Hot Cross Bun Muffins
A delicious twist on the traditional Easter hot cross bun, these spiced fruit muffins have a soft and tender crumb, shiny glaze and sweet icing cross.
Servings: 6 muffins
Calories: 446kcal
Equipment
Ingredients
Muffins:
- 1 egg (large)
- 70 ml vegetable or sunflower oil
- 140 ml milk (semi-skimmed or whole)
- 125 g caster sugar (golden or white)
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 200 g plain all-purpose flour
- 3 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (or mixed spice)
- A pinch of ground nutmeg (optional)
- A pinch of ground ginger (optional)
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 100 g sultanas
- 50 g mixed peel
Glaze:
- 2 tablespoon golden syrup (or light corn syrup)
Cross:
- 3 tablespoon powdered icing sugar
- 1-3 teaspoon hot water
Instructions
Muffins:
- Preheat oven: 180°C / 160°C (fan) / Gas Mark 4 / 350°F
- In a mixing bowl, beat the egg, oil and mik together until smooth and thickened.
- Add in the sugar and vanilla extract, continuing to beat until fully combined.
- In a separate mixing bowl, sieve the flour, bicarbinate of soda (or baking powder) and then add in the spices, salt, mixed peel and sultanas, mixing them together until the fruit is coated completely.
- Slowly pour the wet ingredients into the dry, stirring together gently until only just combined.
- Spoon the batter evenly into the muffin cases in the muffin pan, filling them almost to the brim.
- Bake in the oven for 20-25mins or until risen, golden on top and a skewer comes out clean.
Glaze:
- As soon as you take the muffins out, transfer them to a wire cooling rack and brush the tops generously with syrup to glaze them and allowing them to cool (roughly 30mins).
Cross:
- Once the muffins have cooled, sieve the powdered sugar for the crosses into a mixing bowl.
- Stir in 1 teaspoon of hot water, mixing together until combined. If the icing is too thick to form a paste, add more hot water (1 teaspoon at a time), until the icing sugar comes together into a smooth paste. It should be very thick but still able to slowly run off your spoon.
- Fill your piping bag (with a small round nozzle attached) or a sandwich bag with the corner cut off, and pipe a cross over the top of each cooled muffin.
Notes
Storage: Keep hot cross bun muffins in an airtight container at room temp. for up to 3 days.
Freezing: You can freeze your hot cross bun muffins wrapped in cling film plus foil for up to 3 months. Defrost then enjoy!
Serving size: This recipe makes 6 very large domed muffins, but if you prefer a smaller portion size, you can split the batter over 8-10 muffin cases instead and bake for a few minutes less.
Top tips:
- For soft and fluffy hot cross bun muffins don't over-mix the muffin batter. Too much beating can cause your spiced muffins to be dense and heavy.
- Fill your muffin cases to roughly ⅘ full for the best muffin-top. If you're using tulip muffin cases, only fill them ⅔ full of muffin batter.
- When your muffins have finished baking, glaze them with syrup straight away. The warmth from the muffin will help the syrup spread better over the tops of your muffins for a beautiful shine.
- Swap the plain flour for self-raising flour of the same quantity (200g) and reduce the baking powder by 2 tsp.
- You can swap the golden syrup glaze for another syrup such as maple syrup or corn syrup.
- You can use 1 teaspoon ground mixed spice (pumpkin spice) in place of the cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger.
Nutrition
Calories: 446kcal | Carbohydrates: 78g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 14g | Saturated Fat: 10g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 30mg | Sodium: 244mg | Potassium: 208mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 48g | Vitamin A: 80IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 167mg | Iron: 2mg