Chocolate Orange Hot Cross Buns: Easter

The other day I mentioned saving holiday recipes from the newspaper, blogs and articles on line. A few years ago Jo Pratt posted this Easter Recipe on the Mailonline. It's a great recipe for Chocolate Orange Hot Cross Buns. If you want to make hot cross buns and add chocolate without making a chocolate bun, you can make regular hot cross buns and add chocolate chips instead of raisins. But give this one a try. This recipe for Chocolate Orange Hot Cross Buns, a yeast bread, is great. Once again I've converted the measurements from the U.K. to the U.S. They're not totally exact, but very close. If you want to check out the original recipe with UK measurements, go HERE. Makes 12 buns.

CHOCOLATE ORANGE HOT CROSS BUNS

Ingredients
1/2 cup milk
4 tbsp superfine sugar (castor sugar)
5 tbsp sweet butter
3 1/2 cups white flour
4 tsp. dark cocoa powder
1tsp mixed spice  (combo of allspice, cinnamon, clove, coriander, ginger and nutmeg)
1tsp salt
2 1/2 tbsp chopped mixed peel (candied citrus peel)*
Finely grated zest of 1 orange
1 3/4 fast action dried yeast
1/2 cup or 4 ounces dark chocolate, broken into pieces, or chocolate chips
1 egg, beaten
Flour for dusting

For the crosses and glaze
1/4 cup white flour
1tbsp sunflower oil
 2-3 tbsp water
2 tbsp orange juice
2 tbsp caster sugar

METHOD
Place the milk in a saucepan over a low heat. Just before it boils, remove from the heat and stir in the sugar and butter, until they have dissolved. Add 1/4 cold water and leave to cool down until you can comfortably hold your finger in it for a few seconds.

Sift together the flour, cocoa, mixed spice (if you're using it) and salt into a large bowl and stir in the mixed peel, orange zest and yeast. Make a well in the center and pour in the warm milk mixture and beaten egg. Mix together until you have a sticky dough. Add the chocolate chips or broken chocolate, and knead on a floured surface for 8-10 minutes until it's smooth and elastic.

Place the dough in a large, lightly oiled bowl, cover with a damp tea towel and leave to rise in a warm place for about 1 hour, or until doubled in volume. Punch the dough and knead for a couple of minutes. Divide into 12 pieces and shape into buns.

Place on greased baking sheets, leaving enough space between each for rising. Cover with the tea towel and leave to rise again until doubled in size – about 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 400 F.

For the glaze, mix the flour and oil with 2-3tbsp water until smooth.

Lightly cut a cross in the center of each of the buns with a knife to mark out your crosses. Using a piping bag (or use a plastic bag with a corner snipped off), pipe on the crosses. Cook the buns for 15-18 minutes until they are golden and sound hollow when tapped underneath.

Place the orange juice and sugar in a small pan, and gently heat until the sugar dissolves. As soon as the buns are out of the oven, brush with the glaze and leave to cool slightly on a wire rack before serving warm.

Photo: Mailonline