Hot Cross Muffins

Our take on a hot cross bun, these hot cross muffins are delicious, easy and additive free!

Ingredients

Dry Ingredients

• 2 cups plain flour
• 1/2 tsp bicarb soda
• 3 tsp mixed spice
• 1 tsp cinnamon

Wet Ingredients

• 4 tbsp butter
• 1 cup buttermilk, at room temp (DF option 1 tbsp lemon juice + 1 cup milk of choice)
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs, at room temp (use 1 whole egg and then 1 egg white), whisked lightly
• 4 tbsp liquid coconut oil
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 orange, zest only
• Pinch of sea salt

Choice of

• 1 cup sultanas (soaked in warm water for 5 mins and drained), or
• 1 block dark chocolate, roughly chopped

Icing Cross

• 2/3 cup icing sugar
• 1 tbsp water
• Piping bag and nozzle (or you can use a small zip lock lunch bag)

Glaze

• 2 tsp apricot jam
• 4 tsp water

Method

Step 1

Preheat a fan forced oven to 210 degrees Celsius.

Step 2

Add the flour, bicarb and spice mix to a sieve and sift into the large mixing bowl. Once combined, gently make a well in the middle of the flour mixture.

Step 3

In a small dish, melt the butter in the microwave for approximately 20 seconds.

Step 4

In a second bowl, add the whisked eggs (1 whole egg and then only the egg white from the second egg), buttermilk, sugar, coconut oil, vanilla extract, orange zest and a pinch of salt to the bowl and whisk lightly to combine. Add in your melted butter and whisk until thoroughly combined.

Step 5

Pour the wet mixture into the well you created with your dry mixture. Add your sultanas or choc chips to the mixture.

Step 6

Use a wooden spoon to lightly combine the wet and dry ingredients. Note: Slow long stirring strokes is the best technique to combine without over-stirring. The mixture should be lumpy and just combined. It doesn't need to be smooth like a cake batter.

Step 7

Line a muffin tray with patty pans. Spoon mixture into each patty pan until 3/4 filled.

Step 8

Place muffins into the oven and cook for 4 minutes. After 4 minutes, turn the oven down to 175 degrees and cook for a further 7 mins.

Step 9

Remove muffins and test with a skewer to make sure it is cooked all the way through. Allow to cool completely before adding the glaze and icing cross.
 
Step 10: Glaze and Icing

To create the glaze, add the jam and water to a small bowl and heat in the microwave for 20 seconds. Using a pastry brush, lightly brush the muffins with the jam glaze.

Step 11

Add icing ingredients to a small bowl and stir until completely combined. The texture should be a very thick paste. If it's too thin, the icing will not keep its structure when piping the cross. If your icing sugar is lumpy, use the back of a spoon to smooth out any lumps. Spoon into a piping bag with the nozzle size of your choice and pipe crosses on the top of each muffin. Note: You can place icing into a zip lock bag and cut a small corner off the bag as an alternative option to a pipping bag.

Step 12

To store, place in a single layer in an airtight container. These will store for a couple of days, if they last that long!

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