Good Friday Hot Cross Buns

My relationship with my Brazilian personal trainer didn’t get off to a great start.  I first laid eyes on him at a small group training session where he introduced himself as the newest member of staff at the gym.

Heat and serve

Heat and serve

Then he said his name but there was a lot of competing noise and I thought he said, ‘Diablo’.  Later on during the session he had given us an exercise to do but I was floundering with a lack of co-ordination and all in a tangle so I yelled out, ‘Diablo, is this what we’re meant to be doing?’

The dough has risen

The dough has risen

And then two women burst into hysterics saying, ‘It’s not ‘Diablo’, it’s Tiablo’.  Now the reality here is that none of us is familiar with Spanish or Portuguese.

Give it a punch

Give it a punch

When Drew came home that night I told him the story and he said, ‘Tell me now you didn’t call him, ‘Diablo'”.

‘Why?’ I asked.

Ready for the oven

Ready for the oven

And because Drew dabbles in Spanish he said, ‘Because that’s ‘devil’ in Spanish.  As if anyone would call their child, ‘the devil'”.  So now I know some Spanish.  And as I now know, his name isn’t ‘Tiablo’, it’s ‘Tiago’, so I’m not not only one who got that wrong.  And I’ve just corrected it in my phone.

A double quantity is a double blessing

A double quantity is a double blessing

Anyway, after a rocky start we are now getting along famously and Tiago is even confiding in me.  Yes, he’s let me know something very personal.

Get ready.

He can’t put on weight.

Cue the violins.

Cooling

Cooling

He was doing fun runs and mini marathons but he had to stop because with all the exercise he wasn’t able to eat enough to maintain his weight.  I think he needs to have some food bloggers in his circle of friends.

These have lovely spices

These have lovely spices

It was lovely of him to share this news but probably if he was looking for sympathy he should share it with someone whose age isn’t impacted and reeling from declining hormones and metabolism resulting in war-path behaviour and a thickening girth.

Where's the butter?

Where’s the butter?

After telling me I need to eat two pieces of fruit and five vegetables per day, I’m sure he wouldn’t have a problem with skeletal issues if he just adjusted to my diet.  Did he even eat hot cross buns slathered in butter on Good Friday?

I like mine with raspberry jam

I like mine with raspberry jam

It’s always been a tradition that on Good Friday, hot cross buns are served.  It’s actually not that difficult to make your own although, earlier in the week I did confess to a bun disaster.  I’m not posting that recipe.  This recipe is adapted from the Australian Women’s Weekly and is an oldie but a goodie.

I always make a double batch as it’s no extra effort to make more and the bonus buns can either be frozen for the other days celebrating Easter or be given away as gifts to family and friends.

If you can’t tolerate gluten, these can be made using GF flour and they’ll turn out just as well; I’ve done that in the past.

It's not Easter without a Hot Cross Bun

It’s not Easter without a Hot Cross Bun

Happy Easter.

5.0 from 7 reviews
Good Friday Hot Cross Buns
Author: 
Recipe type: Easter
Cuisine: Christian
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 15
 
Good Friday Hot Cross Buns adapted from a recipe found in the Australian Women's Weekly Cooking Class Cookbook.
Ingredients
  • 2 x 7gm packets dried yeast
  • 1 tsp sugar + ¼ cup sugar
  • 1 tsp plain flour + 4 cups organic flour
  • 1½ cups lukewarm milk
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 60g (2oz) butter
  • ½ tsp cinnamon
  • ½ tsp mixed spice
  • 1 lightly beaten egg
  • ⅓ cup sultanas
  • ⅓ cup currants
  • For the Crosses:
  • ½ cup plain flour
  • ⅓ cup water
  • For the Glaze:
  • 1 tbspn sugar
  • 1 tspn gelatine
  • 1 tbspn boiling water
Instructions
  1. Cream yeast with 1tsp each of sugar and flour. Add milk, mix well. Cover, stand in warm place 15 minutes or until mixture is frothy.
  2. Sift flour, salt, ¼ cup sugar and spices into a bowl. Rub in butter. Add yeast mixture, egg and dried fruit then mix in well. Cover bowl with a clean cloth, stand in warm place for 40 mins or until dough has doubled in size.
  3. Punch dough down, turn out on to floured surface, knead well until dough is smooth and elastic. Cut dough into 3 equal pieces then cut each piece into 5. Knead each into round shape. Put buns in lightly greased 18cm x 30cm lamington tin, stand in warm place 10 to 15 mins or until buns reach top edge of tin.
  4. For the Crosses:
  5. Sift flour, mix to paste with water. Fill into small plastic bag with small hole cut across corner. Pipe crosses on each bun.
  6. Bake at 250°C (475-500F) for 15-20 mins. Remove from oven.
  7. For the Glaze:
  8. Immediately brush with glaze made by dissolving sugar and gelatine in boiling water.
  9. Cool buns on a wire rack.
  10. - See more at: http://hotlyspiced.com/spelt-hot-cross-buns-and-the-emergency-meeting/#sthash.wsvNF4fC.dpuf

 

 

Comments

  1. Danielle says:

    Happy Easter Charlie, you crack me up! TIAGO should definitely eat some of these buns, they look delicious and I am slavering just imagining the smell as they come out of the oven.

  2. Charlie that is the funniest thing I’ve read in ages. Tiago should definitely eat one or two of these gorgeous looking buns – or start eating his words 🙂

  3. LOL, That is so funny 🙂 What a great story and how I wish I couldn’t put on any weigh 🙁 Happy Easter… to you and the crew… Enjoy… I am taking tomorrow to finally catch up on all the blogs I have missed over the last few weeks, so their should be lots of comments coming! I hope you are well! Liz xxx

  4. Hehe I must admit that I giggled at the Diablo Tiablo thing because I don’t know much Spanish but I did know that that meant devil! 😛 And yes cue the violins!! 😛 These buns look fantastic and so soft! 😀 Happy Easter!

  5. Happy Easter, Charlie.
    He. Lives.
    Seriously, these are the most gorgeous Easter buns I’ve EVER seen.
    FABULOUSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS.
    Diablo! I want to name my cat that!!!!
    xxxxx

  6. If he followed any one of us around for a week, he’d put on some weight. We’d all be happy to show him how. 🙂

    I love your buns. I didn’t make any this year. I made (and ate) too many last year to try it again.

  7. Tiago will go back to being called Diablo if he makes too many confessions like that, especially to women! I think he needs a delivery of these – they look lovely.

    Happy Easter xo

  8. These look fantastic! They’re the cure for any tangle invoking diablo-like trainer. Well done.

  9. I am sure I could design a good diet for your Tiago if he needs one – lots of cake and bread should do the trick – with butter and jam and oodles of frosting. But I would also eat some of your hot cross buns if they were rejected by him. They look delicious – I intended to post my hot cross buns today but time got away with me so it will be posted after easter (the horror!) Glad your favourite old recipe didn’t let you down after the disaster Hot Cross Buns.

  10. Can’t gain weight, the poor dear. Sounds like Diablo is just the right name for him.

  11. There’s a great cross-over among the Romance languages so (being Romanian) I would have known that Diablo was unlikely to be your trainer’s name … unless it was a nickname for his attitude in the gym. Still, that’s quite a funny story and I can just picture the incident. 🙂

    Great looking hot cross buns. You must share a few with the young man before he wastes away. I tried to make them, once. They looked pretty with the white glaze but were hard as a rock and pretty tasteless to boot. Now, I just buy one (or 2) at the bakery and don’t sweat it. In fact, I got a couple at the beginning of Lent and haven’t thought of them since. I may pick one up today a the bakery, if I ever throw some clothes on and drag my big butt out of the house.

  12. Great story. And the hot cross buns look delicious.

  13. Haha-Tiago! Thank you for always bring a smile to my face when I read your posts! Smart to make a double batch of these hot cross buns. Have a wonderful Easter 🙂

  14. Happy Easter Charlie to you and your family – I suggest giving one batch of these gorgeous buns to what’s his name – may help his weight problem!

  15. Tiago needs to include some hot cross buns slathered with butter into his diet instead of just fruits and veggies.
    Your hot cross buns looks sooooo delicious, yeah for oldie recipes.

  16. Catherine says:

    Your hot cross buns look sooo delicious! Love your PT story….can relate!

  17. Oh Charlie I laughed ….. when you said you called out Diablo I cringed- I am sure he found it funny. And yes that fight with the raging hormones and expanding girth is catching x

  18. Happy Easter Charlie! Great Hot Cross Buns and for a moment there re Diablo, I thought you were going to suggest you have the personal trainer from hell! lol

  19. love your buns charlie!:) and i just love the plate they are on. that is so funny, i was looking at that exact same recipe in the same book just yesterday but i went with chelsea buns instead. don’t you just love AWW cookbooks? happy easter.

  20. There really is nothing better than a home cooked fresh hot cross bun with lashing of butter! I am so glad it is only once a year! Liz xx

  21. They look so good. I love the photo of you punching the dough. That’s the best part of making any dough – manipulating it.
    That’s really funny that you called him the devil. LOL.

  22. Oh, yeah—I’d certainly mess up his name, too! I’d be happy to ship him some of my leftover baked goods. Oh, wait, they’d be rocks by the time they’d reach him! Have a happy, happy Easter, my friend! Your hot cross buns look amazing!!! xx

  23. From the time I was a little girl, I’ve always associated hot cross buns with Easter. You did a great job with yours and I’m sure they will disappear quickly.

  24. Great story, Charlie. I was wondering about the trainer’s name.But then again many in LA-LA Hollywood Land have interesting spellings and names.

    Now to your Hot Cross Buns…Oh my goodness, I’d love to grab a few off my computer screen =) So, realistically it looks like I’ll have to make them… I trust – I hope I can do the first half in a bread machine =) What do you think?

  25. Charlie, I do embarrassing things too – all the time!
    LOVE your hot cross buns.
    Have a beautiful week ahead.
    🙂 Mandy xo

  26. I hate Tiago and think he possibly is the Diablo in disguise as WHO can’t put on weight?! Gosh I wish I had that problem…I’m just looking at these hot cross buns and my pants gave way 🙂
    Jan x

  27. I laughed so hard when I could see where you were going with your story, Charlie. Those hot cross buns look just delicious. I’m afraid I was just too busy during Holy Week to do any baking at all, but maybe next year I can budget my time a little better. 🙂

  28. OMG, Charlie.I’m here trying to catch up on posts I’ve missed but …DIABLO???I saw it coming and I cringed. Poor devil!LOL
    I think you have nice buns! (LOL)

  29. Beautiful buns. Tiago doesn’t know what he’s missing.

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