Hot Cross Roll

While out shopping yesterday I picked some lovely small easter baskets for my girls to use on easter morning when they're doing their egg hunt.  This purchase has really gotten me into the easter spirit and in the mood for some Hot Cross Buns, but not just any Hot Cross Buns, ones made with Nutella!  You see, I have a great love affair with Nutellla, and after seeing adds through the week about it being used in Hot Cross Buns I just knew I had to have some.  So like the good little baker that I am, I decided that I should follow my desire to eat some and get into the kitchen.  Right before I did I looked on Pinterest just to see if I could find a specific recipe or whether I should just use my ol' faithful one.  Well I am I glad I did, I didn't find any Nutella ones, but I did find a great idea of turning your dough into a rolled loaf instead of small buns, I jumped on the idea and made a few tweaks to it to make it just right for me, and va voom, Hot Cross Rolls, two rolls to be exact, one with Nutella to fix up my craving and one with cinnamon butter.  I have no words to truly describe just how in love I am with this Easter treat!

These babies take time to make due to letting your dough prove a couple of times, so make sure you have a few hours up your sleeve.

What you need…
For the dough

• 60 grams of Butter
• 1 cup of Milk (I used Lactose free)
• 1/4 of a cup of Caster Sugar
• 1 packet of dried Yeast
• 4 cups of Plain flour
• 1 teaspoon of ground Cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon ground Allspice
• 1/8 teaspoon ground Nutmeg
• 2 large Eggs
• 1/2 cup Sultanas
• 1 teaspoon Orange Zest

For the filling

• Nutella
• 60 grams Butter, softened
• 2/3 a cup packed light Brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon ground Cinnamon

For the icing cross

• 1/2 a cup Icing sugar
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla paste
• 1 tablespoon Milk

How you do it…

• In a saucepan over a low heat, melt the butter, add in the milk and caster sugar and warm it up slightly. 
• Pour the butter mixture into your mixmaster bowl and put the yeast in, let it sit for a good 10 mins to let the yeast activate.
• In a separate bowl mix together the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice, use a whisk to mix them together and this will save you from needing to sift the flour! 
• Add the flour to the yeast mixture as well as the eggs and orange zest.  You could now add the sultanas if you like, I didn't as I have fruit intolerance's and chose to add them into only one roll after I had split the dough in two.
• With the dough hook attachment on your mixmaster, knead the dough on a low speed for about 10 minutes, I find that I then like to knead on the bench as well to really soften it up.
• wrap the dough in a tea towel and place in a bowl in a warm spot, over the next hour or so the dough should double in size.
• Once the dough has doubled, bring it out onto a floured bench and cut into half.
• Make the filling by mixing together all the ingredients in a bowl with a  wooden spoon.
• Roll out the first ball of dough into a large 20cm square, cover it with a  nice thick layer of Nutella, over the top crumble 1/3 of the butter filling mixture.  Roll it up and place it a greased
  
  log tin.  Roll out the ball but this time if you haven't used your sultanas sprinkle them over the top and then use the rest of the butter mixture.  Roll it up and either place it in a greased log tin, if you have two, or let it rest on your bench.  
• pre-heat your oven to 160 degree C
• The dough needs to prove again for another hour or so and double in size again.
• After a hour pop them in the oven to bake, you can do it one at a time or both together, I did it one at at time and it took them 20 minutes each to bake and go golden brown.
• When the Rolls are baked and cooled down, you can make the Icing to criss cross over the top, just mix all the ingredients together in a bowl and pop into a piping bag.  I used a disposable bag that i could just snip a small hole in the end so it drizzled out finely over the roll.
  
  
  
  

I know I will definitely be making them again before Easter, I think I may use a mixed peel next time and play around with some different filling ideas!

Happy Baking