleased you loved these hot cross buns as much as I did- the chocolate is a real treat huh?

Happy belated Easter, HHB!

Caca said...

love this traditional method baking breads. Do you know how to bake 'mangali roti'? I miss the bread texture.

Ola said...

they look just perfect, good inspiration for me with the chocolate decoration:)


Life and travelling
Cooking

Igloo said...

These look like a great variation on the traditional non-chocolate hot cross bun! A way to jazz up a great treat even more.

Sabrina said...

The ingredients for chocolate crosses have no units for cocoa.
I guess it's 1 1/2 tbsp. Am I correct?

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Sabrina, yes, it is tablespoon, sorry for the error. Thanks!

Anonymous said...

im having a ard time to convert all the g.. pls let me know how to convert to cup or tsp. or ml. ? thanks

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi, you can refer to this site for the recipe with measurement in cups, mine is only half the portion.
(http://www.thelonebaker.com/journal/2010/3/2/chocolate-hot-cross-buns.html)
hope this helps.

Anonymous said...

Can I forgo the cinnamon powder? Will it taste as good?
Bebe

Anonymous said...

Can I replace cinnamon powder to almond powder? Or just skip this?

Bebe

Anonymous said...

I realized that u missed out adding the milk.
When do I add the milk? Together with the warm water n egg?
Btw, is ur 30g egg measured without shell n after lightly beaten?
Apologize for so many questions.

Bebe

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Bebe, my apologies for stating the when to add the milk. I have already updated it. Please add it together with the liquid ingredients, ie water and egg.

You can skip the cinnamon powder but it will not have the distinct nice fragrant. Do not replace with almond powder.

The 30g egg is without shell. After or before lightly beaten won't affect the measurement.

Hope this helps and happy baking :)

Anonymous said...

Hello! May I know how to convert weight to cups/tablespoon? And 30g of egg is how many?

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi, I use a weighing scale to measure the ingredients amount. I am not able to provide the conversion as it may not be accurate and bread recipes are not as forgiving. Hope you can find other similar recipes that uses cups/tablespoons.

Anonymous said...

Hi! I tried making this earlier today. It took me around 3 hours for the 1st rise before the dough doubled in size. By then, the chocolate chips have smeared and the dough became brown-ed. For the second rise, it took another 2 hours again. For both rise, I have covered using cling wrap. So my question is: (1) how do u achieve a perrect rounded white dough before it goes into the oven? (2) any way to quicken the rising process?

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi it shouldn't take that long to proof the dough
Did you use instant yeast or active dry yeast? Or could it be the yeast has expired?
You need to smooth the dough into rounds. You can google for demo video on smoothing the doughs as I can't explain it in writing as it may confuse you.

All In One said...

Nice I have try this recipe n I miss out the egg it turn out fine yeah

Elaine Elysha said...

Hi dear,
I made these today without adding the chocolate crosses n glaze. Still, it turned out so perfect . Thanks for sharing this recipe.