Chocolate Orange Whip Hot Cross Bun Recipe

To celebrate Easter Weekend we’ve made some fabulous Chocolate Orange Whip Hot Cross Buns. As it’s officially the weekend of chocolate, you can pretty much make these and eat them at any point in your day. You can eat them alone, or with some butter and jam like we prefer and we just love them toasted.

They’re so easy to make, with only 15 minutes to prep and 25 minutes to cook. You’ll need to leave them to rise for about 2.5 hours in between, to make sure they’re fluffy enough. Each hot cross bun is 182 calories, so no excuses this Easter Weekend. So let’s see how they’re made…

The bits you’ll need

Dough:

125g strong white bread flour (sieved)

125g wholemeal bread flour (sieved)

½ tbsp dried yeast

¼ tsp bicarbonate soda

¼ tsp salt

¾ mixed spice

½ orange (juice & zest)

½ apple (peeled and grated)

50g raisins

80ml semi-skimmed milk

80g natural yogurt

½ tbsp honey

2 Skinny whip orange bars

Vegetable Oil (for oiling the bowl and cling film)

Cross Pastry:

3 tbsp plain flour (sieved)

2 ½ tbsp water

Glaze:

2 tbsp honey

To Serve:

Low fat butter spread (optional)

How to make ‘em: 

1. Heat orange juice and zest in a saucepan for approximately 3 minutes or until volume is reduced by half. Remove from heat, add the raisins and set aside.
2. Mix the milk and yogurt together and heat for no more than 1 minute in the microwave.
3. In a bowl or stand mixer, combine and evenly mix the flour, yeast, mixed spice, salt and bicarbonate soda.
4. Add the milk and yogurt mixture and the orange juice raisins mixture.
5. If using a stand mixer, mix for approximately 5 minutes until an elastic dough is achieved. If mixing by hand, form a dough with the wet and dry ingredients, then flour a work surface and knead the dough by hand for approximately 5 minutes until elastic consistency is achieved.
6. Grease the mixing bowl with vegetable oil and return the dough to the bowl. Cover with oiled cling film and leave to rise in a warm environment for approximately 1 hour or until doubled in size.
7. Divide the dough evenly and shape into approximately 8 balls. Place the balls on a baking tray with gap of about 1cm between each of the pieces and loosely cover again with the oiled cling film. Leave to rise again for 1.5 hours.
8. Before baking the buns, combine the flour and water together until smooth to make the cross pastry and then fill into a piping bag. If lumpy blend with a stick blender until smooth.
9. Preheat the oven to 180°C Fan / 200°C Electric / Gas Mark 6. Pipe the cross pastry onto the buns.
10. Place hot cross buns in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown.
11. Once removed from the oven, brush buns with honey and leave to cool on a wire rack. 

And that’s it, 8 hot cross buns for you to indulge on and enjoy. Keep sharing your recipes with us on social media on Instagram or Facebook, and let us know what recipes you would like to see in the future. Have a fabulous Easter whatever you do, and enjoy your treats!

Lot’s of Love,

Team Skinny

xxx