Chocolate hot cross buns
Chocolate hot cross buns are a great alternative treat for any chocolate lover at Easter. Get your kids busy in the kitchen with this easy recipe.
Chocolate hot cross buns are a great alternative for anyone who’s not a fan of regular hot cross buns or just for any chocolate lover at Easter time. With a chocolatey dough and added chocolate chips to bite into, they’re a delicious treat for any Easter afternoon tea or brunch.
How can kids help to make chocolate hot cross buns?
There are quite a few steps in making these chocolate hot cross buns so there are loads of opportunities for kids to get involved. There’s breaks in between each step for the dough to rise, so your kids can do all the steps along with you or dip in and out, helping with some steps and not with others. You might also want to get a head start by mixing all the ingredients together and just get your kids to knead the dough or form the buns or vice versa.
As with any bread recipe my kids love getting hands on, kneading dough. If you want to shorten this step you can use a bread machine or the dough hook on your free-standing mixer, and then just finish the kneading by hand.
There’s also a great chance for your kids to practice a bit of maths and their division skills when you divide the dough evenly to make the buns!
How long do chocolate hot cross buns keep?
I think they’re best eaten on the day you make them, preferably when they’re still a little bit warm from the oven. They will keep in an air tight container for a few days though. If you want, you can heat them up in the toaster or microwave before you serve them once they’re a few days old.
What do you serve chocolate cross buns with?
Serve them warm with a little butter, or even some jam.
Other fun and easy Easter recipes
Easter rocky road
Mini egg cookies
Easter bunny cookies
Easter chick cupcakes
Hot cross buns
Easter brownies
Easter chocolate nests
Easter fudge
Easter bunny cupcakes
Easter cookie bar
Hot cross bread and butter pudding
Hot cross muffins
Useful equipment
You might need the following baking tools/gadgets to make these
Digital scales
Freestanding mixer
Mixing bowl
Measuring cups
Measuring spoons
Baking tray
Pastry brush
Wire rack
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.. You will not be charged anything extra for this. Please refer to my Privacy Policy Page for more details.
Ingredients
450g strong white bread flour
30g cocoa powder
100g caster sugar
2 sachets dried fast action yeast
200-250ml milk
50g butter
1 egg
The spices and chocolate
½ teaspoon mixed spice
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
75g chocolate chips
For the crosses
2 tablespoons of flour and water
For the glaze
2 tablespoons of caster sugar and boiling water
or 2 tablespoons of apricot jam
How to make chocolate hot cross buns
Make the dough
Add the dry ingredients to a bowl
Start by getting your kids to measure the flour, sugar, and cocoa powder out and add them to a large mixing bowl or free-standing mixer.
Pour the sachets of yeast in, then mix everything together with a spoon.
Add the wet ingredients
Measure the butter, get your kids to cut it into a few pieces (this is a great job for practising their knife skills), then melt it in the microwave or gently over the hob.
Measure the milk into a jug. If you have digital scales, using the ml setting is the easiest way of doing this accurately. Gently heat the milk until it is warm, but not hot. If it’s too hot it will kill the yeast and stop the buns rising.
Finally, crack the egg into a small bowl just in case any shell goes in. If it does, fish it out with a larger piece of shell – it will stick to that better than it will your finger.
Make a well in your flour mixture, then add the egg.
Start mixing it in then pour in the milk and melted butter, continuing to stir until it has all mixed in. You could get your kids to pour in the milk/ butter while you stir or vice versa.
Knead the dough
Once everything has come together knead the dough for 5-10 minutes.
To make life a little easier, you can let the dough hook on your free-standing mixer do a lot of the hard work for you. We normally let our machine knead dough for five or so minutes then do the finishing touches by hand. This way your kids still get a chance to get their hands busy kneading the dough, but you don’t need to worry that it’s not been kneaded enough.
Put the dough in a oiled bowl, cover it in cling film/glad wrap or a clean tea towel and leave it somewhere warm to rise for around an hour or until it’s doubled in size.
Make the chocolate hot cross buns
While the dough is rising, get your kids to measure out the chocolate chips and spices into a small bowl. Line a baking tray with baking or parchment paper.
Once the dough has risen, tip it out onto a lightly floured surface. Get your kids to ‘knock it back’ which basically involves kneading or bashing it a few times to knock the air out/
Add the chocolate chips and spices and knead the dough until it is all evenly distributed.
Divide the dough into 12 equally sized pieces. I did this by dividing it in half twice to make 4 equal pieces then dividing those each by 3. If you want to be really accurate you can weigh each piece of dough.
Roll each piece of dough into a ball. Try and tuck the top under so you have a nice smooth surface on the top. Don’t worry if they’re not perfect – you can which of ours weren’t so neat on top and they were still delicious to eat!
Place each rolled bun onto your prepared baking tray. Leave a little bit of room between them so they’ve got space to expand. Cover the buns and leave them somewhere warm to rise again for about 20 minutes.
Bake the chocolate hot cross buns
Heat your oven to 200C / 180C Fan / 390F.
Once the buns have risen, mix the flour with a little bit of water so it is runny enough for you to pipe. Pop it in a small freezer bag (or piping bag), and cut a tiny hole in one corner. Pipe crosses on each bun.
Bake the buns for around 15 minutes. They’re ready when they’ve risen. You won’t be able to tell they’re ready by their colour, but you can carefully tap the bottom of a bun – if it sounds hollow it should be ready.
Remove the chocolate hot cross buns from the oven and leave them on the baking tray. Mix the sugar and boiling water, or gently heat the apricot jam if you are using it for the glaze and brush it all over the buns.
Leave them to cool on the baking tray for a few minutes then pop them on a wire rack to cool completely.
Serve and enjoy.
Chocolate hot cross buns
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Measure the flour, sugar, and cocoa powder out and add them to a large mixing bowl or free-standing mixer.Pour the sachets of yeast in, then mix everything together with a spoon.
- Measure the butter, cut it into a few pieces, then melt it in the microwave or gently over the hob.Measure the milk into a jug. If you have digital scales, using the ml setting is the easiest way of doing this accurately. Gently heat the milk until it is warm, but not hot. Finally, crack the egg into a small bowl just in case any shell goes in.
- Make a well in your flour mixture, then add the egg. Start mixing it in then pour in the milk and melted butter, continuing to stir until it has all mixed in.
- Once everything has come together knead the dough for 5-10 minutes until it is nice and stretchy.To make life a little easier, you can let the dough hook on your free-standing mixer do at least some of the hard work for you and then finish it by hand.
- Put the dough in a oiled bowl, cover it in cling film/glad wrap or a clean tea towel and leave it somewhere warm to rise for around an hour or until it's doubled in size.
- While the dough is rising, measure out the chocolate chips and spices into a small bowl. Line a baking tray with baking or parchment paper.
- Once the dough has risen, tip it out onto a lightly floured surface and 'knock it back' which basically involves kneading or bashing it a few times to knock the air out.Add the chocolate chips and spices and knead the dough until it is all evenly distributed.
- Divide the dough into 12 equally sized pieces. Roll each piece of dough into a ball. Try and tuck the top under so you have a nice smooth surface on the top
- Place each rolled bun onto your prepared baking tray. Leave a little bit of room between them so they've got space to expand. Cover the buns and leave them somewhere warm to rise again for about 20 minutes.
- Heat your oven to 200C / 180C Fan / 390F.
- Once the buns have risen, mix the flour with a little bit of water so it is runny enough for you to pipe. Pop it in a small freezer bag (or piping bag), and cut a tiny hole in one corner. Pipe crosses on each bun.
- Bake the buns for around 15 minutes. They're ready when they've risen. You won't be able to tell they're ready by their colour, but you can carefully tap the bottom of a bun – if it sounds hollow it should be ready.
- Remove the chocolate hot cross buns from the oven and leave them on the baking tray. Mix the sugar and boiling water, or gently heat the apricot jam if you are using it for the glaze and brush it all over the buns.
- Leave them to cool on the baking tray for a few minutes then pop them on a wire rack to cool completely.
Pin it for later
Similar recipes
If you liked these chocolate hot cross buns you’ll love our other Easter recipes as well as our favourite easy bakes for kids.
Leave a Reply