Have you seen that ad on the telly for Marks & Spencer “luxury” hot cross buns? What a hoot. Carlos Santana plucks away at Samba Pa Ti on the soundtrack, while the bakery product in question is pulled apart in fruity slow motion as a woman who sounds as if she’s been gargling honey for a week intones the virtues of its ingredients, concluding: “This is not just food...”

Well I’m sorry, dear, but it is. It’s a hot cross bun, for Christ’s sake (if you see what I mean), not world peace, a cure for cancer or even Rangers overtaking Hearts for the second Champions League place. And the price of them! I know I’m a parsimonious Jock, and licensing Santana’s back catalogue doesn’t come cheap, but at 99p for four they’re having a laugh.

Make your own. Better still, if you’re blessed with offspring during the school holidays, let them loose in the kitchen and pay the cleaner double time. You’ll still be quids in.

Ingredients

Makes 12

Prep 15min

Cook 25min

450g strong bread flour
1tsp salt
2tsp ground cinnamon
2tsp ground allspice Sachet
(7g) dried yeast
75g raisins
75g glacé cherries
Grated rind of 1 orange,
1 lemon,
1 lime
110g caster sugar
50g unsalted butter
2tsp vanilla extract
250ml milk
1 egg, beaten
Paste of 80g plain flour,
2tbsp sugar,
100ml water
Glaze of 2tbsp brown sugar,
3tbsp milk,
1tbsp marmalade

METHOD

Sift flour, salt and spices into a large bowl and mix in the yeast, fruit, rind and sugar. Melt butter, stir in milk and vanilla extract and heat until tepid. Whisk into egg, add to flour mixture, form a dough and knead on a floured surface for 10min until smooth and elastic. Divide into 12 buns, cover with a damp tea towel and leave in a warm place for about 90min, till doubled in size.

Mix the paste, bung it in a piping bag (or a plastic freezer bag with one corner snipped off) and pipe a cross on each bun. Bake at 180C for 10min, reduce the heat to 150C and bake for a further 15min. Lightly brush with the glaze and cool on a rack.

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