Gluten Free Luxury Hot Cross Buns

Why not have a go at making your own gluten free hot cross buns?

It's actually not that difficult - and even easier making gluten free ones than making 'normal' wheat flour buns as there's no kneading involved. I adapted the ingredients from my sourdough hot cross buns recipe to get the same flavours from a gluten free mix this year and they're pretty tasty gluten free too!

I've included plenty of tips in the method to help you get the best (and least messy!) results, but feel free to do things like proving the buns your own way, if you'd rather cover them in oiled clingfilm and stick them in the airing cupboard, or whatever! 

The spices give the option to use the lower amount for more subtle spicing, or vice versa if you like a nicely spiced hot cross bun full of flavour. I hope you enjoy making and eating these buns - please leave me a comment below and let me know what you think!

Makes 8

Bejewelled Festive Fruity Mincemeat (includes Thermomix method)

A rich mix of colourful dried fruits, festive spices and slivered almonds, fragrant with orange and spiked with brandy

For the uninitiated who may be daunted by the idea of eating sweet meat pies, worry not - mincemeat generally stopped containing actual meat about halfway through the last century, although from the 15th century onwards, it was exactly what it said on the tin! Now it's usually a heady mix of dried fruit, spices, distilled spirit, and frequently suet (which is often vegetarian now too), and sometimes mixed peel and nuts.

The great thing about mincemeat, is that it keeps really well, frequently for a year, and sometimes another year after that (some people revive it with another glug of brandy stirred in, or whatever spirit is to hand). It's most commonly used to make 'mince pies', and can also be used inside festive 'strudel' type pastries. My preference is to make it into mincemeat stars (inspired by the Finnish festive star-shaped pastries, Joulutorttu, which are filled with plum or apricot jam and look so pretty) which I started making many years ago and have now become something of a family tradition. If you can make this a couple of weeks ahead of using it, the flavours will develop really nicely, but if (like me) you frequently end up fire-fighting everything you need to do in the week (or couple of days!) before Christmas, then don't worry - I've made it and used it on the same day, and it still tastes fantastic! This quantity will fill two large 800g jars (or an equivalent volume of smaller jars) with a tbsp or two left over.