• Sieve the flour into a large bowl and rub in the butter with your fingertips, making crumbs of sort
• Add the sachet of yeast, salt and  sugar and mix well
• Then, add the sultanas and the mixed spice to the bowl too and mix it all up
• Whisk up 2 of the eggs and add them to the milk, then add this to the dry mixture making a dough
• At this point you can either add the dough to your mixer and kneed using the dough hook or do it by hand. However you decide to kneed you have to get the dough to the point where it stops being wet and sticky and turns in something much more malleable and stretchy, coming clean away from the bowl or board.
• Cover the bowl with a tea-towel and place in a warm spot for between three and four hours. I placed mine in the washroom under a radiator. When I came back a little later the dough had tripled in size and almost filled my Kitchen Aid mixing bowl. Leaving it for this long creates a dough that is so light and fluffy that the time spent doing this is good time.
• When the dough has risen break pieces off and create tight bun sized balls, placing them on a baking tray with a few centimeters between them all. Then it’s back upstairs for another 90 minutes underneath the radiator, you don’t have to cover them up this time though.
• If you’re making plain old breakfast buns all you have to do is give them a quick egg wash with the last egg and bake in the oven at 200c/400f until they are golden brown. If you are wanting to add a cross to your Hot Cross Buns then brush on the egg wash and mix up a paste of plain flour and tepid water and fashion or pipe a cross into place on top of the bun. Bake in the same way.
• Serve with butter, lashing and lashings of butter.

I may not have added much sugar to this recipe but I’ve made up for this in quantities of butter. Mmmmmm, do we have to think about getting beach ready yet or can we let Easter pass us by first??

Have a safe and Happy Easter. I’ll see you on Monday with a recipe that’s perfect for using up all of those left over eggs! I’m with the twins right now and they’re having a lovely breakfast of wholemeal toast while I drink my tea. Perhaps I’ll be able to tempt them with one of my Hot Cross Buns a little later.

Lots of love,

Cherry xoxoxo