Wholemeal Apple Hot Cross Buns

This week is super duper exciting; easter, for one, but (more importantly) my birthday! I'm not normally too insanely enthusiastic for birthdays, but this year with the added perk of it being on good friday (=first day of a 4 day weekend) I can't help myself! So if I've mentioned my birthday to you approximately 4 bajillion times in the last month, I do apologise.

But even if you haven't got a birthday coming up, there's plenty to get excited about easter-wise! Long weekend aside, there's all that chocolate! Today I did a mini 'kris kringle'  thing with some friends at school where we all got each other chocolate and boy! was it fun! I've been happily muching away on my eggs all day, and I carefully saved my little bunnies for later (though the 30 degree heat uhhh... helped with that). And even without chocolate, there's hot cross buns to look forward too!

This was my first time making hot cross buns, and it was super duper easy. In the middle of their rise I suddenly decided to meet a friend for impromptu lunch and shopping, and they still turned out, so I think you could pretty-much put this recipe under the 'never-fail' category. The apple was lovely on it's own, but if you wanted to add other dried fruit for a more traditional or completely unique bun, why not?! The only change that I'll make next time is I think I'll use a different cross mixture- I just combined flour and water but they were a bit pale for my liking, so there's no cross recipe included here but I think any icing or even melted chocolate would be wonderful! Otherwise though, these were perfect. And surprisingly healthy actually- there's only a little honey and they're wholemeal too! So I don't know about you, but intend to use these to counteract all the chocolate ;)

Mia x

Wholemeal Apple Hot Cross Buns
Based on: http://www.thehealthychef.com/2013/03/healthy-hot-cross-buns/

220g whole-wheat flour
50 g rolled oats
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon dried yeast
125 ml (1/2 cup) milk
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon vanilla bean extract or 1/2 of paste
60 ml (1/4 cup) macadamia nut oil or olive oil
2 free range / organic egg, lightly beaten
1 apple, diced

1. Put the apple in a bowl, then microwave for 30 seconds to a minute to soften it slightly. Mix the wholemeal flour, oats, cinnamon, yeast and a pinch of salt in a mixing bowl.
2. Warm the milk, vanilla and honey in the microwave just a little until just slightly warm, then pour into the mixing bowl along with 1 of the eggs and the oil.
3. Mix the dough for about 6 minutes until it is smooth and elastic. Add the apple and mix through.
4. Cover the bowl with a clean cloth or glad wrap and leave the dough to double in size in a warm place for about 1 hour.
5. Knock back the dough and tip in onto your  working bench. Knead a little then shape into 10-12 rolls. Preheat your oven to 160 C. Cover lightly and allow to rise for another 30 minutes or until double in size.
6. Brush lightly with the second egg and bake for 20 minutes until golden. Cool, then if you like pipe a cross made from icing or chocolate on top. Enjoy! Makes 10-12 hot cross buns