The 12 Bakes Of Christmas #2 Christmas Buns

Christmas is coming and there's a bun in me oven, what ama gonna do?

500g Strong White Flour
7g Fast Action Dried Yeast
300ml Milk
50g Unsalted Butter
1 Egg
Sunflower Oil, for Greasing

For the Filling

25g Unsalted Butter
85g Soft Brown Sugar
2tsp Ground Cinnamon
100g Dried Cranberries
100g Chopped Dried Apricots

For the Icing

200g Icing Sugar
Zest of an Orange or a Lemon

And it's off we jolly we'll go.

1. Sift the flour & yeast into a large bowl with a teaspoon of salt.

2. Warm the milk & butter in a pan over a low heat, until the butter melts. Leave it to cool until it's lukewarm.

3. Beat the egg and add it with the milk/butter mix to the flour.

4. Stir until you have a soft dough.

5. Knead the dough for five minutes, until it isn't sticky any more, and tip it into an oiled bowl covered with oiled cling film. Put it somewhere warm and leave it until it doubles in size.

6. Kneed the dough for another 30 seconds and roll it out into a 2cm thick rectangle.

7. Melt the remaining 25g of butter and brush it over the dough.

8. Sprinkle over the sugar, cinnamon and fruit.

9. Roll it up like a Swiss roll and cut into 9 pieces.

10. Put the pieces face up in a greased or lined baking tray and cover with a wet towel, leaving them to rise for a further 30 minutes.

11. Heat the oven to 190C and bake for 20 to 25 minutes until golden, with the fragrance of cinnamon filling your house.

12. Leave to cool on a rack.

13. Add 2tbsp of water to the Icing sugar along with the zest and mix.

14. Drizzle your Icing over the cooled buns.

Tuck in and enjoy with a nice cup of tea!