Hot Cross Muffins

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With Easter just a few days away I couldn't resist finally having a go at making some hot cross buns. I decided to put a little twist on them and within a few minutes had discovered hot cross muffins. They consist of the same yeasted dough but are baked in muffin tins and therefor a little smaller than the usual buns. The dough is pretty sticky so I suggested either using a bread machine or a stand mixed with a dough hook attachment. I ended up using quite a lot more flour to get the dough to a workable consistency when kneading in the raisins and currants and they still turned out great so don't worry about using extra, just don't overdo it. The recipe claims to make 9 but I ended up with about 16 muffins.

Recipe adapted from BBCGoodFood
You will need-

• 450g strong white bread flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 7g sachet of dried yeast
• 50g butter, cubed and at room temperature
• 2tsp mixed spice
• 50g golden caster sugar
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 275ml milk
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 200g of your favourite dried fruit, I used raisins and currents
• 2tbsp plain flour
• Golden syrup for glazing

Place the flour, salt, yeast, butter, mixed spice, sugar, lemon zest, milk & eggs into your bread machine or mixer. Turn on the bread machine onto the dough setting. If using a mixer knead for around 5 minutes or until the dough is soft, smooth and springs back when you press it with a finger dipped in flour before covering the bowl with a tea towel leaving it in a warm place to rise for an hour.

When the dough is ready, turn it out onto a floured work surface. Deflate it and then press it out into a large circle. Place your dried fruits into the middle and then lift and fold the dough from around the edges over till its all covered. Knead the dough to help distribute the fruit and then cut through it with a knife a few times before kneading again. This is the messy bit so use extra flour here if the dough is really sticky.

Prepare your muffin tin by lining it with muffin cases or squares of greaseproof paper and then roll the dough into 12 balls. You may get more than this out of the mixture so have a few more cases ready just in case. Place them in the muffin tin and cover with a tea towel. Leave to rise in a warm place for around 30 minutes. Toward the end of the rising preheat your oven to 180C.

To make the crosses mix the 2tbsp plain flour with 5-6 tsp of cold water and mix into a paste. Fill a piping bag (or a sandwich bag and snip the corner). When the muffins are ready pipe crosses on them and then bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

When they come out of the oven, brush with a little golden syrup to glaze and leave to cool slightly before tucking in. They will keep for a few days in an airtight box.

Enjoy x