Easter Hot Cross Buns - in a breadmaker.

I bought some hot cross buns from a specialty shop - they were terrible, what I discovered is if you have about 3-4 hours, you can make hot cross buns at home that are delicious.  This is an adaptation of a recipe I found on Panasonic.  (Panasonic make a great bread maker by the by).  You obviously cannot make buns from beginning to end in a breadmaker, but you can get it to do the kneading and 1st proove.  The result is a light fluffy, perfectly kneaded bun mix.

Special Occassion (like Xmas and Easter) Biscuits.

 This recipe is for biscuits that hold their shape and icing that sets hard!   Note: using PURE icing sugar not icing sugar mixture for this.

Sugar Biscuit Dough

Preheat over to 180C

Beat 125g soft butter and 110g caster sugar and 1 egg until JUST COMBINED (do not overbeat).

Add 225g Plain Flour and 1tsp vanilla bean paste.  

Beat until it just comes together, then kneed until smooth.

Cover with clingwrap and chill for 30 minutes.

Roll out about 3mm thick and cut out shapes.

Bake in preheated oven, rotating positions of baking sheets halfway through, until cookies are light golden brown around edges, 10 to 12 minutes. 

Let cool on sheets 5 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Royal Icing

Whisk 1 egg white and 1teaspoon of lemon juce in electric mixer.

Slowly add 240g pure icing sugar, increase speed to high for 5-7 minutes until it is a thick paste.  Cover with clingwrap until it is being used.

Add colour as required and decorate biscuits as simply or complicated as you like.