Hot Cross Buns

I made these using the same recipe last easter, and left it too late to post a recipe- hot cross buns in June just aren't right. I didn't want to make my own hot cross buns before Easter, but I hope posting the recipe on Good Friday gives any potential HCB bakers the chance to make them over the long weekend.

Again, I turn to Felicity Cloake's 'How to Cook the Perfect...' series. It does make me so much lazier at experimenting with cooking, on the other hand it allows me to bypass mistakes and go straight to perfect recipes- I am torn between whether I love it, or whether I resent having the exploration already done for me. I do know I really enjoy the articles, and I am hugely envious of her job.

I was glad Felicity has written a HCB recipe- before I relied on Felicity, I relied on Nigella; and I wasn't too impressed with her hot cross buns recipe- they were not sweet enough, and were too much like plain bread rolls. Felicity's feel more of a treat, richer and sweeter.

I did still make some adjustments to the recipe:

• I soaked the currants in Lady Grey tea. Dan Lepard soaks the fruit in his recipe in tea- a touch which creates, in Felicity's words an 'unnervingly juicy result'. I took this as a good thing, although Felicity doesn't do this in her final recipe. Perfection is, of course, subjective. I chose Lady Grey for it's citrussy flavours, which I really like in my Easter bun.
• I left out the 50g mixed peel, and made up the weight with extra currants. (I hate mixed peel).
• I added a strip of lemon peel and a strip of orange peel to the milk when I was infusing it with the spices.
• A controversial choice- I used strips of marzipan to make the crosses. I didn't like the alternatives for making the crosses that Felicity came across- icing, and cream cheese frosting. They both seem an very unwelcome addition. But marzipan doesn't seem unfitting here- and it makes the cross part actually interesting to eat. Also, you can make cut out strips of marzipan that make very neat crosses, whereas piping out a flour and water paste can be a very messy affair.

Soaking raisins in tea and infusing milk with citrus zest and spices.

Dough after the first prove

Shaped and unbaked buns

Unbaked buns with marzipan crosses