It’s Easter Friday, a perfect day for baking Hot Cross buns. Until last year I’d never really tried to make hot cross buns, thinking that they were a little too time consuming and hard work – with a high chance of them not working out. I’d had some bad outcomes before with hot cross buns, so was aware it could be a bit hit and miss.

Luckily, I came across a recipe which has so far worked beautifully each time I’ve made them. It’s for pull-apart buns and is quick and easy and reasonably traditional in its ingredients. Where it differs is using short crust pastry on the top for the cross and the drizzle of maple syrup on the finished buns.

Here’s the link to the recipe – http://www.foodinaminute.co.nz/Recipes/Pull-Apart-Maple-Glazed-Hot-Cross-Buns

Here’s the before photo – the bun dough was left in a warm place for 20 minutes to rise (I use my oven for this, setting it on a low temperature and then turning it off).

Here’s a during photo – the buns have been in a warm oven for about 40 minutes (maybe longer). They’ve roughly doubled in volume.

And lastly, the after photo…. drizzled with some real maple syrup. Yum! This was lunch for four.