Hot Cross Buns! Hot Cross Buns!

"Hot-cross Buns! Hot-cross Buns! One a penny, two a penny, Hot-cross Buns! Hot-cross Buns! Hot-cross Buns! If ye have no daughters,Give them to your sons."

Thanks to Not Quite Nigella and Hoglet K's lovely blog posts on hot cross buns I found myself craving them all day at work...much so to the point that I didn't care if I had all the right ingredients at home...I was going to make them and they would work!

Luckily I had majority of the important ingredients at home...minus cinnamon...and sultanas...so I made my own special version...chocolate orange hot cross buns with an orange glaze for the cross...this was my first time making them and I think I might have left them in the oven about 5minutes too long because the top was a little hard...but the rest turned out fine and I managed to satisfy my craving...I'm pleased to say a crisis was averted!

I used NQN's recipe for the bun itself and then improvised a little on the rest...

Chocolate Orange Hot Cross Buns
2 tablespoons instant dried yeast
1/2 cup sugar
1.5 cups lukewarm milk
4.5 cups plain flour
1 teaspoon salt
50g butter melted
1 egg lightly beaten
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup dark chocolate chips
1/2 cup grated orange peel

Mix yeast, sugar and warm milk in a bowl and stir to remove any lumps. Set aside for 15 minutes until it becomes frothy. In a large bowl, or the bowl of your mixer, sift flour and salt. Make a well in the centre and mix in the yeast mixture, butter, egg, cinnamon, one third of the chocolate chips, and all your orange peel. Knead dough for 5 minutes until elastic and place in a greased bowl covered with cling wrap in a warm area. Leave for 1 hour to 1.5 hours until doubled in size.

Using your fist, punch down the dough and add the remaining chocolate chips. Knead lightly and divide into 16 balls. Place close together on a lined or greased baking tray. Cover with cling wrap and allow to rise in a warm place for 20 minutes. Preheat the oven to 200C and bake 20 - 30 mins until done.

For glaze:
1 cup icing sugar
2 tbs hot water
1 tbs orange juice

Mix all these ingredients together and form into a thick glaze...add more sugar/water if needed to get the right consistency...which is when it sticks well to the spoon without being too watery. Once the buns are out pour the glaze over in the shape of a cross and you're done!

This morning for breakfast I enjoyed a lovely bun with some fruits as well..a delicious start to the day!