Sugar-free hot cross buns make healthy treats for Easter

Easter is just round the corner but we’ve been bailed up by chocolate eggs and sweet-smelling hot cross buns since Boxing Day. Enough is enough! There must be an alternative?! Well, there is. A fellow work colleague and devout  follower of the sugar-free lifestyle (she’s amazing – really) passed this recipe for sugar-free hot cross buns on to me so it’s only fair that I share it with you. 

Ingredients:

• 4 cups of plain flour
• 14 gm of dried yeast
• 1/2 cup of dextrose
• 1 1/2 teaspoons total of cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves (or whichever spice you’d prefer)
• A pinch of salt
• 1 1/2 cups currants (dried naturally with no preservatives or added sugar – you can sometimes get these from farmers markets) or sugar-free chocolate chips (follow first two steps in my sugar-free chocolate nut butter cups recipe, then smash the chocolate into tiny bits)
• 40g of butter
• 300ml of milk
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten

Flour paste for the crosses

• 1/2 cup plain flour
• water

Method

Combine all dry ingredients in large bowl and give a bit of stir. Melt butter in a saucepan then add milk and heat until lukewarm. Add warm milk mixture and eggs to dry ingredients. Use a butter knife to mix until dough almost comes together. Use clean hands to finish mixing to form a soft dough.

Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead for 10 minutes until nice and smooth. Place into a lightly oiled bowl (I used coconut oil). Cover with glad wrap and place in a cool, dry place for about 1 to 1.5 hours, or until dough doubles in size.

Line a large baking tray with non-stick baking paper. Punch dough down to its original size. Knead on a lightly floured surface until smooth. Divide into 12 ball-shaped portions and place them on a baking tray, about 1cm apart. Cover with glad wrap again and leave for 30 minutes to double in size.

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 190 degrees Celsius and make the flour paste for the crosses.

Mix flour and water together in a small bowl until smooth, adding a little more water if paste is too thick. Spoon flour paste into a piping bag and pipe over tops of buns to form crosses. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until buns are cooked through.

Makes 12.

Sugar-free hot cross buns with butter

Please note – this is not an original Inspired Mood recipe. If someone is aware of the original source, please advise.