Chocolate Orange Hot Cross Buns

One of my favourite parts of Easter is the food, and I feel the same with Christmas as well! I decided it's time to make Hot Cross Buns! I wanted to take them into work, but I was aware that one of the people I work with doesn't like dried fruit, so I decided to add my own spin on things with chocolate orange ones!

You will need:
4 cups plain flour
1.5 tsp mixed spice
14g dried yeast
1/4 cup caster sugar
350ml slightly warmed milk
2 lightly beaten eggs
300g dark chocolate chips
200g milk chocolate chips
Zest of 1 orange

Crosses:
1/2 cup of plain flour
1/2-1 cup of water

Glaze
3 tbsp orange juice
3 tbsp granulated sugar

1. Combine the flour, spice, yeast and sugar in a bowl and mix. Add in the milk and the eggs and mix until the dough comes together. Add in the chocolate chips and orange zest and continue to mix.

2. Knead the dough for around 8-10 minutes and it's smooth and elastic. Pop it back in the bowl, cover it in cling film and leave it in a warm place for an hour, until it's doubled in size.

3. Knead the dough a little more and then split it into 12 equal sized balls. Place them on a lined baking tray. Cover once again in cling film and pop into the warm place for about half an hour.

4. Meanwhile, mix together the flour and water until it's a smooth paste. Add the water little by little, not all at once. Put this into a resealable bag/piping bag, snip off a little corner and pipe crosses onto the now-risen buns. Cook the buns at 190 degrees for about 20-25 minutes.

5. When they are done, take them out of the oven and transfer onto the cooling rack. While they cool slightly, heat up the orange juice and sugar in a saucepan until the sugar dissolves and the syrup thickens. With a pastry brush, brush the warm glaze over the warm hot cross buns and enjoy!