Spelt hot cross buns recipe

These saintly spelt hot cross buns prove Easter doesn’t have to spell healthy-eating fail.

An ancient cereal grain, spelt is a distant cousin of wheat and has a nutty, slightly sweet flavour. Although it does contain gluten, a high percentage of people who can’t deal with wheat flour can tolerate spelt just fine. And if you struggle with allergies, cardiovascular disease, IBS, diabetes, arthritis, migraines, atherosclerosis, high cholesterol or autoimmune disorders, you could definitely benefit from eating spelt: the combination of high fibre and low, fragile gluten makes this grain far easier to digest than wheat. Spelt is also high in vitamin B2, niacin, manganese, thiamin, copper and magnesium – and even better, because the grain is so water soluble, the nutrients are easily absorbed by the body.

These hot cross buns are almost scone-like in consistency. The perfect excuse to serve them warm with melted cashew butter and chia seed fruit jam.

Ingredients

300g spelt flour
3 eggs
100g raisins
50g coconut oil (melted)
Rind and juice of half a lemon (orange works too but can be problematic for eczema sufferers)
1 flat tsp of fast-action yeast
A sprinkling of nutmeg, cloves and cinnamon
50g manuka honey
30g coconut flour

Whisk the eggs in a mixing bowl and add 250g of the spelt flour, spices, raisins, lemon rind and juice, yeast, melted coconut oil and manuka honey. As you stir everything together it will form a sticky dough. Keep sprinkling a little more flour in until the dough becomes easy to work with your hands.

Knead the dough on a spelt-floured worktop for 5-10 minutes. Place back in the bowl, cover with a tea towel and allow to rise. It’s not going to change massively in size as the ingredients are heavy, but it’s good to leave it for around 45 minutes. At this point switch the oven on to 160°C.

Knead the dough again for about 5 minutes, then divide into little balls. Roll them to ensure they’re nice and smooth, place on a tray lined with greaseproof paper and use a knife to cut a cross into the top of each bun.

Put your coconut flour into a small bowl and keep adding a few drops of water, stirring with a teaspoon until the mixture thickens to become a thick, sticky paste. Using a piping bag or the side of a knife, pipe the mixture into the cross on the top of each bun.

Bake in the oven for approximately 30 minutes. The buns are ready just as the coconut flour begins to turn a little golden brown.