Gluten Free White Chocolate Hot X Buns

For the past few days I’ve had a raging internal debate about making hot cross buns. I love the idea of hot cross buns but they’re never spicy enough for me and the crosses are always a let down. For the last few years I’ve been meaning to try the recipe that Charlotte posted for gluten free hot cross buns. With a few tweaks I thought this recipe was worth a go.A few weeks ago I bought some white chocolate buttons for a batch of triple choc cookies where calling my name.Also whispering in my ear was my new favourite spread, St Dalphor’s Orange and ginger all fruit spread. Here’s my take on an Easter favourite. I hope you have a great Easter.

Makes 12 buns

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups buttermilk warmed
2 8g sachets dried yeast
1 Tbsp honey
1 x 450g packet gluten-free bread mix
1 Tbsp xanthan gum
1 tsp salt
1 tsp Chinese 5 spice
1 tsp allspice
3 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 cup dried currants
1/2 cup dried sultanas
1/4 cup orange and ginger fruit spread
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup white chocolate melts
1/4 cup orange and ginger fruit spread, warmed for glaze

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200 C or 180 C fan.
2. Line a large baking tray with baking paper or spray with cooking spray.
3. In a small bowl, combine warm buttermilk, yeast and honey. Set aside for 10 minutes until bubbly.
4. In a large bowl, combine bread mix, xanthan gum, salt, spices and dried fruit. Stir well.
5. Add the eggs and orange fruit spread to the yeast mixture and stir.
6. Add yeast mixture to the flour mixture. Using an electric mixer fitter with dough hooks, beat on medium for 5 minutes, or mix vigorously by hand for 10 minutes.
7. Using a large spoon dipped into water, scoop out mixture and place onto prepared tray in 3 rows of 4. Set aside in a warm place to prove for 40 minutes.
8. Bake buns for 25-30 minutes until golden and make a hollow noise when tapped on the bottom.
9. Brush tops of buns with glaze (jam).
10. Melt the white chocolate and make a baking paper piping bag and pipe on the crosses.
11. Place the buns on a cooling rack to allow the crosses to set.

*A quick note that the recipe is non-brand specific about there gluten free bread mix. I bought the BASCO brand and then got home to realise it was only 375g so I had to add extra rice flour and tapioca starch to make the remaining quantity up. The texture turned out just a bit too chewy for my liking. I suspect the Orgran gluten free bread mix was the intended product.