homemade hot cross buns

I am a firm believer that the best hot cross buns are homemade. Store bought buns (that seem to appear in the supermarkets before the Christmas tree has even come down!) are so often doughy with such a sparce scattering of fruit.

This recipe is originally from the 'Ten o'clock Cookie Bakery' in Masterton who won an award for them several years ago and kindly shared their recipe with the nation. I have tried lots of hot cross bun recipes over the years, and this is by far the best one yet. Libby first stumbled across the recipe and is now quite the pro at making them. Although last year she overdid it a bit and was well and truly sick of them by Easter as I remember! Last Friday I felt it was appropriately near to Easter to bake a batch...

The method is similar to that for brioche dough, with the soft butter being kneaded in once the dough has been formed - so it is much easier to mix using a free standing mixer with a dough hook. It is worth making the paste for the crosses so your buns look 'authentic' and they actually taste ok too unlike some of the shoelace-textured ones on some buns. And the glaze is a must too, it makes them look so pretty. The recipe can be found here. It makes 2 dozen, which makes it well worth the effort as you can eat some fresh from the oven and freeze the rest.