No judgement here if you licked the screen just now because these cinnamon buns are absolutely scrumptious. They’re a bit like a hot cross bun, only more delicious! The comforting rich flavour of cinnamon set against the moist, smooth plump dough is pure perfection. I know you’ll love this recipe.

Ingredients
For the dough:
500g strong white flour
70g light brown sugar
1 ½ tsp dried yeast
80g butter, softened + extra for greasing
1 generous tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1 free range egg
200ml semi skimmed milk + extra for glazing

For the filling:
200g raisins
100g light brown sugar
100g butter, softened + extra for greasing
1 ½ tsp cinnamon
Juice of 1 lemon

Golden glaze:
50g caster sugar
Juice of 1 orange
Icing sugar and water

If you’re making the dough by hand… Mix together the sifted flour, salt, yeast and sugar in a bowl.

Rub the flour together with the softened butter with your fingertips until the large lumps of butter have vanished.

Make a well in the mixture and pour in the milk. Add the egg.

Form the dough with your hands or a spoon. It will feel like quite a ‘wet’ dough at first, but don’t worry as the liquid will incorporate into the flour mixture.

Knead the dough for about 10 minutes, until it’s springy and smooth. Leave to prove covered with olive oil coated cling wrap for about 80 minutes.

Or if you have a bread machine, follow the instructions on your machine for making enriched dough and no need to wait to prove!

Now is a good time to make the filling.

Sift light brown sugar into the softened butter and beat with a spoon until well combined. Add cinnamon and the juice of 1 lemon. Stir until it resembles a paste. Put to one side.

Grease a large roasting dish with butter and line it with greaseproof paper (including up the sides of the dish.)

When the dough has almost doubled in size, pull it out of the bowl and roll it into a rectangle with a rolling pin to the thickness of half a centimetre. You’ll need to flour the work surface for this.

Spread the filling evenly over the surface of the dough using the back of a spoon or a palette knife if you have one. Sprinkle the washed raisins over the dough. I wanted some cinnamon buns without the raisins, so you can just put the raisins over half the dough if you prefer.

Roll up the dough into a sausage shape. Chop it into 1 inch thick slices and put these into the roasting dish. Cover up again with cling wrap and leave to prove for about 40 minutes.

 Before they go in the oven!

Preheat the oven to 190°C.

When the buns have risen, glaze them with some extra milk and bake in the oven at 190°C for the first 10 minutes. Then turn the oven down to 170°C and bake for a further 20 minutes, until golden brown.

While they’re baking in the oven, you can make the golden glaze. Pour the juice of 1 orange into a small saucepan and gradually add the sugar until it dissolves. Allow the syrup to boil and cook for a further 5 minutes. Set to one side.

Once the buns have finished baking, remove them from the oven and pour over the glaze.

You can mix up some icing sugar too to pour lightly over the buns if you like (as I have done in the picture at the top of the page!)

Savour these cinnamon buns!

Happy Easter!

Update January 2015: a new take on Cinnamon Buns can be found here.