Chocolate Chip Hot Cross Buns Food

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!

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.

CHOCOLATE & SPICE HOT CROSS BUNS

Steps:

• Make the dough first. Heat the milk in a pan until steaming. Remove from the heat, and drop in the butter. After a couple of mins, beat in the egg and half the orange zest. The liquid should be just warm for step 2.
• Mix the strong flour, yeast, 1 tsp salt and the sugar in a large bowl, then tip in the liquid and stir to make a soft dough without dry patches. Flour the work surface and your hands, then knead the dough for 5-10 mins until smooth and elastic. Use a stand mixer or processor if you like. Oil a large bowl, sit the dough inside it, then cover with oiled cling film. Rise in a warm place for about 1 hr or until doubled in size.
• Put the raisins and half the orange juice in a small pan or covered bowl, and either simmer for a few mins or microwave on High for 1 min until hot. Cool completely. Break the chocolate into a food processor with the cinnamon and 2 tbsp sugar, then pulse until very finely chopped. Mix in the rest of the zest. If you don't have a processor, chop it by hand or grate it, then mix with the other ingredients.
• Turn the risen dough onto a floured surface and press it out to a large rectangle, a little bigger than A4 paper. Scatter it evenly with the chocolate mix and the raisins, which should have absorbed all of the juice (drain them if not). Roll the dough up around the filling, then knead it well for a few mins until the chocolate and fruit are evenly spread. Some raisins and chocolate will try to escape, but keep kneading them back in.
• Grease then line a large baking sheet with baking parchment. Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces. Shape into buns by pinching each ball of dough into a purse shape, concentrating on making the underneath of the ball (which will be the top) as smooth as you can. Put the buns, smooth-side up, onto the baking sheet, leaving room for rising. Cover loosely with oiled cling film and prove in a warm place for 30-45 mins or until the dough has risen and doesn't spring back quickly when prodded gently.
• Heat oven to 190C/170C fan/gas 5. To make the paste for the crosses, gradually stir 6-7 tbsp water into the plain flour to make a smooth, thick paste, then put in a food bag and snip off the end to about 5mm. Pipe the crosses, then bake for 20-25 mins until the buns are risen and dark golden brown.
• Mix the rest of the orange juice with the remaining sugar and let it dissolve. Brush the syrup over the buns while they are hot, then leave to cool. Eat on the day of baking, or toast the next day.

CHOCOLATE CHIP HOT CROSS BUNS WITH MARMALADE GLAZE

Steps:

• Put the raisins and orange juice in a bowl and leave to soak while you make the dough. Stir occasionally.
• Heat the milk until just warmer than skin temperature. Remove from the heat and put the butter into the milk and allow it to melt then whisk in the egg.
• Mix together the flour, yeast, sugar and spices then mix in the liquid and a pinch of salt and stir to combine into a dough. Knead the dough on a floured surface for a good 10 minutes until it's soft and looks smooth (not mottled) when you stretch it. Put the dough back into the bowl and cover with a damp tea towel or oiled cling film, leave in a warm place for approx. 1hr until it's doubled in size.
• When the dough has risen, turn it out onto a floured surface, knock it back by giving it a quick knead then press it out into a flat square. Sprinkle over the soaked raisins (leaving behind any juice that hasn't soaked in) and the chocolate chips then roll up the dough and knead to incorporate them into the dough. The bits will try to escape but just press them back in.
• Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces and roll into smooth balls. Put the balls onto a parchment covered baking sheet, leaving some space for them to rise. Cover them loosely with a damp tea towel or oiled cling film, leave in a warm place for 40 minutes to rise.
• Heat the oven to 190C/170C fan. Mix the plain flour with enough water to make a thick paste. Pipe the paste or drizzle with a spoon, over the top of the buns to make crosses.
• Bake for 20 minutes until golden and risen and sound hollow when you tap the bottoms. Cool on a rack. While they're cooling, melt the marmalade until it's runny then brush over the buns to glaze.

CINNAMON CHOCOLATE CHIP HOT CROSS BUNS

Steps:

• Melt the chocolate and stir in the 2 tsp of cinnamon, mix well then pour onto a tray with baking paper and place in freezer until set. Once set chop into chunky peices to make 'cinnamon chocolate chips'.
• Next mix yeast, sugar and warm milk in a bowl and stir to remove any lumps. Set aside for 15 minutes until it becomes frothy.
• In a large bowl sift flour and salt. Make a well in the centre and mix in the yeast mixture, butter egg, cinnamon, mixed spice and one one third of the chocolate chips.
• Knead dough for 5 minutes until elastic and place in a greased bowl covered with cling wrap in a warm area (or sit your bowl in a larger bowl of warm water). Leave for 1 hour to 1 1/2 hoursuntil doubled in size.
• Using your fist, punch down the dough and add the remaining cinnamon chocolate chips. Knead lightly (Careful not to handle too much so the chocolate chips dont melt) and divide into 16 balls.
• Place close together on a lined or greased baking tray. Cover with cling wrap and allow to rise for 20 imnutes. Preheat the oven to 175C/350°F.
• Bake for 20 minutes untill lightly golden. Allow to cool slightly
• Melt the 1/2 block of chocolate in a ziplock bag in the microwave. Allow to cool slightly then snip of the corner of the bag and pipe lines across buns to make crosses.