A firm Easter favourite or a tasty snack at any time of the year. These buns are sweetened with honey and enriched with butter and egg resulting in pillowy soft dough. The hot buns are brushed with a little honey, giving them their characteristic shine and delicious sticky surface. 

Bake these on a day when you have plenty of time to allow the dough to rest and rise though it’s a simple method and hands-on time is only around 40 minutes in total. I made mine using a stand mixer, but you can also make the dough by hand.  

Makes 15 buns                 Time: 40 minutes + 5 - 7 hours for proving and baking 

Ingredients  
650g + 100g Strong white bread flour 
75g + 3tsp Honey
1tsp Mixed spice
1tsp Cinnamon
1 Orange, zested  
10g Fast action/active dry yeast
1 Egg
1tsp Salt
100g Butter, very soft
100g Candied peel, chopped
200g Dried vine fruit (raisins, sultanas, currants)
50g Stem ginger, diced (optional) 

Tip: A little ground cardamom added to the dough will take these to the next level! 

Method  

1. In a large bowl or using a stand mixer, combine 250g flour, 300g water, spices, orange zest and yeast. Add 75g honey at this stage. Cover and leave for 1 hour. 
2. Add in a further 400g flour, the egg, salt and very soft butter and mix/knead until all incorporated.  
3. Next add in the peel, vine fruit and ginger (if using). Knead by machine or fold the dough by hand until the fruit is evenly distributed. Leave the dough in the bowl and place in a warm place to rise until roughly doubled in size (2-3 hours). 
4. Tip the dough onto a lightly floured surface and cut into 15 pieces (approx. 100g each). Roll into balls and arrange on a lined baking sheet. Cover loosely with a large plastic bag (you can use this multiple times) and leave in a warm place to double in size (1-2 hours).  
5. Preheat your oven to 170oC fan (or 190oC) and prepare the cross mixture by combining 100g flour and 100-110g water.  
6. Pipe crosses and then bake for 20-25 minutes until the buns are golden brown. 
7. Remove from the oven and brush the tops with 3tsp honey. Warm the honey first if it’s thick or granulated.