Spiced Apple Hot X Buns

makes 9 buns

• Dairy Free

• Gluten Free

• Vegetarian

Ingredients

Spiced Apple

• ¼ cup coconut sugar 

• ½ cup room temp water 

• ¼ lemon (skin removed & cut into small pieces) 

• ½ lemon (juiced)

• ½ granny smith green apple (skin removed & diced into small pieces)

• ½ pink lady red apple (skin removed & diced into small pieces) 

• 1 cinnamon quill 

Hot Cross Buns

• ¼ cup coconut sugar 

• ⅓ cup dried diced apple

• 1 sachet or 7g dried yeast 

• ⅓ cup raisins 

• 1½ tsp ground cinnamon 

• ¼ tsp allspice 

• ⅛  tsp nutmeg 

• ¼ of an orange zested 

• ¼ tsp xanthan gum 

• 1½ cup gluten free flour 

• 2 Tbsp blanched almond meal 

• ¼ cup almond milk 

• 1 egg 

• 1 Tbsp coconut oil 

White Piping

• 2 Tbsp gluten free flour

• 1 Tbsp water

Glaze

• 1 Tbsp quince paste (or fig jam/marmalade)

• 1 Tbsp coconut sugar 

• 1 cup water

Method

1. On medium heat, add all spiced apple ingredients to a small saucepan and bring to a simmer. Stir continuously and cook until apple is soft (approx. 15-20 minutes). Remove from the heat and strain the liquid from the apple mix into a bowl. Reserve the liquid for the glaze later on

2. In a large bowl add coconut sugar, dried apple, yeast, raisins, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, orange zest, xanthan gum, gluten free flour, and almond meal then combine well. Add cooked apple mixture to dry mixture and fold together

3. Add almond milk and coconut oil to a small saucepan on low-medium heat and heat until milk is luke warm. Remove from heat and whisk your egg (make sure your milk isn’t boiling as this will scramble the egg). Add the egg/milk mixture to the dry mixture and fold in until a dough is formed

4. Sprinkle a little gluten free flour on your work surface and transfer your ball of dough to the work surface. Knead your dough until a smooth consistency is achieved 

5. In a clean bowl, rub coconut oil to grease the edges of the bowl and place dough in it. Cover with glad wrap and place a tea towel on top. Set aside in a warm place until it's doubled in size (approx. 40-50 minutes) 

6. Knock back the dough (ie. punch or press down on the dough after it has risen and rested) and divide into 9 even pieces, then knead each piece into a smooth ball

7. Arrange on a tray in 3 lines of 3 then cover with tea towels and set aside in a warm place and allow to rise again until they double in size (approx. 40 minutes)

8. Preheat oven to 220ºC 

9. In a small bowl combine 2 Tbsp of gluten free flour and 1 Tbsp of water. Whisk until smooth and place into a piping bag (if you don’t have a piping bag, add the mixture to a zip lock bag and cut the end off)

10. Pipe crosses on top of each bun and place them into your preheated oven for 10 minutes. Drop temperature down to 200ºC and cook for a further 7 minutes until buns sound hollow when tapped

11. While buns are cooking, place reserved liquid from apple mix into a small saucepan along with the quince paste. Heat on medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce liquid until it becomes sticky 

12. When buns come out of the oven, use a pastry brush to glaze the tops of the buns

13. Serve warm with vegan butter

    We recommend heating each bun up before serving and consuming within 2 days. Ensure you store them in an airtight container straight away to avoid them going dry