Gooey, warm and a change from the normal sultana version: pear and chocolate hot cross buns. Jump to Recipe
I was about age 11, with a few friends over ‘to play’, as we called it then – when we looked up phone numbers in Mum’s address book, dialed and questioned parents as to whether so-and-so could visit. Cell phones were something that we acquired a few years later- a brick Nokia first, with its enthralling black-and-white games of snake, and then a pink flip up Motorola. For now, it was the landline. I often had friends over to bake – chocolate chip cookies and peppermint slice, chocolate self-saucing pudding and Anzac biscuits, pancakes and french toast. This time our challenge was bread. A basic white dough – flour, yeast and water – kneaded in turns and proved sitting on top of Dad’s espresso machine, the warmth emanating up into the bowl. Our products were uneven and lumpy – misshapen scrolls and mangled attempts at braids – but the smell, and the taste, of our very own bread, served warm and spread with melting butter, is a reward I have chased since.
Bread baking holds a unique satisfaction, a sense of accomplishment unparalleled by anything else that emerges from the oven. Something about the gradual transformation of a shaggy mess of flour and water, sticky and coating fingers and nails with a glue-like paste, into a golden, crusty loaf made by you – not the bakery down the road, not the factory exporting sandwich loafs onto supermarket shelves – but YOU – is intensely gratifying. The process of kneading a dough, feeling the change from ragged to smooth as the gluten develops. The gradual rise as it looms from the bottom of the bowl like a living being – responsive to touch, temperature, humidity, timing, scoring. So basic yet simultaneously complex.
It astounded me to learn that most bakeries now use bread mixes and machines for everything. Premixed amounts of flour and water, precise preset humidities, temperatures and timing. Completely automated. The cafe where I worked over summer did everything from scratch – apart from using a professional mixer rather than kneading, all the initial mixing, shaping, proving, and timing was just as in your kitchen at home. Someone came for a trial with previous experience as a “baker” at a relatively boutique bakery in the city – but having only worked with machines, they really had no concept of what it should feel like at each stage, what it should look like, and what adjustments to make depending on the day. They really were just a tool to the robots making bread, which seems to take so much of the joy, skill and life out of the process.
I have improved since that day, age 11. Turkish bread is a favourite, along with the sweeter brioche, crumpets and doughnuts, and quick rise pita and tortillas. The famous no-knead bread too, of course. Ciabatta and sourdough remain elusive as yet, but they will happen soon!
These hot cross buns are perfect for anyone, whether it is your first time making bread or your 100th. There is a timeline below to demonstrate how simple they are – most of the time spent is just to allow the buns to prove. Easter coincides with a few days holiday and hopefully time spent with family and friends, giving you the space to enjoy the process and many willing people to eat them! The warmly spiced, yeasted bread smell fills the entire house – I don’t know why, but I have always found the smell of baking bread very comforting, homely. A little like when you walk past a bakery and can’t help but turn and gulp up the scent.
They aren’t traditional, however – gooey chocolate chunks and tender roasted pears stud the soft bread, with a background warmth of mixed spice and cinnamon. Shimmering with a sugar glaze, they are decadent – but Easter is about chocolate, right? I needed a change from sultanas, currents and bitter candied peel. You will never accept store-bought hot cross buns the same way again.
Recipe adapted from the Cook and The Baker, and inspired by Erin Made This.
Traditional sultana version: if chocolate isn’t for you, you can stick to the original recipe and use 350g dried fruit - sultanas, dried apricots, currants. Soak sultanas in 1 cup of strong, hot Earl Grey tea 30 minutes for extra flavour. In this version, add the dried fruit at the end of the kneading process (before the first prove), rather than before the second prove. Feel free to up the spices as well!
Best eaten on the day, or reheated the day after. Any extras freeze extremely well, wrapped individually in plastic wrap.
- 250 ml skim milk (1 cup)
- 200 ml water
- 10 g instant dried yeast (2 teaspoons)
- 110 g caster sugar (1/2 cup)
- 1 egg , at room temperature, lightly beaten
- 860 g strong/bread flour (5 and 3/4 cups)
- 1 1/2 tablespoons mixed spice
- 1 heaped teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 85 g butter , softened
- 3 beurre bosc pears
- 150 g dark chocolate
- 6 tablespoons flour
- 2 tablespoons caster sugar
- 1/4 cup water + a bit extra
- 1/2 cup caster sugar
- 1/4 cup water
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Preheat the oven to 200°C. Line a baking tray with baking paper.
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In a small saucepan, warm the skim milk and 200ml water to lukewarm (30°C on a thermometer, or just a little cooler than body temperature). Remove from the heat.
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Stir in the yeast, sugar and egg until the yeast has dissolved. Set aside
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Put the flour, mixed spice, cinnamon and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer with a dough hook attachment (or in a large bowl if kneading by hand).
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Add the yeast mixture and the softened butter to the flour mixture. Knead on low peed until just incorporated. Turn the speed to medium and mix for 8 minutes. (if kneading by hand, knead for 10-12 minutes or until smooth).
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Remove the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead for 1 minute. Form a ball, and place in a large, lightly greased bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and leave in a warm place to prove for 45min - 1 hour or until doubled in size.
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Pears: if your pears are ripe, skip this roasting step and cut straight into chunks. If they are very hard: peel the pears and chop each into 4-6 segments. Place on the baking paper lined tray. Melt a tablespoon of butter and pour over the pears, tossing to coat. Place in oven for 15-20 minutes until just fork tender. Remove to let cool, then chop into small chunks.
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Chop the chocolate into chunks.
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When the dough has proved, tip out onto a lightly floured bench and gently knead in the pear and chocolate. It won’t really mix in properly, but don’t worry - you can make sure to push bits in when you form it into buns.
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Divide the dough into 15-18 pieces and roll into balls, keeping the bits of pear and chocolate inside. This can get a bit fiddly, but rustic is good!
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Place onto a large baking tray lined with baking paper, leaving room for rising.
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Cover loosely with plastic wrap and leave in a warm place to prove for 45 minutes.
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Stir together the flour and sugar in a small bowl. Add enough water to form a smooth paste.
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Fill a piping bag and pipe crosses on the top of the buns (for a make-shift piping bag, cut a tiny piece out of the corner of a ziplock bag).
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Place in oven and bake for 20 minutes until lightly golden and the buns sound hollow when tapped on the base.
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Dissolve the sugar in 1/4 cup water in a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Brush this glaze over the buns just after you remove from the oven.
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Best eaten on the day or heated for a couple of days after. Extras freeze well, wrapped individually in plastic wrap.
These look like the most delicious hot cross buns I have ever seen! Love the combination of pears and chocolate. 🙂
Thanks so much Christin! <3
Way to go Claudia! These buns look divine and I’ll take nontraditional over traditional any day; especially if it involves chocolate! No doubt industrialized baking has changed the way dough is made. I prefer the slow method… the experienced method. One can totally taste it too, so it’s something to savor. These are the types of bakeries I seek out. Small, from scratch, hand made. And they do exist.. but are becoming harder to find. Can’t wait to see your ciabatta and sourdough! 😀
Thanks Traci! Me too – small, from scratch bakeries always make the best tasting bread. Chain bakeries are definitely starting to take over though! My next hot cross bun goals are also a little non-traditional – I’m thinking chocolate, date and glace ginger… x
Dang, I should have hung out with you when I was younger, because when I “played” with friends and we would bake it was normally something from an easy bake oven! Nothing near as glamorous as what you were up to! LOVE these buns, girlfriend!! Hot cross buns fresh from the oven are so delicious, but the addition of pears sounds AMAZING! I’ll take a dozen! Cheers, Claudia! 😉
Thanks so much Cheyanne! hahahah I was always so into food- many because I loved (still love, I should say) eating it so much. Hope your week is going well! x
I love hot cross buns with a huge amount of butter on them. These look like they’d be fantastic fresh and squishy or toasty warm!
So good! I end up eating so many hot cross buns in March and April to make up for the rest of the year when they aren’t around. Thanks Samantha x
Yes! Gotta eat them while they’re in season 🙂 so yummy! Definitely going to make myself some in the off seasons to satisfy that craving 🙂 x
These look incredible, Claudia! I love baking bread as well. Your pear and chocolate twist on classic hot cross buns looks and sounds delectable! <3
Thanks Beeta! Pear and chocolate just seems to be such a good flavour pairing – in cake, muffins, crumble and now bread <3
Claudia, these hot cross buns look like they came straight out of the oven at a bakery! So beautifully risen and glossy. And from looking at them you’d never tell they have secrets pockets of chunky juicy pear inside. I’ve never had much luck making hot cross buns, so I think I’ll have to give this recipe a go. It looks like a keeper! And seeing you put pear + chocolate in there has made me realise that WOAH there could be so many routes to go down in terms of fillings! Why have I clung so tightly to my raisin-y hot cross buns all my life!?
Thank you so much Hannah! and the flavour combinations are endless – I saw one on a blog recently (can’t remember where) that made rhubarb and orange hot cross buns. So awesome! In saying that, raisin hot cross buns can be just as amazing – but I feel like we need to break out of that box once in a while. Would love to know what you think if you give them a try! X
Claudia! These hot cross buns belong in a cafe so we can all pay good money to buy these and stuff our faces. Instead of instant gratification, I will however settle for a good hot cross bun recipe because it has been way too long since I have had a good well spiced and fluffy hot cross bun. The pear and chocolate combination is perfect 🙂 xx
Aw thank you so much Lynnette! The cafe part is the dream – one day, maybe! These are insanely soft and fluffy too, but I did dial down the spice slightly just to go with the pear and chocolate better. Would love to know what you think! x
These look absolutely outstanding! I have a deep, deep love for bread baking. If I am ever stressed, all I need to do is bake some fresh bread and it instantly melts away. The kneading is so therapeutic and the reward of warm bread and butter is incomparable. I’ll definitely have to give these a go one weekend when our pears are in season:)
It is SO relaxing, I totally agree Amanda. I’m glad someone else feels as strongly about home made bread as I do haha! Thanks so much x
This looks amazing!
styleandchocolates
Thank you!
I’vc never actually made hot cross buns before, but if I decide to remedy this I am definitely using your recipe. Pear and chocolate. oh. my. AHHH!
You should definitely remedy that! The satisfaction is huge. And everyone will love you! Thanks so much Sarah! x
I made a chocolate and pear crumble this morning and now after seeing this I want to eat the Hot Cross Buns. What a lovely idea and they look gorgeous!
YES chocolate pear crumbles are the best! So much love for the combination. Thanks so much! <3
Yum! These kind of remind me of the breads they have over at Wild Flour which I’ve been craving lately (especially the Bohemian with apricots, orange peel, pecans, and sugar). Can’t wait to try!
Oooh Wild Flower sounds amazing! That Bohemian flavour combination is awesome too – love the sound of pecans in there. Thanks so much Megan!
claudia, these hot cross buns are studded with dreams! i love the combination of pear and chocolate. i can smell these beautiful buns baking right now – they seem the perfect comfort element. do not stop your beautiful baking efforts! xo
thank you so much Danielle – I love the term ‘studded with dreams’. i’ll be making them again this weekend when I go home for easter- my parents and siblings weren’t happy to miss out when I made them for my housemates at uni originally!! x
Such lovely childhood memories! I saw these in position #1 on Foodgawker this morning – congrats! Ive never made my own hot cross buns, but I’m thinking I need to start! I’m particularly loving the chocolate/pear combo!
Thanks Kathleen, you should so make hot cross buns this weekend! So satisfying to have a tray of steaming hot, fluffy, spiced hot cross buns for morning tea…I can’t wait to make some more for easter!
These are so gorg Claudia. I loved reading about your bread memories too, so so special xx
Thanks so much Erin! Loving your hot cross buns too by the way, can’t wait to try the no-knead version x
Wow, Claudia! You are such a talented baker, and I love your enthusiasm for the whole process rather than the finished product only. I used to work in a bakery (serving at the counter), many moons ago now when I was much younger, and the process used there was very much the commercial one you describe. Everything came as premixes and nothing was natural at all. I even remember that the hot cross buns were just regular dough with a dark-coloured ‘spice syrup’ (full of artificial flavours etc!) that was added to give it that darker colour and spicy smell. I much prefer homemade. I’ve always been afraid though, in a way, of baking yeasted goods from scratch at home. I think I just have the perception that it’s really hard, but your fabulous instructions and timeline for these buns prove that really, it’s not! 🙂
From now on, pears and chocolate belong in hot cross buns! What a fabulous combination.
The main reason why I have cut out bread is because it is all processed now and it upsets my stomach. Homemade bread with good flour is really the only way I can eat it (I still have to limit myself a bit haha). There is something so wonderful about kneading your own dough and making bread from scratch that makes you feel as if you are connecting with the millions of ancestors that have done this before you. It sounds like you had so much fun making these! The pear and chocolate combo is fantastic. You always have so many gorgeous photos on each post that I don’t ever know which one to pin!
I know exactly what you mean about the satisfaction derived from making your own bread Claudia. I remember when I got married a few years ago and moved out of shared houses, the first thing I wanted to do in my own kitchen was bake some bread because it felt ‘grown up’ and productive, a real accomplishment. I don’t make bread very often these days, but when I do it always feels comforting as the delicious smell fills the house. These hot cross buns look so appealing, all glazed and plump! I love the combination of flavours you’ve used here – deee-licious!
Oh my… just when I thought, hot cross buns are boring, this pops up and I’m so enamored by this flavor combination!!! Pear and chocolate? I need this next week! Also, I totally agree – baking by hand is therapeutic, and I prefer that to using my stand mixer. It’s a particularly good stress reliever when exams get overwhelming, and then bonus!! Bread for the next round of studying :).
Alright, that’s it. I’m adding this to my baking wish list and will try not to eat the entire batch in one sitting. The pear and chocolate combo sounds incredible and they look straight from a bakery.
I attempted to make this recipe tonight, but my pears didn’t dry out. I folded them in wetish and the entire dough (which had looked beautiful before) turned into a soggy mess. Did I do something wrong? What are the pears supposed to be like before adding to the dough?
Hi Kitty, I’m so sorry that it didn’t turn out well for you! I made these a few weeks ago at Easter and kind of had a similar problem, but not to the same extent – I found the pears were a bit wetter than when I had made it previously too. I think the issue for me was that my pears were very ripe, so they became a bit mushy in the oven, whereas previously I had used quite hard pears which dried more in the oven. I will note this in the recipe, and perhaps using ripe pears the roasting step can be missed. Do you think this might have been the case for you?
I’m so sorry this happened to you! x
These look amazing! And just days out from Easter I’m keen to give these a go (audibly gulps). Before I do though I wanted to ask a couple of questions to maximise success potential.
Do you think I could use whole milk? Usually I’d just substitute it without a second thought, but I’m not a bread baker & don’t want to mess it up.
I don’t have a stand mixer, only a hand mixer (don’t worry, I know that won’t work!) and a bread maker (which I’ve only ever used to make pizza dough). Do you think I could use the dough function, or would that yield tough results? Would I be better to knead by hand?
Oh these will be amazing this weekend! And they are definitely not a tricky/fiddly recipe so a good place to start.
For your questions – yes I think whole milk will mostly likely be fine – I haven’t tried it personally but can’t imagine the change would be too drastic. You could also just take out a tablespoon or so of the cup of milk and add water to thin it slightly.
Bread makers are pretty different so I would knead by hand – just allow yourself a bit more time or rope in family/friends to take turns kneading! It will probably take 10-15 minutes.
Hope that helps and would love to hear how you go!
Wondering what “mixed spice” is in this recipe? Would love to make these this weekend!
Hi Mel! This is probably a bit late but mixed spice is a spice blend routinely available in Australia/NZ/UK supermarkets – made up of cinnamon, coriander seed, caraway, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, allspice, and mace.You could substitute with a blend of a few of those spices.