hot cross buns

It's not too late to make your own beautiful, fresh, spiced hot cross buns. And believe me, these are so, so, so much nicer than the plastic wrapped ones you pick up at the supermarket.

You will need:

1 x 7g sachet of dried yeast

1 tablespoon sugar

2 tablespoons warm water

100ml warm milk

450g strong white flour

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 egg, beaten

100g mixed peel (I used currants, cranberries, apricot and blueberries)

1 teaspoon salt

What to do:

Mix the yeast, tepid water and sugar together in a coffee mug and cover with glad wrap. Leave for a few minutes until the yeast mixture has bubbled to twice its original volume. Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl then add the salt, spices, sugar and fruit peel.

Make a well in the centre and pour in the yeast mixture, the warm milk and the beaten egg. Stir with a wooden spoon until a dough forms.

Sprinkle some flour onto your bench and knead the dough. You want it to get to the point where it is smooth and elastic. You should be able to push your finger into the dough and have it bounce back almost immediately. This will take between 5 - 10 minutes. If your dough is too sticky, slowly incorporate a little more flour, a tablespoon at a time.

Return the dough to your mixing bowl and cover with a tea towel or cling film. Leave to rise for an hour, or until it has doubled in size.

Remove from the bowl and knead again until the dough has returned to its original size. Roll it into a long, thick log. Slice evenly in 12 portions. Roll into balls and place on a pre-greased oven tray. Preheat the oven to 220'c. Leave to rise for a half hour. Once they've risen, make crosses on top.

You can score a cross in the top, if you'd like. This is a traditional way of making hot cross buns. To make a flour cross, as I did, make a flour paste: Mix flour and water until you get a thick paste. Pour it into a piping bag with a thin nozzle and stripe crosses over the top of the buns. Don't have a piping bag? Never fear! I didn't have a thin enough nozzle, but you can use thick carboard, wrapped and then taped to create your own piping bag.

Bake for 20 minutes. Combine 4 tablespoons of boiling water with 5 tablespoons caster sugar and stir until sugar has dissolved. Spoon over the hot hot hot buns and use your fingers to massage the sugar mix all over. Yum yum.