Easter Creation – White Chocolate & Macadamia Hot Cross Buns

Easter is an interesting time of year.  It is usually my break for the year.  This I feel as if work has only just started and Easter is upon us.  It has snuck up on me.  I think I prefer Easter to Christmas because it is not as commercialised (noting that the true meaning of Easter is marginalised more each year).

I didn’t realise it was really Easter until I saw a few blogs for Hot Cross buns and other delights mentioning Easter.  I immediately panicked a little because I had not given any thought about an festive recipe.  Whilst sitting through some boring meetings on Monday I formulated a plan.  On my A4 pad I started jotting down a few ideas and formulating my recipe.  I wanted something both familiar and different at the same time.

I decided upon hot cross buns (HCB), these are a favourite for all.  Good old Wikipedia has numerous explanations about the origin of these buns but I don’t really care.  They have always been associated with Easter in my house.  The first time my Dad cooked them he used the recipe out of the 1980’s Women Weekly Celebration Cookbook.  Since then we have gone through multiple iterations.  Last year I cooked the Hot Cross Tea Bread from Delicious magazine.  It was nice and very doughy but it was just glorified raisin toast.  Nothing special.  This year I wanted something new and exciting.

And so here we have it.  My Easter creation.  White Chocolate and Macadamia Hot Cross Buns.  These are still a yeast based bun but I have cooked it in a muffin pan.  Essentially the recipe is the same as a regular HCB except I have removed the spices and added cocoa and substituted the dried mixed fruit for white chocolate and chopped macadamia nuts.  Only after making these did I think of dark chocolate and hazel nuts, maybe next year.  I took these to work today and they were devoured very quickly so they must be good

Have a great Easter.

White Chocolate and Macadamia Hot Cross Buns
Adapted from Delicious “Hot Cross Buns” Makes 12 Ingredients
200g	Milk, warmed
¼ cup (50g)	Brown sugar, firmly packed and an extra teaspoon
2 2/3 cups (400g)	Plain flour
7g	Dried Yeast
1 ½ tbs	Cocoa
50g	Unsalted butter, melted
2	Eggs, lightly beaten
100g	White chocolate melts, chopped
75g	Macadamia nuts, chopped
2 tbs	Plain four, for the crosses
2 tbs	Honey
Method
Grease a 12 hole muffin pan with butter Mix warm milk with the extra teaspoon of brown sugar, 100g of the flour and all the yeast and stir until smooth. Set aside for about 15 minutes until frothy. Sift remaining flour and cocca into a bowl.  Knead in melted butter, beaten egg and yeast mixture.  Once combined knead in white chocolate and madadamia nuts.  Divide dough into 12 portions.  Knead each portion for about 30 seconds until it forms a smooth ball shape.  Place in muffin pan and repeat process with remaining dough. Allow buns to prove in a warm place for approximately 45 minutes.  Meanwhile preheat oven to 180°C (170°C fan forced). Mix two table spoons of flour with cold water to make a paste.  Using a piping bag draw crosses on the top of the buns. Bake buns in oven for 15 mintues until golden brown.  Soon after removing buns from the oven glaze with warm honey using a pastry brush.

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