Chocolate Chelsea Buns for Easter

Yep Chelsea buns for Easter.   I took a quick squizz at a few recipes online and in cookbooks, but it was all yeasty stuff, waiting for hours to prove, lots of kneading and so on.  Nope I thought, not for me on Easter Saturday morning. But Chelsea buns - oh yes - so quick and easy and delicious.  And just pile on the chocolate and you are set for Easter. So I grabbed my flour and spices and brown sugar and sultanas and began to bake my buns.  Making these always brings back wonderful memories of staying in Philadelphia over the Holiday period which in the USA means from Halloween to New Year's Day.  Our Quaker friends took us to a fabulous concert where the audience would bring home-baked goods and sell them in the interval.  I think it was for a Christmas charity but I can't be sure:)  I had made some massive Chelsea buns which were gobbled up by the locals.  I think they thought they were some exotic beastie, instead of just being a fruity bun/scone.   Nevertheless, they were a great success!  This version is from an old Women's Weekly cookbook (aren't they the best?) with a few adaptations to give a bit of Easter cheer.

ingredients:

3 cups self raising flour
1/2 tsp salt
45g butter
1 cup milk

Filling:

80g butter
1/3 cup + 1 tbs brown sugar
1/2 cup sultanas
1/2 cup currants
80g chocolate melts/chips  (90g if you really love chocolate)
60g mixed peel
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp mixed spice

Glaze:

1 tbs water
1 tbs sugar
1 tbs marmalade

Method:

Sift the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl
Rub in the butter with your fingers so you end up with a sandy mixture
Stir the milk into the mix till you have a firm dough (I needed extra milk as I had old flour)
Grab your ruler here if needs be:) and roll it out to a nice oblong of 30cm x 23cm
Brown sugar and butter go into a small bowl - beat together till creamy
Slather this over your lovely oblong of dough
Now the fruit, choc chips, peel and spices are cast evenly over the dough
Roll this fat little baby up lengthwise
Cut into 10 equal slices and squish them into a round 23cm cake tin which has been lightly buttered
Bake at 180C for 25-30 mins till golden
Just before the buns are cooked, make the glaze by heating the 3 ingredients over a low heat till melted
Brush or pour the glaze over the hot buns when they come out of the oven
Eat with heaps of butter either warm or cold

gather the ingredients 

sift the flour and salt 

bash out your dough into a nice oblong   

creaming the butter and brown sugar  

ready to go on the dough   

spread evenly over the dough  

lots of chocolate here  

covering the dough with fruit and spices    

Mr Pickings divvying up and cutting the buns (he is the designer after all)  

making the glaze   

smelling great 

loads of butter - yum!