Now that you’ve been exposed to my technical ‘skills’, it may not be surprising to learn that my hot cross buns were lacking something, too.
I followed a recipe that I downloaded from the internet – probably my first mistake! – and while they turned out perfectly edible, they had a texture more akin to a scone than a bun.
Everything started out nicely enough, although I was apprehensive about using copha, or vegetable shortening, as I associate that stuff with my 1970s childhood and making those ghastly school cake stall favourites, chocolate crackles.
After mixing the ingredients, I let my wonky ‘buns’ rise for over an hour…
Finally, it was into my crappy 1967 oven for 15 minutes on high… they came out looking quite impressive, and didn’t taste too bad, but they weren’t nearly as ‘bready’ as I’d hoped.
Their appearance alone was rewarded later in the night though, when I bartered a few of them in exchange for the barman at a certain Elwood bar mixing one more round of shots when he should really have been closing up.
It had been an Easter miracle.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Looks like the real thing!
Looks delicious! Great job!
Paz
Those look really good!
I use Elizabeth David’s spice bun recipe – I couldn’t be bothered with doing the crosses but the milk and sugar glaze is fantastic!
They definitely looked better than they tasted though… next time I might try Elizabeth David’s recipe – thanks Alex!