Triple Chocolate Hot Cross Buns!
An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott
Preparation time: 60 minutes
Cooking time: 35 minutes
Serves: 12 buns
- 20g/0.7ozs. flour
- 125ml/4flozs. water
- 85g/3ozs. honey
- 60g/2ozs. butter, cubed
- 2 eggs, room temperature
- 1 tablespoon vanilla paste
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 250ml/8.8flozs. milk
- 485g/17ozs. bread flour (plus 30g more if needed)
- 60g/2ozs. cocoa powder
- 1 tablespoon instant dried yeast
- 200g/7ozs. milk or dark chocolate chips
For glaze
- 2 tablespoons apricot jam
- 1 tablespoon hot water
For Chocolate Glaze
- 100g/3.5ozs. dark chocolate, chopped
- 30g/1oz butter
- 2 teaspoons honey
- 2 teaspoons cream
For Crosses:
- 30g/1oz. white chocolate
- 1/2 teaspoon cream
Step 1 - First make the tangzhong roux. Place the 20g/0.7ozs of flor and water in a small saucepan and whisk to get rid of any lumps. Heat on low to medium heat to reach 65C/149F and stir so that it forms a smooth paste. Remove from heat and whisk in the honey, butter, eggs, vanilla and salt and whisk well. Then add the milk and whisk.
Step 2 - In the bowl of a mixer fitted with a dough hook add the tangzhong mixture and the flour, sift in the cocoa powder and add the yeast and mix with a spatula just until it starts to form a dough. Knead on low speed until you get an elastic mixture where you can pull it apart with floured fingers and it won't break. It can take up to 15 minutes.
Step 3 - Place the mixture in a large, greased bowl and cover and allow to triple in size (around 1 hour). Then knead in the chocolate chips. At this point I usually weigh the dough and then divide it into 12 so I get the weight of each bun. You can of course eyeball it too. My buns were 110g/3.9ozs each.
Step 4 - Line a 30x20x3cm/12x8x1.5inch baking tray with parchment. It's time to shape the buns. Shaping the buns is important and the trickiest part of it but if you've gotten it to the window pane stage your dough should be the correct consistency. Your dough should be slightly sticky but not wet. To shape the buns, cup your hand and roll the bun clockwise on the surface using the tension of the surface to shape it into a round bun without any cracks on top (this can take up to a minute depending on the consistency of your dough). If it is sticking too much to your hands, lightly grease your hands with oil (adding more flour at this stage will produce drier buns).
Step 5 - Place each bun in the tray. Preheat oven to 180C/350F and allow the hot cross buns to double in size while the oven gets to temperature. Bake for 30 minutes.
Step 6 - While the buns are baking make the apricot glaze. Mix the apricot jam and hot water together to form a smooth glaze. Brush the apricot glaze over the buns when they are hot out of the oven.
Step 7 - Then make the chocolate icing. Add the chocolate, butter, honey and cream and melt in a double boiler until melted. You can also do this in a microwave too in 15 second bursts on 90% power. Spoon the chocolate glaze over the buns.
Step 8 - Make the crosses by melting the white chocolate and cream together in a double boiler or in a microwave. Place in a little parchment piping bag and pipe crosses over your buns. These buns can be kept at room temperature of wrapped individually and frozen where they will keep for 3-4 months.