Preparation Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 3 hours

INGREDIENTS

Pear and Dark Chocolate Hot Cross Buns, adapted from a basic Donna Hay recipe

• 560 mL full cream milk
• 1.5 tablespoons dried yeast
• 165 g caster sugar
• 500g plain flour
• 450 g wholemeal plain flour
• 4 teaspoons mixed spice
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 75 g unsalted butter, melted
• 1 egg + 1 egg yolk
• 2 firm beurre bosc pears, diced into 1cm cubes
• 250 g chocolate chips

Icing and Glaze

• 70mL water
• 25 g plain flour
• 30 g cocoa powder
• 100 mL pure maple syrup or warmed honey

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 40°C/100°F fan-forced to create a warm place for your dough to rise. If you have an alternative warm place, such as near the fire, you won’t need the oven just yet!
2. Gently heat the milk in a small saucepan until lukewarm. Add the yeast and 3 teaspoons of the sugar, whisk gently to combine, and leave for 10 minutes to allow the yeast to become activated.
3. In a large mixing bowl, combine the rest of the hot cross bun ingredients, except the chocolate chips. Pour the milk mixture into the large bowl, and use your hands to combine everything into a sticky dough. Add the chocolate chips once the dough has cooled down a little, and mix to combine.
4. Scoop the dough out onto a floured surface, and knead for 10 minutes until it becomes quite elastic. It should be a rather wet, sticky dough, so add a little more flour to your bench as you go to prevent it from sticking to the surface, but try not to dry out the dough too much.
5. Place the dough in a lightly oiled oven-proof bowl, cover with a damp tea towel, and place in the oven for 1 hour to rise. The dough should roughly double in size.
6. Grease and line a 25 cm square cake tin. Tip the dough out onto the bench and roughly shape it into a square about 1-2 inches high. Cut the dough into 16 squares, then role each square into a ball and pack them evenly into the cake tin. Cover the tin with a damp tea towel, and leave it to rise again for another 30 minutes.
7. Meanwhile, make the icing by whisking the water, flour and cocoa powder together to form a smooth paste. Remove the buns from the oven once they have finished rising, and turn up the heat to 200°C/400°F fan-forced. Use a piping bag or plastic bag with a small corner snipped off to form the crosses by piping long stripes across your buns.
8. Bake the buns for 30-35 minutes, or until golden brown and puffy. Use a pastry brush to immediately and generously glaze the hot cross buns with maple syrup or warmed honey. Leave to cool in the tin for 20 minutes, then lift out, pull apart, slice open and serve warm with butter and tea!

Store the hot cross buns in a cool, dry, airtight place for up to 3 days. Best served on the day of baking.