Recipe makes 15 buns

Preparation: 25 minutes, plus 1 hour 30 minutes proving
Cooking: 15–20 minutes
Per bun: 245 kcals/7g fat/3.5g saturated fat/0.3g salt/16.8g sugars

Kitchen tools
Piping bag with 3mm nozzle or polythene freezer bag
Pastry brush

Ingredients

For the Buns
200ml Whole milk
50g Light brown sugar
15g Easy blend dried yeast (7g fast-action yeast or 20g fresh yeast)
450g Strong white flour
½ tsp Salt
2 tsp Mixed spice
175g Mixed dried fruit
75g Butter, melted and cooled
1 Egg, beaten

For the crosses
50g Plain flour
1 tbsp Sunflower oil

For the glaze
50g Caster sugar

Warm the milk in a small pan over a low heat. Take off the heat just before it boils and siphon off 100ml milk into a small bowl; add the sugar to the bowl and mix until it dissolves. When this mixture cools to blood temperature, scatter with the yeast. Set aside for 10 minutes to become frothy. If using easy blend yeast, omit the frothing step; you can add it directly to the flour with the sweetened milk.

Mix together the flour, salt, spice and the rest of the sugar in a bowl, and stir in the mixed fruit. Make a well in the middle of the flour mixture and pour in the yeasty liquid, melted butter and beaten egg. Mix together with a blunt knife, adding enough of the reserved milk to form a soft, but not-too-sticky dough.

Tip onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 10–15 minutes until it feels elastic (you can do this with a dough hook for about 6–8 minutes if you have a food mixer). Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with cling film. Leave in a warm place and let the dough rise for 1 hour or until doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 220°C, gas mark 7. Divide the dough into 15 pieces and roll into balls. Place the dough balls onto a greased baking sheet, cover, and allow to prove again for 15–30 minutes or until doubled in size.

Prepare the mixture for the crosses by mixing all the ingredients together with 2–3 tbsp water until smooth. Cut a cross in each of the buns with a sharp, serrated knife to mark out where you want to pipe your crosses. Using a piping bag or small polythene freezer bag with one corner snipped off, pipe crosses over the buns. You may need scissors to cut the mixture. Place in the oven, then immediately turn down the oven to 190°C, gas mark 5. Bake for 15–20 minutes.

While they are baking, make the glaze. Simmer the sugar with 75ml water, over a low heat until dissolved. Boil for 5 minutes until thickened sufficiently to coat the back of a spoon. Brush the buns generously with the warm glaze as soon as they come out of the oven.

Allow to cool a little on wire racks. Serve while still warm, or split open, toast, and serve with plenty of butter.