Add the butter and milk into a microwave safe bowl or jug and microwave until the butter has melted or it becomes warm. Add the egg and whisk until well combined.
Add the yeast, sugar, flour, cocoa powder, all spice, cinnamon and salt into a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook and mix until well combined. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix on speed 2 for 5 minutes if using a stand mixer. If you’re kneading by hand, dust your workbench with some extra flour and kneed for 5 minutes until smooth. Place the dough back into a lightly oiled dough and cover. Allow to rise in a warm spot for 1 hour.
Once rise, uncover the bowl and punch the dough down to deflate it. Transfer to your workbench and stretch out slightly. Add the chocolate chips on top and knead into the dough until they’re all evenly distributed. Split the dough into 8 pieces. I found the best way to get evenly sized buns is to weight all the dough first, then divide that number by 8. To form into little balls, gather each piece into a ball by pinching it together, than roll to form a dough by cupping the palm of your hand against your workbench.
Place the dough balls smooth side up on a lightly oiled baking tray. Spray the top with oil spray and allow to rise for another 30 minutes.
Preheat your oven to 180°C/350°F.
Flour Paste
Add the flour and enough water (roughly) 5 tbsp) to form a paste. Transfer to a piping bag and snip the end off. Pipe crosses onto the buns.
Bake for 20 minutes or until the crosses look a little golden.
Glaze
While the buns are baking, warm up your jam or marmalade in the microwave and once the buns have baked, brush with glaze. Serve warm with some salted butter.
Video
Notes
Serving suggestionThese hot cross buns are delicious when sliced in half, toasted and served with butter and pinch of salt or Nutella!StorageHot Cross Buns can be stored in an airtight container for up to three days and reheated in the oven on the same temperature for 7-8 minutes. They’re also really delicious when they’re toasted!