Very Chocolaty Hot Cross Buns

Happy Easter! This is the season again to eat lots of CHOCOLATES and HOT CROSS BUNS!

Seeing every bakery and supermarkets selling lots and lots of hot cross buns these days, I can't stop thinking that I need to bake hot cross buns again.

In my mind, all I can think is this simple equation...

Chocolate + Hot Cross Buns = Very Chocolaty Hot Cross Buns

I love this idea and so I researched and googled around for the best chocolate hot cross buns recipe and all I can find is this from Taste.com.au. Coincidentally, I saw Veronica from Veronica's Kitchen using the same recipe too to make her hot cross buns!

These buns are very extremely delicious when they were freshly baked. For my experimental purpose, I've kept a bun to see if it will stay fresh on the next day and kept another one in the freezer as my "comparison" bun. I'm not surprised at all to know that the "freezer" bun retained its texture better than the one kept at room temperature but when both of them were lightly toasted in the oven, they were equally soft and delicious again!

Making the hot cross buns

I was going to eat this bun and find this looked simply irresistible...

... then I realised the pinched out piece from the above bun looks ultimately the most mouth-watering :D

Update on 18 Mar 2019: Like very chocolaty hot cross buns, I would strongly recommend you to try my Super Soft Chocolate Hot Cross recipe at here. HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!

Here's the recipe from Taste.com.au

(with my modification in blue)

Makes 16

Ingredients

7g sachet (2 tsp) dry yeast

1 1/2 cups milk, warmed

1/4 cup caster sugar

4 cups plain flour (replaced by bread flour)

1/2 cup cocoa powder (I used Dutch processed cocoa powder)

60g butter, chilled, chopped

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/2 cup dark or milk choc bits

1 tsp gelatine

1 tbsp boiling water

Butter, to serve

   

Flour paste

1/4 cup plain flour

2 tsp caster sugar

Instead of flour paste, I'm making the crosses by piping melted milk chocolate on the buns (40g of chocolate is required to make crosses for 9 buns).

Method

Grease a 6cm-deep, 23cm (base) square cake pan. Place yeast, milk and 1 tbsp sugar in a bowl. Whisk to dissolve yeast. Cover. Set aside in a warm place for 10 minutes or until foamy.

Sift flour and cocoa into a bowl. Rub in butter until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Make a well in center. Add yeast mixture, egg and remaining sugar. Stir to combine. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface. Knead for 1 minute. Transfer to a lightly oiled bowl. Cover. Set aside in a warm place for 1 hr or until doubled in size.

Punch down dough. Turn onto a floured surface. Knead for 5 min or until smooth. Add choc bits. Knead to combine. Roll into 16 balls. Place in prepared pan. Cover. Set aside in a warm place for 30 min (I had mine set aside for 1 hr) or until slightly risen. Preheat oven to 200°C/180°C fan forced.

Meanwhile, make paste Combine flour, sugar and 2 1/2 tbsp cold water in a bowl. Spoon into a snap-lock bag. Snip 1 corner from bag. Pipe crosses onto buns. Bake for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 180°C/160°C fan forced. Cook for 20 min or until golden and cooked through.

Meanwhile, sprinkle gelatine over boiling water in a heatproof jug. Stir with a fork until gelatine has dissolved. Place buns, top-side up, on a wire rack. Brush tops with gelatine mixture. Cool. Serve with butter.

Note: Using half the recipe, I'm making 9 buns using 20 cm sq pan. I didn't make the crosses using this flour paste recipe and bake the buns at 160°C fan forced for 20 min.

Happy Baking

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