Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Hot Cross Buns Recipes

CHOCOLATE CHIP HOT CROSS BUNS

Steps:

• KIDS the writing in bold is for you ADULTS the rest is for you. Mix the bun ingredients. Put the strong flour, yeast, caster sugar and 1 tsp salt in a bowl with the spices and mix. Make a well in the centre and pour in the milk, egg and butter. Start mixing with a plastic or wooden spoon and finish with your hands. If the dough is too dry, add warm water, or extra flour if it's wet.
• Now stretch the dough - this is called kneading. Knead the dough on a floured surface for 10 mins until it becomes smooth and springy. This will be a bit too much work for children, so get them to start the kneading, then when they get tired, take over.
• Leave the dough to rise until doubled in size because of the yeast. Transfer to a clean, lightly greased bowl and cover loosely with a clean, damp tea towel. Leave in a warm place to rise until roughly doubled in size - this will take about 1 hr depending on how warm the room is.
• Add the chocolate chips and do some division. Tip the dough onto a lightly floured surface and flatten. Scatter over the chocolate chips (or dried fruit), and knead the dough a few more times. Divide it into 8 even portions - halve the dough, then halve each portion twice more, and explain the maths.
• Roll the dough into buns. Roll each portion into a smooth round and place on a greased baking sheet in 2 rows of 4, leaving some room between each bun for it to rise. Cover with a tea towel again and leave in a warm place to prove for 20 mins, until almost doubled in size again or just touching.
• Make the crosses on the buns and bake them. Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Mix the plain flour with 1 tsp sugar and 4-5 tbsp water to give you a thick paste. Spoon into a piping bag and pipe white lines on the buns to make crosses. Bake for 20 mins until they are light brown.
• Brush them with jam if you want them to be nice and shiny. If you want to enjoy the buns untoasted, gently heat the jam in a pan or the microwave, and brush over the buns using a pastry brush. If you are going to toast them, then don't glaze them as the jam will burn.

SPICED CHOCOLATE CHIP HOT CROSS BUNS

Steps:

• Whisk the 2 ½ tbsp of AP flour, with the ½ cup milk (or water) until there are no lumps.
• Heat the flour-milk mix over medium heat, while whisking constantly. In a few minutes the flour-milk mix will start to thicken. Keep whisking well, until you have a runny paste. Remove from the heat. The tangzhong paste is now ready. (It should weigh about 130 to 140 g - about ½ cup).
• Place the tangzhong in a bowl and cover the tangzhong with plastic wrap, making sure it's touching the surface of the paste. Let it cool down to room temperature before using.
• Place the warm milk in your mixer bowl and dissolve about ½ tbsp of sugar in it. Sprinkle the yeast over the milk and stir gently. Let the yeast activate for about 10 - 20 minutes until it looks frothy and foamy.
• Place the flour and confectioner's sugar in a bowl and whisk together.
• Add water, 1 tbsp at a time, until you have a smooth paste that's runny enough to pipe easily, but will not run off the sides of the buns either. (For me, this is about 3.5 - 4 tbsp of water).
• If it get's too runny, adjust the consistency with a little extra flour.
• Place the flour paste in a small piping bag, or a ziploc bag and set aside.
• Place the honey, water and cardamom in a saucepan. Heat over medium heat until the mixture comes to a simmer, while mixing. Turn off the heat, and let the cardamom infuse into the glaze.
• Keep it warm until the hot cross buns are ready.
• Into the mixing bowl with the activated yeast - add the sugar, eggs, melted butter, tangzhong, and vanilla. Mix to break up the eggs. Add the flour, spices and finally the salt.
• Mix all the ingredients together to form a scraggly dough.
• With the kneading hook attached to the stand mixer - knead the dough until you have a smooth dough (about 2 - 3 minutes). Check the consistency of the dough. It should be very sticky. When kneading the dough at mid speed, the dough should still stick to the bottom, but not to the sides of the bowl.
• Knead the dough for a further 10 - 12 minutes. The dough should be smooth, shiny and tacky. When you touch the dough it should feel very tacky, but not stick to your hand.
• When the dough is smooth and shiny and well kneaded, you can add the chocolate chips. Knead the dough for a few minutes on low speed until the chocolate has evenly spread through the dough. You can also knead the dough by hand for a few minutes too. When kneading by hand, be gentle and fold the dough over gently without stretching it much.
• Place the ball of dough in a lightly oiled bowl, and then cover it with plastic wrap. Allow the dough to rise in a warm place, until doubled in size (about 1 hour).
• When the dough has proofed, you can use it right away, OR you can deflate the dough, reshape it and refrigerate the dough for 2 - 24 hours. A chilled dough will be easier to shape, but this is optional.
• When the dough has proofed, gently press on the dough to remove excess air.
• Divide the dough into 15 equal portions. (Weigh the dough and divide the weight by 15. This is how much each portion should weigh. This can be between 73 - 80 g).
• Line a half sheet baking pan, or a jelly sheet pan with parchment paper.
• Take each dough portion, and fold over the edges towards the middle. Then pinch these edges at the bottom to seal. Gently roll the ball of dough on your work surface (seam side down) with a cupped hand to shape the dough ball. Make sure the work surface doesn't have any flour to allow the dough to tighten into a smooth ball.
• Place each of the dough balls on the prepared baking pan, in a 3 x 5 configuration. Leave about ½ - ¾ inch of space between the dough balls.
• Cover the hot cross buns, and let them proof for the final time. On a cold day, this takes me about 90 minutes, and on a hot day, about 45 minutes. The way I test for proofing is by gently pressing my finger tip into a couple of the buns. If the indentation springs back up, then it's not ready. If the indentation remains, then they are sufficiently proofed and are ready to be baked.
• While the dough is proofing, prepare the flour paste for the crosses, and preheat the oven to 375°F.
• Snip off the edge of the piping bag (make sure the opening is smaller than the desired thickness of the lines that you want to pipe). Pipe the flour paste over the hot cross buns. First pipe along the middle of the buns in one row at the same time (all 3 rows), then pipe across all the 5 rows in the other direction.
• OPTIONAL - If you prefer to skip the glaze, you can glaze the tops with an egg wash at this point. Whisk together an egg yolk + 2 tbsp milk, and using a pastry brush, brush the tops of the buns, being careful not to smudge the flour crosses.
• Place the buns in the preheated oven and bake for 25 - 30 minutes. If needed, rotate the tray once, halfway through baking.
• While baking, prepare the glaze, and keep it warm.
• As soon as the buns are done baking (an instant read thermometer will register at 200°F or over when they are done baking), remove the baking tray from the oven, and let the hot cross buns cool for a few minutes.
• Brush the warm sweet glaze over the warm buns, and then let them cool completely on a wire rack.
• These are best eaten warm or lightly toasted with a little butter. Enjoy!

HOT CROSS BUNS WITH CHOCOLATE CHIPS

Steps:

• Sift the flour into a large bowl. Add the yeast, sugar, salt and spices and mix well to combine.
• Make a well in the centre and pour in the milk and butter. Stir the liquid into each other, then add in the egg. Mix with a wooden spoon then bring the dough together with your hands, pressing into it until it forms a sticky ball. (If the dough is too dry add a little water in tablespoon increments (up to 1/2 cup if needed) until the dough is just sticky to touch.)
• Transfer dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 5-10 minutes until it becomes smooth and springy.
• Transfer dough back into the bowl and cover with plastic wrap (or a clean, damp tea towel). Leave in a warm place to rise until doubled in size (about 1 hour depending on how warm the room is).
• Lightly grease a large baking sheet or line with parchment paper. Set aside.
• Punch down dough and transfer onto lightly floured surface. Sprinkle with 3/4 of the chocolate chips and knead the dough for 2-3 minutes.
• Divide dough into 12 or 15 even portions (depending on how many buns you need). Roll each piece into round smooth balls and arrange on baking sheet, leaving space between each bun to allow them to rise. Press remaining chocolate chips on top of each bun.
• Cover with plastic wrap (or damp tea towel) and place in a warm place once again to prove for 20-30 mins, until doubled and just touching. Preheat oven to 400°F (200°C).
• When oven is hot, bake buns for 20 minutes until they are golden brown and sound hollow inside when tapped.

CINNAMON HOT CROSS BUNS

Steps:

• In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add the milk, sugar, shortening, eggs, salt, cinnamon, allspice and 3 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in currants and enough remaining flour to form a soft dough. , Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour., Punch dough down. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes. On a lightly floured surface, roll out to 1/2-in. thickness. Cut with a floured 2-1/2-in. biscuit cutter. Place 2 in. apart on lightly greased baking sheets. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes., Brush with egg white. Bake at 350° for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool., For icing, combine the sugar, vanilla and enough milk to achieve piping consistency. Pipe a cross on top of each bun.

CINNAMON CHOCOLATE CHIP ROLLS

Steps:

• In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water; let stand 5 minutes. Add the milk, butter, eggs, honey, salt and 3 cups flour; beat on low for 3 minutes. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough. , Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, 6-8 minutes. Place in a large greased bowl, turning once. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour. , Punch dough down. Turn onto a floured surface; divide into 4 pieces. Roll each into a 14x8-in. rectangle; spread with butter. Combine the brown sugar, chips and cinnamon; sprinkle over dough to within 1/2 in. of edges and press into dough. , Roll up jelly-roll style, starting with a long side; pinch seam to seal. Cut each into 12 slices. Place cut side down in 4 greased 13x9-in. baking dishes. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes. , Bake at 350° for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Cool for 5 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. , For glaze, in a large bowl, combine the confectioners' sugar, butter, vanilla and enough milk to reach desired consistency; drizzle over warm rolls.

HOT CROSS CINNAMON BUNS

Steps:

• Warm the milk and lemon zest in a small saucepan until steaming. Remove from the heat and add 25g butter, swirling until it has melted and the milk has cooled slightly.
• Mix 500g flour, 1 tsp cinnamon, the caster sugar, yeast and 1 tsp salt in a large bowl. Pour in the milk mixture and one of the beaten eggs, then combine with a wooden spoon until the mixture clumps together. Tip out onto your work surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 10 mins - the dough should bounce back when pressed with your finger. Transfer to an oiled bowl, cover with a tea towel and leave to rise for 2 hrs or until doubled in size.
• While the dough rises, make your cinnamon butter. Mash the remaining butter and cinnamon with the light brown sugar.
• Dust your largest baking tray with flour. Tip the dough onto the work surface and knead again to knock out any air bubbles. Roll the dough to a rectangle roughly 30 x 40cm. Spread the cinnamon butter over the dough, covering the whole surface. Scatter over the dried fruit. From one of the longer edges, roll up the dough into a tight sausage shape. Use a sharp knife to cut the dough into 12 equal-sized pieces. Arrange them on the tray, leaving a small gap between each one and making sure the open end of the scroll is facing inwards to prevent them springing open as they cook. Cover loosely and leave somewhere warm to prove for 1 hr or until almost doubled in size - the buns should be just touching.
• Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Brush the buns with a little beaten egg. Mix the remaining 140g flour with enough water to make a thick, smooth paste, then transfer to a piping bag fitted with a small round nozzle (or use a sandwich bag with a corner snipped off ). Use the paste to pipe crosses over the buns, then bake for 25 mins until deep golden brown and cooked through.
• Leave to cool for 10 mins on the tray. Meanwhile, mix the cream cheese and icing sugar, then brush the mixture over the warm buns. If you have any excess, you can serve this on the side for spreading over. Eat the buns warm from the oven or leave to cool. Will keep for up to two days in an airtight container.

HOT CROSS BUNS

Steps:

• Whisk milk, sugar, and yeast in a bowl until sugar dissolves. Cover and let stand until yeast softens and begins to form a creamy foam, about 5 minutes.
• Sift flour, cinnamon, allspice, salt, and nutmeg in a large bowl. Rub in butter with your fingers until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Stir in raisins, eggs, and yeast mixture; mix until well combined.
• Knead dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Place dough in a large, lightly-oiled bowl and turn to coat. Cover with a towel and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 45 minutes.
• Knock back risen dough with your fist. Remove from the bowl and knead for 1 minute. Divide into 12 pieces and roll into buns.
• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease an 9x13-inch baking dish.
• Arrange buns neatly in the prepared baking dish. Cover with plastic wrap. Allow to rise in a warm place for 15 minutes.
• Whisk flour and water together in a small bowl to form a smooth paste. Transfer to a piping bag and carefully pipe a cross onto the top of each bun.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Continue baking until buns have risen and are golden in color, 15 minutes more. Remove from the oven and immediately brush with warmed apricot jam.