The FastDay Forum

Missed these earlier they looked fab! Low cal versions next?? You could go in production for the 'graze' boxes!

I don't use any sugar in the mix but there's some in the glaze and the cross. My cooking is usually low cal and so are my puddings but when it comes to traditional recipes.. well... I keep them traditional.

YUM!!! I love the Easter biscuits from Greece - do you bake them too?

Yes, I do!!!

Any chance of sharing the hot cross bun recipe? They look totally yummy.
I have a bread maker.

Sure! I'll share it first thing in the morning, I don't have it right now!

why why WHY did I choose a fast morning to look at this thread and pictures of total yummage! I swear I can smell them as well! Oh boy...

OK, here's my recipe...

FOR THE BUNS
2 TS caster sugar
800 grms flour (I use the one that I also use for bread, not all purpose)
2 packets of fresh yeast (50 grms total)
300 ml milk
100 grms butter, slightly salted
1ts ground cloves
The seeds of 6 cardamon pods
2 ts ground cinammon
1 ts ground nutmeg
1 ts ground ginger
3 medium eggs
250 grms mixed black currants and raisins soaked in 4-5 TS of cognac or brandy
2 egg yolks and a couple of splashes of milk for brushing

FOR THE CROSSES
4 TS caster sugar
6TS flour
water to form a thick paste

FOR THE GLAZE
4 TScaster sugar
4 TS boiling water

YOU WILL ALSO NEED
Baking sheets and a freezer bag

Got to go now but I will post the procedure as soon as I come back!!!

I'm baaaaaack!
Here's the method:

Warm milk till it reaches blood temperature and mix with yeast, sugar and 150 grms of the flour in a big bowl. Cover it with cling film till the yeast develops. It will take 15-30 minutes.

In a basin mix the flour, yeast mixture, eggs, butter (room temperature), spices, raisins, currants and alcohol and knead them by using the method of folding. Don't knead for too long, 2-3 minutes will be enough.

Cover the basin with a wet towel and leave the dough to double (it might triple) it's size for an hour or so.

Knead again for a minute to remove the air and then cut the dough in 2, then in 4, 8 etc till you get 32 balls of dough the size of a ping pong ball. You might get 30 or 34 or 36 buns, it depends in how good the yeast is and how much it develops with the flour.

Cover two baking trays with baking sheet, form the balls into buns and place them on the trays. Score the buns with a knife in order to form the crosses. Leave them to raise for 45 minutes.

After 45 minutes, preheat the oven, 180C.

Make the paste for the crosses, put it in a freezer bag and cut one corner and make a pastry bag (unless you already got one). Mix the egg yolks with a little milk and brush the buns. Check if some of the buns need a repeat of the scoring and then fill in the crosses with the paste. If you are planing to bake the two trays separately then do this for the first batch and then wait to do the next before you put it in the oven.

Bake them for 12-15 minutes, remove from oven and as soon as you do that mix the ingredients for the glaze. Brush the glaze over the buns.

The end!