Orange Glazed Hot Cross Buns

These Easter treats are an orangey, spiced, raisin filled bun of joy! Making them is not as super fast as I like recipes to be, but then these are for making over the holidays when time is on your side. And they are totally worth it, a batch of these made a household very happy happy this morning. A lot of the time the yeast is activating you can go down tools, so don’t feel it is a 2 hour job. Makes approx 15 buns.

• 1 Cup almond milk
• 1 tbsp fast acting yeast
• 1 tsp honey
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 tbsp butter at room temperature
• 3 Cups gf bread (or plain) Flour
• 1 Cup chestnut flour
• ½ cup Raisins
• 1 ½ Oranges zest, and half the juice
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• ¼ tsp ground fresh nutmeg
• ½ tsp ginger
• Large pinch ground allspice
• 2 tbsp coconut sugar
• 2 Eggs, beaten White Crosses:
• ½ cup flour + ¼ cup water Orange Glaze:
• 2 tbsp rice syrup + 1 tbsp boiling water + zest of half orange

Warm the milk up, but not to boiling as this deactivates the yeast. Mix the milk together with the yeast in a medium mixing bowl with 1 tbsp of flour plus the honey, whisk together well, then cover the bowl, and leave in an airing cupboard, or a sunny windowsill to keep warm for 15 minutes until frothy. Meanwhile pour the flours, salt, spices, coconut sugar and 1 orange zest into a food processor, adding the butter and pulse until all combined. Tip into a large mixing bowl. Retrieve frothy yeast mixture and mix it into the flours, with the eggs, the orange juice and raisins. If the mixture, depending on your flour combination, is very dry still add a splash or two of milk until it comes together easily. Cover and put back on that window sill for 40 minutes to increase in size (up to half again, but sometimes less with gf flour). Grease a rectangle baking tray (approx 15cm x 28cm). Scrape the dough out of the bowl, and place on a floured surface, chop the dough in half and then half again. Make each quarter into approx 4 balls, kneading them to a nice, round bun shape. Fit them into the tin so they are barely touching. Mix the flour and water paste together until it is still runny but thick enough to pipe. Use a ziplock bag and chop a small hole in the corner to drizzle continuous lines over the top of the buns, then crossing them the other way. Bake at 190 for 15-20 minutes until smelling amazing! And golden brown, watch the crosses as they can catch first. Mix the glaze ingredients together and as soon as buns are out of the oven brush them generously with the orangey sticky deliciousness. Eat warm with butter and jam.