Chocolate Chip Hot Cross Buns Recipes

SPICED CHOCOLATE CHIP HOT CROSS BUNS

Steps:

• Whisk the 2 ½ tbsp of AP flour, with the ½ cup milk (or water) until there are no lumps.
• Heat the flour-milk mix over medium heat, while whisking constantly. In a few minutes the flour-milk mix will start to thicken. Keep whisking well, until you have a runny paste. Remove from the heat. The tangzhong paste is now ready. (It should weigh about 130 to 140 g - about ½ cup).
• Place the tangzhong in a bowl and cover the tangzhong with plastic wrap, making sure it's touching the surface of the paste. Let it cool down to room temperature before using.
• Place the warm milk in your mixer bowl and dissolve about ½ tbsp of sugar in it. Sprinkle the yeast over the milk and stir gently. Let the yeast activate for about 10 - 20 minutes until it looks frothy and foamy.
• Place the flour and confectioner's sugar in a bowl and whisk together.
• Add water, 1 tbsp at a time, until you have a smooth paste that's runny enough to pipe easily, but will not run off the sides of the buns either. (For me, this is about 3.5 - 4 tbsp of water).
• If it get's too runny, adjust the consistency with a little extra flour.
• Place the flour paste in a small piping bag, or a ziploc bag and set aside.
• Place the honey, water and cardamom in a saucepan. Heat over medium heat until the mixture comes to a simmer, while mixing. Turn off the heat, and let the cardamom infuse into the glaze.
• Keep it warm until the hot cross buns are ready.
• Into the mixing bowl with the activated yeast - add the sugar, eggs, melted butter, tangzhong, and vanilla. Mix to break up the eggs. Add the flour, spices and finally the salt.
• Mix all the ingredients together to form a scraggly dough.
• With the kneading hook attached to the stand mixer - knead the dough until you have a smooth dough (about 2 - 3 minutes). Check the consistency of the dough. It should be very sticky. When kneading the dough at mid speed, the dough should still stick to the bottom, but not to the sides of the bowl.
• Knead the dough for a further 10 - 12 minutes. The dough should be smooth, shiny and tacky. When you touch the dough it should feel very tacky, but not stick to your hand.
• When the dough is smooth and shiny and well kneaded, you can add the chocolate chips. Knead the dough for a few minutes on low speed until the chocolate has evenly spread through the dough. You can also knead the dough by hand for a few minutes too. When kneading by hand, be gentle and fold the dough over gently without stretching it much.
• Place the ball of dough in a lightly oiled bowl, and then cover it with plastic wrap. Allow the dough to rise in a warm place, until doubled in size (about 1 hour).
• When the dough has proofed, you can use it right away, OR you can deflate the dough, reshape it and refrigerate the dough for 2 - 24 hours. A chilled dough will be easier to shape, but this is optional.
• When the dough has proofed, gently press on the dough to remove excess air.
• Divide the dough into 15 equal portions. (Weigh the dough and divide the weight by 15. This is how much each portion should weigh. This can be between 73 - 80 g).
• Line a half sheet baking pan, or a jelly sheet pan with parchment paper.
• Take each dough portion, and fold over the edges towards the middle. Then pinch these edges at the bottom to seal. Gently roll the ball of dough on your work surface (seam side down) with a cupped hand to shape the dough ball. Make sure the work surface doesn't have any flour to allow the dough to tighten into a smooth ball.
• Place each of the dough balls on the prepared baking pan, in a 3 x 5 configuration. Leave about ½ - ¾ inch of space between the dough balls.
• Cover the hot cross buns, and let them proof for the final time. On a cold day, this takes me about 90 minutes, and on a hot day, about 45 minutes. The way I test for proofing is by gently pressing my finger tip into a couple of the buns. If the indentation springs back up, then it's not ready. If the indentation remains, then they are sufficiently proofed and are ready to be baked.
• While the dough is proofing, prepare the flour paste for the crosses, and preheat the oven to 375°F.
• Snip off the edge of the piping bag (make sure the opening is smaller than the desired thickness of the lines that you want to pipe). Pipe the flour paste over the hot cross buns. First pipe along the middle of the buns in one row at the same time (all 3 rows), then pipe across all the 5 rows in the other direction.
• OPTIONAL - If you prefer to skip the glaze, you can glaze the tops with an egg wash at this point. Whisk together an egg yolk + 2 tbsp milk, and using a pastry brush, brush the tops of the buns, being careful not to smudge the flour crosses.
• Place the buns in the preheated oven and bake for 25 - 30 minutes. If needed, rotate the tray once, halfway through baking.
• While baking, prepare the glaze, and keep it warm.
• As soon as the buns are done baking (an instant read thermometer will register at 200°F or over when they are done baking), remove the baking tray from the oven, and let the hot cross buns cool for a few minutes.
• Brush the warm sweet glaze over the warm buns, and then let them cool completely on a wire rack.
• These are best eaten warm or lightly toasted with a little butter. Enjoy!

HOT CROSS BUNS WITH CHOCOLATE CHIPS

Steps:

• Sift the flour into a large bowl. Add the yeast, sugar, salt and spices and mix well to combine.
• Make a well in the centre and pour in the milk and butter. Stir the liquid into each other, then add in the egg. Mix with a wooden spoon then bring the dough together with your hands, pressing into it until it forms a sticky ball. (If the dough is too dry add a little water in tablespoon increments (up to 1/2 cup if needed) until the dough is just sticky to touch.)
• Transfer dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 5-10 minutes until it becomes smooth and springy.
• Transfer dough back into the bowl and cover with plastic wrap (or a clean, damp tea towel). Leave in a warm place to rise until doubled in size (about 1 hour depending on how warm the room is).
• Lightly grease a large baking sheet or line with parchment paper. Set aside.
• Punch down dough and transfer onto lightly floured surface. Sprinkle with 3/4 of the chocolate chips and knead the dough for 2-3 minutes.
• Divide dough into 12 or 15 even portions (depending on how many buns you need). Roll each piece into round smooth balls and arrange on baking sheet, leaving space between each bun to allow them to rise. Press remaining chocolate chips on top of each bun.
• Cover with plastic wrap (or damp tea towel) and place in a warm place once again to prove for 20-30 mins, until doubled and just touching. Preheat oven to 400°F (200°C).
• When oven is hot, bake buns for 20 minutes until they are golden brown and sound hollow inside when tapped.

CHOCOLATE CHIP HOT CROSS BUNS

Steps:

• KIDS the writing in bold is for you ADULTS the rest is for you. Mix the bun ingredients. Put the strong flour, yeast, caster sugar and 1 tsp salt in a bowl with the spices and mix. Make a well in the centre and pour in the milk, egg and butter. Start mixing with a plastic or wooden spoon and finish with your hands. If the dough is too dry, add warm water, or extra flour if it's wet.
• Now stretch the dough - this is called kneading. Knead the dough on a floured surface for 10 mins until it becomes smooth and springy. This will be a bit too much work for children, so get them to start the kneading, then when they get tired, take over.
• Leave the dough to rise until doubled in size because of the yeast. Transfer to a clean, lightly greased bowl and cover loosely with a clean, damp tea towel. Leave in a warm place to rise until roughly doubled in size - this will take about 1 hr depending on how warm the room is.
• Add the chocolate chips and do some division. Tip the dough onto a lightly floured surface and flatten. Scatter over the chocolate chips (or dried fruit), and knead the dough a few more times. Divide it into 8 even portions - halve the dough, then halve each portion twice more, and explain the maths.
• Roll the dough into buns. Roll each portion into a smooth round and place on a greased baking sheet in 2 rows of 4, leaving some room between each bun for it to rise. Cover with a tea towel again and leave in a warm place to prove for 20 mins, until almost doubled in size again or just touching.
• Make the crosses on the buns and bake them. Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Mix the plain flour with 1 tsp sugar and 4-5 tbsp water to give you a thick paste. Spoon into a piping bag and pipe white lines on the buns to make crosses. Bake for 20 mins until they are light brown.
• Brush them with jam if you want them to be nice and shiny. If you want to enjoy the buns untoasted, gently heat the jam in a pan or the microwave, and brush over the buns using a pastry brush. If you are going to toast them, then don't glaze them as the jam will burn.