Hot Cross Buns - Challenge No. 7

So with Easter upon us tomorrow I thought my next challenge needed to be Hot Cross Buns.
A Hot Cross Bun is a sweet,spiced bun made with mixed fruit and marked with a cross on the top. Traditional they are to be eaten on Good Friday.
Nowadays major supermarkets stock a variety of different taste variations such as toffee, orange & cranberry, and apple & cinnamon.
I always wondered what the cross on top was made from and have found out today that it's traditionally shortcrust pastry though mostly nowdays a paste made from flour and water.
As with all the bread recipes it's a long process  making the buns because of the rising times.
I've cooked at home today and my cooker was far too hot despite setting the temperature lower than the recipe said, so, gutted that the outside got slightly overcooked whilst the inside was underdone. But I lowered the temperature as soon as I realised and though disappointed they were still enjoyed by all at home!

Todays recipe comes from The BBC - Food - Recipes site so instead of me writing it all out here's the link and below are a couple of photos (new camera definately on my christmas list this year! Excuse the quality of the images!)

So after putting all the ingredients together, and kneading til smooth, put your dough in a bowl, cover and leave to rise in a warm place.

Several cups of tea later punch down your dough and divide into 12 equal mounts. Roll into balls, flatten slightly and place on a greased baking tray. Make your paste with the flour and water and pipe a cross on the top. I made 2 pastes as the first ran out. Think my 2nd paste had a better effect after cooking as it was slightly runnier than the first.

Bake in the oven 8 - 12 mins. As I said earlier my fan oven was far too hot despite me reducing the temperature to 200C. For me 170C would have been the best temperature I think.
Brush with melted golden syrup straight from the oven.

Hot Cross Buns

Lovely hot with soft, melting butter