TRIPLE CHOC HOT CROSS BUNS & HOT CROSS BUN ICE CREAM.

• 

• 

Happy Easter Monday! I hope you all had a wonderful Sunday (however you spent it, as long as it was spent social distancing!), and are enjoying a peaceful day today if you can.

With time sort of blending into one continuous day recently, I think it’s more than acceptable to extend Easter for a little bit longer, which is a great excuse to make some more hot cross buns! Or maybe if you’ve got a little more self-control than me and have managed not to eat all of your existing hot cross buns, you might fancy having a go at making some hot cross bun ice cream.

Baking buns and ice cream can be quite labour intensive, but the below recipes are pretty simple. If you have a mixer with a dough hook attachment, the buns take very little elbow grease, and the ice cream doesn’t involve making custard like other ice cream recipes I’ve seen.

• 

• 

• 

TRIPLE CHOCOLATE HOT CROSS BUNS

INGREDIENTS (makes 10 buns)

250ml whole milk

50g butter

1 medium free range egg

450g strong white bread flour

50g caster sugar (or golden caster sugar), plus 2 tbsp

10g salt

2 tbsp ground cinnamon

50g cocoa powder

10g fast-action yeast

50g white chocolate chips

50g dark chocolate chips

50g plain flour (for the crosses)

Vegetable oil (to oil the dough bowl)

METHOD

Place the milk and butter into a saucepan and gently warm until the butter has melted. Set to one side to cool, then beat in the egg.

Put the bread flour into the bowl of a mixer with dough hook attachment, along with the sugar, salt, cinnamon and cocoa powder, plus the yeast. Turning the mixer onto a medium speed, slowly add the warm milk mixture until a smooth and elastic dough has formed (you may not need to add all of the mixture).

After kneading for 4-5 minutes, the dough should become soft and silky to the touch, and can be placed in a lightly oiled bowl. Cover, and leave in a warm spot for around an hour until doubled in size.

Tip the risen dough onto a clean, lightly floured work surface, folding it over repeatedly to knock the air out of it. Sprinkle over the chocolate chips and knead the dough until they are evenly distributed throughout.

Divide the dough into 10 pieces, rolling them into balls gently between cupped hands, before popping onto two baking trays lined with baking parchment. Cover and leave for an hour until the buns are noticeably larger (not doubled in size, but puffed up), meanwhile preheat the oven to 200C/180C fan.

Just before baking, mix the plain flour with a few tsp of water to make a loose paste. Transfer the paste into a piping bag (or sandwich bag with the corner sniped), and use to pipe on the crosses.

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the buns sound hollow when tapped on the base. Whilst the buns bake, mix together the 2 tbsp of sugar with 1 tbsp of water, pop into a saucepan and heat gently until the sugar has dissolved to make a glaze, then remove from the heat.

Once done, remove the buns from the oven and pop onto baking racks to cool, brushing the glaze onto the buns whilst still hot (quick tip: once you’ve taken the buns off the baking tray and onto the cooling rack, pop the baking parchment under the rack to catch any stray glaze – saves you elbow grease from getting it off your counters later on!). Enjoy whilst still warm, later cold or toasted.

• 

• 

EASY HOT CROSS BUN NO-CHURN ICE CREAM

INGREDIENTS (serves 4)

75g raisins

2 tbsp Baileys (or ginger beer, for a non-alcoholic version)

1 hot cross bun

40g icing sugar

300ml double cream

METHOD

Begin by soaking the raisins in 1 tbsp of the Baileys (or ginger beer, if preferred) in a small bowl. Next, tear the hot cross bun into small chunks and whizz in a blender with 3 tbsp water and 1 tbsp of Baileys to make a rough purée.

Next, whip the cream until it’s almost forming soft peaks, before sifting in the icing sugar and continuing to whip the cream until it forms the aforementioned peaks. Fold the hot cross bun purée and raisins (along with the soaking liquid) into the whipped cream, and transfer into a 500ml freezable container.

Freeze at least overnight – the ice cream should be scoopable straight from the freezer, but can be softened in the fridge for a few minutes if needed. Serve on its own, or inside a toasted hot cross bun.

---

Hope you’ve all had a wonderful Easter, even if it has been a strange one this year! Let me know if you’ll be making either of this recipes – and make sure to tag me in any insta pics, I love seeing them!