The hot cross buns with chocolate chips are sweet buns of Anglo-Saxon origin that are traditionally eaten for breakfast during the Easter period.
The variant I made was to replace the raisins with chocolate chips because we don’t like raisins very much at home.
Besides being so irresistible, their peculiarity is precisely the cross on the surface.
A legend from those parts tells that preparing this recipe on Good Friday prevents them from molding and even gives them therapeutic properties.
This year I wanted to share this Easter recipe with you, also to learn about the customs of other places in the world on certain occasions during the year.
It’s not the first time I’ve made them, in the past, I did all the steps perfectly, but the picture was terrible.
This time I made the cross after the rise, but once the buns are made, they should be brushed with the yolk, then make the cross and put them to rise… a moment of distraction and I forgot, so I made the cross after the rise and no yolk.
All that’s left is for you to try them and tell me in the comments what you think and if you liked them.
Approx. 200 Kcal per hot cross bun
- Difficulty: Medium
- Cost: Medium
- Rest time: 3 Hours
- Preparation time: 20 Minutes
- Portions: 22 pieces
- Cooking methods: Electric oven
- Cuisine: English
- Seasonality: Easter
Ingredients to make Hot cross buns with chocolate chips
- 0.28 oz fresh yeast
- 24.69 oz 0 flour
- 3.17 oz Butter
- 2.47 oz Sugar
- 0.85 cup Whole milk
- 0.85 cup Water
- 1 egg
- 1 pinch Nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon Ground cinnamon
- 1 Orange zest (+ juice)
- 1/2 teaspoon Ground ginger
- 1 pinch Salt
- 3.53 oz 75% dark chocolate (or sultanas as per tradition)
- 1 egg yolk
- 1.35 oz Water
- 1.41 oz 0 flour
- 1 teaspoon Almond extract
- 1.01 oz Water
- 2.29 oz Sugar
Preparation of Hot cross buns with chocolate chips
The preparation of these buns can be done with a planetary mixer or use some elbow grease and do it by hand.
In the mixer, place the fresh yeast, milk, water, flour, and sugar, mix well with the mixer or by hand.
Then add the orange zest and juice, nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, salt, butter, and mix well again.
Finally, add the egg and finish the dough by kneading it well until all the ingredients are well absorbed.
Pour the dough into a large bowl and cover with plastic wrap, letting it rise for about 2 and 1/2 hours.
After the rising time, pour the dough onto a lightly floured work surface, roll it out with a rolling pin to create a rectangle, sprinkle the chocolate chips, fold the dough over itself, and work for about ten minutes until you create a homogeneous ball.
At this point, form buns weighing 2.47 oz each and place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, well spaced.
Brush them with egg yolk diluted with a drop of water, then prepare the mixture for the typical cross of these buns with water, flour, and almond aroma, mix the batter well and with a piping bag with a very fine tip form a cross on each bun.
Let rise inside the turned-off oven for about 45 minutes…..
……then bake in a preheated oven at 356°F for about 30 minutes.
I got distracted and this time (as I had already made them in the past) I made the cross after the rise and no yolk.
When they are almost cooked, start preparing the syrup for glazing by putting the required water and sugar in a small saucepan and let it cook for a couple of minutes.
Once cooked, immediately brush our hot cross buns with the obtained syrup.
