Chai Spiced Hot Cross Buns

I love Chai in any form and I love home made Hot Cross Buns.  So what better marriage than Chai spiced hot cross buns.  My favourite is a Chai Spice mix of cinnamon, ginger, cloves and cardamom.  In fact just like variations of chai you can play around with the spices (freshly ground is best) and I’ve even infused the warm milk with some leaf chai tea.

Chai Spiced Hot Cross Buns

I use the Everyday Cookbook version of Hot Cross Buns as a base and reduce the sugar to about 10g of rapadura making them a great snack for the kids.  And there's plenty of other variations to try.  With or without citrus, a handful of cocoa nibs, a hint of espresso, wholemeal, with or without crosses...    All delightful and hard to resist straight from the oven with homemade butter of course.

And these are so delicious you'll want to make them all year round so just omit the cross and you won't feel guilty a bit.
 

 

Easter is early this year so what are you waiting for? Start baking!

Chai Spiced Hot Cross Buns

250g milk

70g unsalted butter

10g rapadura sugar

1 free range egg

½ tsp salt

10g dry yeast

100g wholemeal bakers flour

400g bakers flour

1 tsp ground cinnamon

½ tsp ground cloves

½ tsp ground ginger

½ tsp ground cardamom

80g sultanas

70g currants

• Place milk into Thermomix bowl and heat for 1 minute at 90° on speed 1
 
• Add butter and sugar and mix for 10 seconds on speed 2
 
• Place remaining ingredients excluding sultanas and currants and knead for 2 minutes on Interval Setting
 
• Add sultanas and currants and knead for a further 1 minute
 
• Wrap in Thermomat or place in a covered bowl and leave to prove in a warm place for 2 hours to approximately double in size
 
• Break off 1/3 cup size pieces, shape into rolls and place on a lined baking tray and let them prove for a further 30 minutes (we like them small in size as they go further!)
 
• Pipe with crosses if desired (a mix of 80g flour, pinch salt, 1tsp oil, 100g water in a piping bag or zip lock bag with the end snipped off)
 
• Bake in a preheated oven at 220° for 15 minutes
 
• Brush with sugar syrup (a mix of 1 tbls rapadura sugar and 1 tbls hot water) while still warm

 

Enjoy!