Hot cross buns sweets

Easter baking is so much fun and just like Christmas it’s a great time to give little presents to celebrate the season. Hot cross buns sweets are a playful and delicious twist on the classic buns and make excellent, unique gifts. 

These fun cookie dough bites have all the flavours of hot cross buns without the baking so they are made in no time at all. 

The flour is toasted here so the raw cookie dough is nice and safe to eat and a great treat for kids to help you make too. 

A cute addition to your Easter party table for sure. If you’re not mad on dried fruit just substitute the amount for chocolate chips, works so well. Plus, sub out the butter and white chocolate for vegan friendly options and you’ve got yourself a vegan sweet too. So simple. Give them a go and let me know what you think. 

Ingredients

130g plain flour 

90g golden syrup 

60g unsalted butter

1 tsp mixed spice

1 tsp ground cinnamon 

⅛ tsp ground cloves

¼ tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

Zest 1 lemon

100g dried fruit 

For the icing:

30g white chocolate 

Makes 16 hot cross buns sweets (approx 22g each if measuring)

Method for hot cross buns sweets

Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C in a fan oven) 

Pop the flour onto a lined baking tray and cook for 10 minutes until lightly toasted. This will essentially cook out the raw flour and make the cookie dough safe to eat. 

While the flour is toasting, melt the butter. Then add the melted butter to the golden syrup, lemon zest, spices and salt into a large mixing bowl and stir together to combine. 

Finely chop the mixed fruit and leave about ⅓ back to roll the sweets in at the end. 

Add the remaining chopped fruit to the bowl and stir. 

Once the flour is ready and cooled slightly, sift it into the bowl then mix until the dough comes together. 

Form the cookie dough into balls. I weighed mine out and made them roughly 20-21g each but you can do it by eye if you prefer. 

Take a few of the small pieces of fruit and roll the ball in them so it starts to look more like a hot cross bun. Pop the finished sweet onto a lined baking tray. 

Repeat for the rest until you are finished. 

Pop the sweets in the fridge while you chop and melt the white chocolate for the iconic cross pattern. 

Once melted, spoon the chocolate into a piping bag and pipe a cross on top of each sweet. 

Refrigerate for a few hours or overnight so that they firm up a bit before serving.

The hot cross buns sweets will last for about a week in the fridge. I’d recommend letting them come to room temperature for about an hour before eating. 

Looking for other fun Easter treats to make? Try our Giant mini eggs pop tart, Mini egg ice-cream, Double Chocolate Baked Doughnuts or Lemon Drizzle baked doughnuts – all so yummy