#FreeFromEaster – Apple Date & Walnut Hot Cross Buns (Glutenfree, Vegan & CitrusFree)
March is the month of the #FreeFromEaster treats. A whole month of freefrom treats perfect for a spot of Easter baking with the little people! It’s brought to you by the lovely lot behind #FreeFromPancakes & if Feb was anything to go by you’re going to be spoilt for choice!
Here is my contribution – Apple Date & Walnut Hot Cross Buns (Glutenfree, Vegan & CitrusFree) They are completely Peachick Friendly as they contain no gluten, soy, egg, milk or citrus peel like traditional Hot Cross Buns. Perfect for celebrating a #FreeFromEaster with the whole family… and best of all the kids can get involved with making them too!
These are quite crunchy on the outside but lovely and soft on the inside. The apricot glaze works really well with the slightly spicy rolls, although to be honest you could put more cinnamon and walnuts in the dough (But I live with a fussy cinnamon hater!!).
According to Daddy Peacock hot cross buns are one Easter essential that he absolutely cannot go without. As soon as they are sold in the shops (this year Jan 2nd!) there are regularly packets devoured. But, he is the only one. The Peachicks and I are allergic to oranges. Thankfully the Peachicks’ reactions are fairly mild and just involve sore skin but its still not nice for them. As always these pesky allergies like to keep us on our toes and this week both Elodie and I have had a few mishaps. Neither of us are great with wheat but now hayfever season is upon us we need to stay off it. AND apparently I now can’t eat sesame or celery – I took the lid of the veggie box and the smell of the celery made me pass out. Yep the world of allergies in this house just keeps getting weirder!
Last year I developed these Apple & Cinnamon Scones as a hot cross bun alternative for the Peachicks. They made a great addition to Easter afternoon tea are really quick to make and were a big hit but were just not quite the same! So this month when #freefromEaster came around I knew what I had to try – a hot cross bun suitable for everyone in this house to eat! The bonus of these is they are really easy for the kids to make because the dough is really soft and easy to mix with little hands.
The buns themselves are formed by using a large cookie scoop (which is quite good for development of handwriting muscles in preschoolers!) and the icing cross is piped on afterwards. Now I know there is discussion about what the cross should be made of… well in this house it is icing because otherwise the Peachicks pick it off!
I think they are kinda cute with their not quite the same dome shapes! Apparently they look like little hibernating hedgehogs as they have a few little crispy pointy bits! They were very yummy too – but then you can’t really go wrong with apple, dates, walnuts and cinnamon can you?! I did try some cherry & almond hot cross buns the other day. They were very nice but possibly a step too far for the more traditional hot cross bun eaters out there!
Obviously in case of nut allergies just leave the walnuts out and either add more dates or leave the apple chunks a bit bigger so they stay crunchier!
Recipe for Apple Date & Walnut Hot Cross Buns (Glutenfree, Vegan & CitrusFree)
I am going to try these again before Easter as I had to use Doves Farm G/F Bread Flour. This has rice flour in which sets off mine & Elodie’s eczema a treat but I had used up the last of my Free From Fairy Wholegrain GlutenFree Flour. Once I have remade these with that flour I will update the recipe!
These Apple, Date & Walnut Hot Cross Buns contain no gluten, soy, egg, milk or citrus peel like traditional Hot Cross Buns. Perfect for celebrating a #FreeFromEaster with the whole family! And best of all the kids can get involved with making them too! These are quite crunchy on the outside but lovely and soft on the inside. The apricot glaze works really well with the slightly spicy rolls, although to be honest you could put more cinnamon and walnuts in the dough if you wanted to!
- 550 g Gluten Free Bread Flour (Doves Farm)
- 2 tsp Dried Quick Yeast
- 2 tbsp Sugar
- 4 tbsp Vegetable Oil
- 1 tbsp Ground Chia Seeds
- 350 ml Dairyfree Milk (Koko Dairyfree)
- 2 tsp Cinnamon
- 25 g Chopped Walnuts (or bashed!)
- 50 g Chopped Dates
- 1 Medium Apple Finely Diced
- Apricot Jam
- 50 g Icing Sugar
- Water/Milk
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Preheat the oven to 200C and finely chop the walnuts, apple and dates.
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Add the dry ingredients, flour, sugar, cinnamon, yeast and ground chia seeds to a large mixing bowl (or stand mixer with dough hook attachment) and stir until just combined.
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Pour in the oil and dairyfree milk and mix together into a soft dough. You can use a wooden spoon if you want to but little person hands work just as well!
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Cover with a damp tea towel and rest for 40minutes.
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Now comes the fun part - tip the dough out onto a floured board and squish & knead the dried fruit, apple chunks and walnuts into the dough.
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Next use an ice cream scoop to form the hot cross buns - it makes them a really cute dumpling shape! You can use hands for a more abstract shape.
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Rest again for 60mins under a damp tea towel before baking at 200C for 40-45mins.
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Allow them to cool just enough not to burn little fingers and then paint on apricot jam using a pastry brush. Sprinkle over some chopped dates, walnuts, chocolate chips or pretty Easter-y sprinkles to decorate.
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While they cool completely, beat together 50g icing sugar and just enough dairyfree milk to form a thick but pipeable paste.
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When the Hot Cross Buns are completely cold, then pipe on the icing sugar/milk mixture into a cross shape.
Pin Apple, Date & Walnut Hot Cross Buns (Glutenfree, Vegan & CitrusFree) for Later:
More #FreefromEaster – Baking with Kids Recipes
Here’s the other very lovely, talented lot who are also taking part in the #FreeFromEaster baking with kids extravaganza!
Chocolate Marshmallow Crispie Squares – Nathalie at The Intolerant Gourmand
Berry Breakfast Easter Nests – Emma at Free From Farmhouse
Mini Simnel Cakes (Glutenfree) – Eb at the Easy Peasy Foodie
Quick Chocolate Cream Nests – Rebecca at Glutarama
Easter Rocky Road – Nova at Cherished By Me
Hot Cross Bun Chocolate Rolls – Vicki at The Free From Fairy
Spiced Carrot Muffins – Chloe at The Adventures of an Allergy Mummy
Easter Cupcakes – Kirsty at Hijacked By Twins
No Bake Creme Egg Biscuit Cake – Kate at Gluten Free Alchemist
Mini Eggs White Chocolate Fudge – Grace at Eats Amazing
Vegan Easter Fruit And Nut Chocolates – Mandy at Sneaky Veg
Linky Love:
We love a good linky here at The Peachicks’ Bakery and here are all the ones we have linked these hot cross buns up to!
ALSO DONT forget to give an old recipe a makeover and then hop over to our very own linky The #RecipeRefurb Challenge to join in!! The first one closes soon! Any kind of recipe goes it just has to have had a makeover in some way – new photos, new recipe template or new ingredients – its up to yoU!
@PeachicksBakery
Oh wow Midge, these look amazing! Really excited I can.gave hot cross buns now, definitely making these asap xxx
You clever clever lady! These look fabulous! When making them with my flour don’t forget that it doesn’t have any gums in it (the Doves does) so you’ll need to add some psyllium husk powder or xanthan I expect. I can’t WAIT to try these out!
Ooh good shout!! I haven’t needed it for cakes as the ground chia is enough but I wonder if for these it will be different! X
Haha, I love the idea of them being hibernating hedgehogs! Great recipe.
Thanks lovely! They were yum! These Peachicks do have a good imagination!
Ooh yum, these sound lovely! Yep, definitely agree that you can’t really go wrong with those flavours and I imagine the crispy hedgehog bits to be the best – am I right? 🙂 Eb x
Yes definitely the crispy bits were definitely the yummiest bits!
These look Midge. I love that they look like hedgehogs
The OCD in me was nagging the kids to keep dipping the ice cream scoop in water so that the buns were smooth but actually their ignoring me worked out really well!!
Oh I love these, these look amazing, I’m a huge fan of hot cross buns! I’m definitely going to be giving these a go.
They are really cute and the girls loved making them!
These look delicious, and I’m pretty sure I’ll be using the apricot glaze idea on a lot of other recipes this spring, too! Do you have any ideas for making buns like these without yeast, by chance?
Ah thanks Nicole! I would think that baking powder would work in a similar way to it does in soda bread – you just wouldn’t need to rest it. Add all the ingredients and then put it straight in the oven! x
Oh wow Midge these look and sound so good! I think that these need to go to the top of my to try list! Thank you for sharing with #CookBlogShare x
Thanks! they were very yummy!
Haha, I know just what you mean about hot cross buns being in the shops 2nd January! We (or rather I) love hot cross buns too but I’ve refained from popping some in our trolley so far. These are such a great bake Midge, they look really amazing.
Angela x
It is madness!! Hubby always buys a packet on the first day he sees them then is banned until March! haha!
These are so cute. I love the shape of them.
I’m with Mr Peachick….. You can’t do Easter without buns! Bookmarked x
Thank yoU! I do miss being able to have hot cross buns with everyone else! (shhh don’t let Mr Peachicks’ Bakery hear us saying he is right though – Ill never hear the end of it!!)
These hot cross buns look beautiful and are packed full of goodness! I am sure they taste amazing too. I am always in awe of recipes that have no gluten or dairy and look so spectacular (I am lucky no one in my family has food allergies so I never had to try alternative ingredients – which explains my poor knowledge of gluten free baking:)
Thank you! I do find the gluten free baking really tricky – no dairy or eggs is no problem but gluten free still escapes me really!
They look amazing! I can’t tell they are gluten free and vegan too1
Thank you! hopping over now to investigate your Chicken Kofta Curry – sounds amazing!
Oh my goodness, your ht cross buns look AMAZING, and they’re vegan!!! Wowzers, I’ll have to try making them soon with the kiddos and remove the walnuts. I’ll keep you posted! Jumpy has never had a hot cross bun. I can’t tell you how excited I am right now.
ah bless her! I haven’t had one in years because of all the orange peel in them! x
Wow Midge, these look so good!!! I’m going to have to try these out asap! x #freefromeaster
Thanks Nat! Have a good Easter! x