Chocolate hot cross buns recipe
These chocolate hot cross buns are a spruced up version of the traditional Easter classic. If an Easter egg isn't enough to sate chocolate your cravings, these certainly will.
Richard's top tips:
- Complement the recipe by rustling up some delicious, flavoured butters. These are a doddle to make – simply mix softened butter with marmalade or your favourite flavoured jam and then spread this onto your toasted treat.
- Bread and butter pudding is a great dish to serve up at Easter family get-togethers, so add a fun, seasonal twist and swap out traditional bread for chocolate hot cross buns – or even the standard variety.
- When it comes to show-stopping puddings, it’s often the case that bigger is better, so why not surprise your guest with a super-size hot cross bun? The ingredients and method are exactly the same, simply shape your dough into a giant bun shape as opposed to multiple smaller ones.
Ingredients
- 550 g strong white flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 7 g sachet easy bake yeast
- 25 g caster sugar
- 350 ml warm water
- 2 tbsp cocoa powder
- 180 g chocolate chips
- 2 tbsp honey, warmed
Details
- Cuisine: British
- Recipe Type: Bread
- Difficulty: Medium
- Preparation Time: 140 mins
- Cooking Time: 30 mins
- Serves: 16
Step-by-step
- Sift the flour into a mixing bowl and stir in the salt, yeast, sugar and cocoa powder.
- Make a well in the centre of the mixture and add the water. Bring the ingredients together with a spatula initially, then use clean hands to mix together thoroughly and form a soft dough.
- Turn out on to a lightly floured surface and knead for at least 5 minutes until the dough is soft and elastic. This gives the bread a good springy texture.
- Mix in chocolate chips and knead for another minute, before dividing the mixture into 16 even buns.
- Arrange on a baking tray, cover loosely with a damp tea towel and leave to prove somewhere warm for 2 hours until the buns almost double in size.
- Heat the oven to 200°C/400°F//gas mark 6. Mix the flour with a little cold water into a paste and spoon into a piping bag.
- Pipe a cross on to each bun then bake for 20–25 minutes until well risen and golden. Brush with the honey while still warm from the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack.
Richard Jones is Morrisons Head M Kitchen Chef. Photography by Paul Cooper/REX.
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