Chocolate Hot Cross Buns
1 1/2 cups milk, warmed
2 x 7g sachets dried yeast
Pinch of salt
4 cups plain flour
1 tbsp cocoa powder
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
60g butter, melted
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 cup chocolate chips (I used a mixture of milk and white chocolate bars and chopped them into small chunks instead of using drops)
1/3 cup water
60g white chocolate
Combine milk, yeast, salt and a pinch of sugar in a bowl, whisk together until combined. Cover with clingfilm and place in a warm place for 5 - 10 mins or until the top becomes frothy.
Sift flour, cocoa and cinnamon together into a large bowl. Add 2 tbsp of sugar (the remainder of the sugar will be used in the glaze), yeast mixture, butter and egg. Stir with a wooden spoon until dough almost comes together. Mix to a soft dough with your hands. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 10 mins or until dough is smooth. Place into a lightly oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Set aside in a warm place for up to 1 1/2 hours or until the dough doubles in size.
Punch dough down to its original size with your fist. Add chocolate chunks and knead until well combined. Divide dough into 12 equal portions and shape into balls. Place into a lamington pan lined with baking paper about 1 cm apart. Cover with a tea towel. Set aside in a warm place for 30 mins or until the buns have doubled in size.
Preheat the oven to 200C. Bake buns for approx 20 mins or until a skewer inserted into the centre of one of the buns comes out clean.
To make the glaze, heat water and the remaining 2 tbsp of sugar in a small saucepan over a low heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Bring to the boil and then boil for 5 mins. Brush warm glaze over the warm buns.
To make the chocolate cross, melt the chocolate in a microwave or in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of gently simmering water. When melted, spoon into a snap lock bag. Snip a corner off the bag and pipe chocolate crosses over buns. For something something different use a chocolate hazelnut spread for the crosses on the buns.
Serve Chocolate Hot Cross Buns warm or at room temp.
Makes 12
Achieve Success
We liked the Chocolate variation on this seasonal treat, although we both agree that the Times Online is still our favourite traditional recipe. This was by far and away the easiest dough to work with, all the others have been very wet and sticky and have required lots of extra flour to get it to a knead-able state but this dough was silky and smooth and only needed a very small sprinkling of flour on the bench while it was being kneaded. The Chocolate version was moist and fluffy and a nice chocolate hit although I thought it had a bit of a yeasty taste to it. That could be because I ran out of the dried yeast and had to use the fast action variety instead, I thought it was a like for like substitution but now I'm not so sure. I would make these again next year though ... but there are a lot of other recipes out there that I still haven't tried (and there are even more coming out of the woodwork as I type!) I have a feeling next year will see even more trials taking place!
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