Take your hot cross buns to a whole new level

Easter crack - with a base of hot cross bun!

This isn't quite a 'stuffed' bun, but it does use the bun as the all-important base. 

Ingredients: 

- 6 x hot cross buns

- 1 cup brown sugar 

- 130g butter, room temp (not chilled)

- 400g chocolate + extra Caramilk for optional swirls 

Method: 

1. Keep your hot cross buns connected in one big slab, but slice the top off. Then use a sandwich press to toast and press flat the bottom slab. 

2. Preheat your oven to 180C and lay the bottom bun slab into a lined baking tray. 

3. Melt together your butter and sugar until dissolved, bubbling and smooth. The  our the caramel over the buns in the tray to create a caramel layer. The  bake it at 180C for ten minutes to set the caramel. 

4. Meanwhile, melt your chopped chocolate in 20 second bursts in the microwave, stirring between, until smooth. The pour this over the caramel and top with melted Caramilk to make swirly patters if desired. Pop in the fridge to set.   

5. Just before serving, press the top sab of your buns toasted and flat in the sandwich press, then place it on top to serve and cut up into pieces. 

Biscoff bake - better than bread-and-butter pudding

This is a delicious way to use up hot cross buns or give them a new lease on life. Even better, it's a great way to reinvent bread-and-butter pudding too. If you make it breadier on the bottom and have plenty of bun sticking out the top, the custard becomes like a filling and it's delicious. 

Ingredients: 

• 4 x hot cross buns, broken into pieces

• A handful of crushed up Easter eggs of choice + crushed biscoffs biscuits

• ¼ cup biscoff spread

• 2 eggs

• ¼ cup milk

• Dash vanilla

Method: 

1. Grease a baking tray (that fits your airfryer), and arrange broken pieces of hot cross bun in the base. Scatter over the crumbled chocolate and biscoff biscuits - reserving some for garnish.

2. Warm the Biscoff for a few seconds int the microwave until loose but not hot. Then whisk in the milk, eggs and vanilla to create a custard and pour it over the hot cross buns. Allow it to sit and soak for 5-10 minutes and pre-heat your airfryer or oven to 180C.

3. Place the hot cross buns into the airfryer or oven and cook at 180C for 15-20 minutes, or until the custard is set and the hot cross buns that are sticking out the top are golden and crisp. In the last 5 minutes, scatter with the reserved chocolate and Biscoff crumbs and allow them to just warm. Serve hot with ice cream or cream.   

Jane de Graaff is Today's kitchen expert, food writer and recipe developer and content creator for fun family recipes of all kinds.

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