Ingredients

For the buns:

• 4 1/4 cups high grade flour
• 1 1/2 cups warm milk
• 4 tbsp raw honey
• 3 tsp yeast
• 2 tbsp ground cardamom
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 1 tsp salt
• 50gr Mainland spreadable Buttersoft
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup orange zest
• 1/2 cup white chocolate bits
  
  

For the crosses:

• 1/2 cup plain flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1/3 cup water

For the glaze:

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup boiled water

Method

• Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius

Buns

• In a bowl mix 1 1/4 cups flour, 1 1/2 cups warm milk, 4 tbsp honey and 3 tsp yeast. Allow to sit for 5 minutes. The result should be like a paste consistency.
• Then add the remaining 3 cups flour, cardamon, cinnamon, cloves, Mainland spreadable buttersoft, egg, orange zest and white chocolate to the paste and combine to form a dough. knead for 3 mins and then place the bowl of dough in a warm room to double in size.
• Once it has doubled take it out and place on a floured bench and knead for 7 minutes. Add more flour if too sticky. At this point spread out and add the orange zest and white chocolate bits, combine until all mixed in. Allow to sit again in the bowl until it doubles again in size, usually an hour.
• Punch the dough down and divide into 12 pieces. Roll the pieces into a ball and place on a lined baking tray 2 cm apart
• Allow to rise again, touching each other on the tray is best as they cook well like this.

Crosses

• To make the crosses stir all ingredients together and place into a piping bag pipe thin crosses over the top of the buns.
• Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden and smelling delicious.

Glaze

• Combine the sugar and water in a pot on the stove until the sugar has dissolved
• Brush this over the cooked hot cross buns as soon as they come from the oven.

Enjoy straight out of the oven with Mainland Buttersoft.