Stephanie's Test Kitchen

One thing I miss since going gluten free would be the traditional hot cross bun. During the weeks leading upto Easter, you could say they were a rather large staple in my diet. My favourite were the fruit filled kind and I’d eat them smothered in melted peanut butter or Nutella. Sickeningly good I know. I’ll still eat them these days but I’m a lot more aware of how bloated and upset they leave my tummy feeling and sometimes it’s just not worth it.

The past few Easters, since going gluten free, I’ve bought and tried lots of gluten free hot cross buns. Some have been actually quite decent, while others just down right wrong. This year I decided to finally make my own hot cross buns, partly because I haven’t gotten round to buying myself any and It’s already Easter weekend.

So it’s Good Friday today and I was flicking through one of my paleo cook books, looking for a gluten free self saucing chocolate pudding recipe (which I did find and will test out another time) when I was lucky enough to come across a recipe for paleo hot cross buns and even luckier to find I already had all the ingredients in the kitchen.

These buns were simple enough to make and it didn’t take all that long to do so either. They taste legit like hot cross buns although the texture isn’t the same fluffiness of store bought, traditional hot cross buns. They do have a nice springiness to them and aren’t rock hard which was a relief to discover when they came out of the oven.

You may have noticed in previous posts I have a thing for sultanas, so of course I added a handful of them to make these fruity hot cross buns. You could also add dark chocolate chips if that is your preference or any other dried fruit or simply follow the recipe and have them as is, they still taste just as good. Any fruit or chocolate added can be mixed through at the end before leaving the mixture to stand.

These are best served warm with butter but they do taste just as nice on their own.

Have a Happy Easter Everyone 🙂

Paleo Hot Cross Buns

Ingredients:

Bun:

• 1 cup almond meal
• 1/2 cup coconut flour
• 1/2 cup arrowroot flour
• 1/2 cup grated green apple
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 3 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 4 eggs, at room temperature, lightly whisked
• 1/4 cup rice malt syrup
• 150g butter, melted and cooled

Icing:

• 2 tbsp coconut cream
• 1 tbsp coconut oil, melted
• 2 tsp coconut flour

Recipe:

1. To make the buns, mix together all the ingredients in a large bowl until well combined.
2. Leave to stand for about 10 minutes or until the mixture is firm.
3. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius and line a large baking tray with baking paper.
4. Shape the mixture into 12 rounds and place them on the tray about 2cm apart.
5. Bake the buns for 20 minutes or until golden. When they’re cooked a skewer should come out clean.
6. Allow the buns to cool on the tray.
7. To make the crosses, put all the ingredients together in a bowl and whisk until smooth.
8. Spoon the mixture into an icing bag and snip off a small bit at the end.
9. Pipe the crosses on top of the buns and then place in the fridge to set.

*Recipe Tested from Luke and Scott’s Clean Living Book ‘Eat Clean All Year’*