‘Tis the season and I have resisted as long as I can. The barrier has been broken and from now on I will be rolling around in delicious hot cross buns for the next month and using my exams as an excuse (nobody ever argues with exams…)

I’ll be honest though, this recipe did require a whole day. I started at midday on Saturday and they were not complete (well, overdone) until 6.30pm. I wasn’t constantly attending to my buns, but they require 3 hours proving time overall so they’re not something that can be made in an evening. As a result, you really have to want to make them.

Shopping list: 300ml milk, 50g butter, 500g wholemeal strong bread flour, 75g plain flour, 75g caster sugar, 7g sachet fast-action yeast, 1 egg, 75g sultana, 50g mixed peel, 1 orange, 1 apple, cinnamon, apricot jam.

I do usually try to bake things that are gluten-free and dairy-free. However, I made these hot cross buns as I was meeting the in-laws for the first time this weekend and so I did not want to mess around with the recipe too much! (And they went down very well…)

I did also have to nip out mid-afternoon to buy a piping bag (for the cross) and an oil brush (for glazing with jam at the end). So make sure you’re armed and ready with these sorts of things.

1. Bring the milk to boil, and then remove from the heat and add the butter. Leave this to cool until it reaches hand temperature.

2. Put the wholemeal strong bread flour, caster sugar, yeast, and a teaspoon of salt into a bowl. Fast-action yeast means it can be added to the dry ingredients straightaway, without being dissolved in water first.

3. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and pour in the warm milk and butter mixture. Beat the egg and then add.

4. Using a wooden spoon, mix well and then bring it all together with your hands until it makes a sticky dough

5. Tip on to a lightly floured surface and knead. I had never kneaded dough before, but you basically hold the dough with one hand, and stretch it with the heal of the other hand, and then fold it back on itself. I had watch people knead dough on Great British Bake Off, but here’s a handy YouTube tutorial just in case!  Repeat this for 5 minutes until smooth and elastic.

6. Put the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, and then cover with oiled cling film (this can be quite messy but oil brush is v handy!) Leave to rise in a warm place for 1 hour until a finger pressed into it leaves a dent.

7. With the dough still in the bowl, add the sultanas, mixed peel, orange zest, and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon. Peel the apple and chop into small chunks and add these too.

8. Knead these into the dough, making sure everything is well distributed. (This is much more difficult than it sounds!)

9. Leave to rise for 1 more hour, again covered by some oiled cling film (apparently this stops the dough getting a crust..)

10. Divide the dough into 15 even pieces – about 75g per piece. As I was making these for the in-laws, I took the time to weigh each piece in the hope that they would look relatively uniform (with medium success).

11. Roll each piece into a smooth ball on a lightly floured work surface.

12. Arrange the buns on 1-2 baking trays lined with baking parchment. Cover with a clean tea towel, and then set aside to prove for 1 more hour. (At this point, Jenna and I walked to Balham for banana bread and smoothies…)

13. Heat the oven to 220 degrees Celsius. Mix the plain flour with about 5 tablespoons of water to make the paste for the cross – add the water a little at a time to ensure it’s just enough for a thick paste. Spoon into a piping bag and pipe a line along each row of the buns, and then repeat in the other direction. (I had also never piped before, so my crosses were far from perfect!)

14. Bake for 20 minutes until golden brown. At this time, I decided to do my nails. I then did not want to ruin my newly-painted nails with oven gloves which resulted in slightly overdone buns… Do not make this mistake.

15. Gently heat 3 tablespoons of apricot jam to melt. Whilst it’s still warm, brush over the top of the warm buns and leave to cool.

Serve warm with a generous spread of butter!