Chai Hot Cross Buns Recipe

Chai Walli Hot Cross Buns (30 serves)

Egg Free – Vegetarian – Refined Sugar Free

Ingredients For the Buns

• 600 ml Milk (we used cow’s milk)
• 3 tbs of 11 Spice Chai
• 100 gm Butter
• 1kg Flour
• 2 tsp Salt
• 150 gm Jaggery
• 14 gm Yeast (we used granulated yeast)
• 3 tbs 11 Spice Caffeine Free Chai
• 2 Eggs (we used egg replacement made from chia seed – to do this, just grind 1 tbs of chia seed and mix with 3 tbs of water to get one egg replacement)
• 150 gm Chopped Dates
• Rind of 1 Lemon

Ingredients for the Cross

• 150 gm Flour
• Water
• 3 drops of Rose Water

Ingredients for the Glaze

• Juice of 3 Oranges
• 80 gm Jaggery

Directions

For Buns

1. Boil the milk in a saucepan with the Black Chai. Simmer for 5 minutes, then remove from heat and add the butter. Leave to cool until it reaches hand temperature.
2. Put the flour, salt, yeast and Caffeine Free Chai in a large bowl and mix well. Make a well in the centre and pour the warm chai milk mixture in it. Then add the eggs (or egg replacement).
3. Using a wooden spoon, mix all the ingredients together until its a stick dough.
4. Lightly flour a table and tip the dough mixture on the table and knead the dough with your hands until smooth and elastic (roughly 5 minutes).
5. Place the dough in slightly oiled bowl and cover with cling wrap, then leave it to rise in a warm place for 1 hour.
6. After an hour, tip the dough back on the table and add the dates and lemon rind. Knead the dough again, making sure all the ingredients are well distributed. Place the dough back into the oiled ball and cover with cling wrap, then leave it to rise in a warm place for 1 hour.
7. Prepare a 2 baking trays with baking paper. Divide the dough mixture into 30 even pieces (approximately 90 gm per piece). Roll each piece into a smooth ball and arrange the buns the baking trays lined, leaving enough space for the dough to expand (we spaced them out 3 by 5 buns so each tray had 15 buns each). Cover the trays with a clean tea towel, then set aside for 1 hour to rise.
8. Heat the oven to 180 degrees celsius. Mix the flour with rose water and about 20-30 ml of water to make the paste for the cross. Mix this with a whisk until it becomes a smooth paste then spoon into a piping bag with a small nozzle.
9. Take the two bun trays and pipe a line along each row of buns, then repeat in the other direction to create crosses.
10. Place the trays into the heated oven and bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown.
11. Take the bun trays out and get ready to make the glaze as you want to glaze the buns while they are warm.
12. Heat the orange juice and sugar until it boils, then simmer it until it has thickened. Then use a brush to glaze all the buns.
13. Enjoy fresh by cutting them in half and lathering the insides with butter. Or serve over the next few days by cutting it in half and toasting them and coating them with butter! (We accidentally soaked our in butter haha!)