Mini Easter Fruit Loaves

It’s nearly Easter, so it’s time things got a little seasonal around here.

These little (ish) loaves are inspired by that Easter staple – the Hot Cross Bun.

Let’s see what the font of all (nearly) accurate knowledge, Wikipedia, has to say on the matter of hot cross buns:

A hot cross bun is a spiced sweet bun made with currants or raisins and marked with a cross on the top, traditionally eaten on Good Friday in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and Canada, but now popular all year round.

Hmm, not far off, although whilst we are bombarded with the things between Christmas and Easter, once it is over you will struggle to find one.

Now, the more eagle-eyed amongst you will have noticed that these loaves do not have a cross on the top. The cross is traditionally made from a flour and water paste and I was going to attempt a gluten-free version. But. The tops of these loaves have a tendency to crack (as they are more of a cake-bread than a bread-bread), so there was the possibility that the cross would distort (no-one wants a wonky cross). I considered making a cross out of marzipan for the top, until I discovered at the last minute that I didn’t have any marzipan lingering in the back of the cupboard.

Hey-ho. The cross is really for decoration – add it if you want – what is more important is that these little loaves taste like hot cross buns.

Before I had to stop eating gluten, I would spend quite a bit of time at Easter scouring the supermarket shelves for a hot cross bun that didn’t contain candied peel. I loath candied peel. In fact, I hate candied peel. The mere thought of it makes me shudder. If you have been with me on this blog for a while, you will recall that I declared my utter hatred for this ingredient at Christmas (because it usually poisons mince pies). Why do we have to spoil seasonal goods with the inclusion of this vile of the vilest ingredient? There is no need. No need at all.

So it will be no surprise that these mini loaves do not contain candied peel. However, I have given a nod to citrus with orange juice and zest and lemon juice and zest. A much gentler, less jaw-jamming, shuddering way to include ‘peel’.

A healthy dose of mixed spice, raisins and sultanas and we are all set.

I used a mix of raisins (flame, golden and green – ratio in the notes at the bottom of the recipe) which can be purchased from Waitrose as part of their Love Life range (please note I purchased this myself, this is not a sponsored post). If you don’t want to use such a mix or can’t get hold of it then there is nothing wrong with normal raisins. You could even throw in some currants too. If you have to, if you really, really, really have to, you could use mixed dried fruit which is readily available in all supermarkets and contains the dreaded ingredient (candied peel). Is it slightly irrational of me that I often want to punch those bags off the shelf? Maybe I should seek some kind of candied peel counseling.

As usual, I have used a number of different flours, but if you don’t have them, then the notes at the bottom of the recipe tell you which ones can be replaced with a GF plain (AP) flour.