Matthews Cotswold Flour's Hot Cross Bun Recipe

Ingredients

375g Cotswold Churchill Strong White flour

9g salt

45g sugar

25g Fresh yeast

60g soft butter

160g whole milk

80g mixed dried fruit (soaked in orange juice for 2 hours)

25g mixed peel

1tbsp mixed spice

Method

1. Mix all of the ingredients together besides the dried fruit and mixed peel for 10 minutes on a medium speed until smooth.
2. Drain off the orange juice and give the fruit a good squeeze before adding to the dough.
3. Add all of the fruit and mixed peel to the dough and mix for another 5 minutes
4. Once the dough is done, rest it for 5 minutes
5. Weigh the dough to 50g and roll into balls.
6. Place the dough balls into a tray with some space to grow.
7. Let the dough prove for at least 1.5 hours at room temperature.
8. Once proved, pipe on the cross mixture.
9. Bake the hot crossed buns at 200 degrees for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.
10. Straight out of the oven brush the buns with warm apricot jam that has been diluted in a little bit of water.

Serve toasted with salted butter.

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Easter Egg Cookies

Ingredients

225g butter

150g muscovado sugar

60g dark brown sugar

100g caster sugar

2 eggs

½ tsp vanilla

330g Matthews Cotswold Plain Flour

3/4tsp baking powder

3/4tsp bicarbonate of soda

Salt

300g chopped chocolate bars / chocolate mini eggs

Flaky salt to finish

Method

Preheat oven to 180c. Melt the butter in a saucepan and continue to cook on a medium heat until it is a deep golden brown colour and smells toasty. Leave aside to cool to room temperature.

Chop your assorted Easter chocolate into equal size chunks

Add the browned butter and sugars into the bowl of a stand mixer and cream with a paddle attachment until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, vanilla, salt, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda and mix well again.

Add the flour and mix a final time until just combined. Use a wooden spoon to mix the chocolate chunks into the dough by hand - this avoids them breaking up too much in the mixer.

Portion the dough out into even sizes (if you're being precise, aim for 35-40g per cookie!) and roll into smooth balls. Pop these into the fridge to firm up or even store in the freezer for up to 3 months.

Bake on a lined baking tray for 13-15 minutes. Sprinkle it with flaky sea salt.

Recipes courtesy of Matthews Cotswold Flour, a two hundred year old family business that is Britain's number one artisan flour producer and is leading the way in producing regeneratively farmed flours. They boast a range of over 100 varieties of flour, providing an unrivalled choice for both amateur and professional bakers and run an online Baking Club to support and encourage home bakers. For more recipes head to their recipe page at www.cotswoldflour.com