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215Total Time
2Prep Time
15Bake Time
16Serves
Easy

Lighter Hot Cross Buns

3 Reviews

About the bake

Why say goodbye to the little treats in life that you enjoy? Have delicious hot cross buns in 12 simple steps, with lighter ingredients meaning you can have the best of both worlds.

Using a mixture of spelt, oats and Allinson's strong white bread flour you can fuel yourself with a more nutritious bake, with no compromise on flavour. Packed with citrus zest, grated apple and a range of currants these lighter hot cross buns are then glazed with apricot jam before popping in the oven to bake.

Like getting extra nutrients out of your bakes? We got you. Our Honey Energy Balls as a delicious ball of goodness on the go, or whip up some protein pancakes for an ultimate Sunday Brunch scattered with fresh berries.

215Total Time
2Prep Time
15Bake Time
16Serves
Easy

Method

  1. Step 1:

    In a saucepan, slowly bring the milk to boil with the cardamom pods, lemon zest and orange zest. Once it's reached boiling point, take the pan off the heat and allow to cool at room temperature. 

  2. Step 2:

    In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flours and salt. Then add the oats, yeast, agave and beaten egg.

  3. Step 3:

    When the milk has cooled, remove the cardamom and pour into the mixture of the large mixing bowl.  

  4. Step 4:

    Mix together until the ingredients are well incorporated.

    Onto a large floured surface using your hands, knead the dough until it becomes a sticky stretchy dough. This should take 5-8 minutes.

  5. Step 5:

    Lightly oil a bowl and place the dough in it. The oil will prevent the dough from sticking as it proves. Use a damp tea towel to cover the dough and leave in a warm room to proove. This should take around an hour. 

  6. Step 6:

    In a separate bowl, mix together all the fruit. Bring your proved dough to the suface and sprinkle the fruit mixture in the middle. Knead briefly to distribute all the ingredients.

  7. Step 7:

    Divide the dough into 16 even pieces and roll into smooth balls. Position the balls onto 2 baking sheets in rows of 4, about 1 cm apart. Cover with a damp clean tea towel and leave to rise until doubled in size again.

  8. Step 8:

    Preheat the oven to 220ºC/fan 200ºc/gas mark 7.

  9. Step 9:

    It's time to prepare the crosses. In a small bowl, mix together 2 tbsp of flour with 2-3tbsp of water making sure you add it gradually until you have a thick paste. 

  10. Step 10:

    Put this paste into a piping bag (or sandwich bag) and snip the corner. Once the buns have risen in size, pipe crosses across the buns.

  11. Step 11:

    Bake in the oven for 15 minutes until golden on the top. While the buns are in the oven, warm the jam with 30ml of water in a pan. As soon as the buns are ready, paint the jam onto the buns using a pastry brush. 

  12. Step 12:

    Allow the buns to cool fully before serving.

Ingredients

  • For the Dough

    • 300g Allinson's Strong White Bread Flour
    • Sachet Allinson's easy bake yeast or time saver yeast
    • 100g Oats
    • 300g Spelt flour
    • 500ml Skimmed milk
    • 50ml Vegetable oil
    • 1 Egg (beaten)
    • 3 Cardamom pods (lightly crushed)
    • 1 lemon Lemon zest
    • 1 orange Orange (zest of)
    • 1 tsp Salt
    • 45ml Agave
    • 1 Grated apple
    • 60g Raisins or sultanas
  • For the Glaze

    • 45g Apricot Jam
    • 30ml Water

Utensils

  • Piping bag

Nutritional Information

per 83g
  • 226cal Energy
  • 4.4g Fat
  • 0.5g of which Saturates
  • 39g Carbohydrates
  • 8.2g of which Sugars
  • 6.6g Protein
  • 0.36g Salt

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