Step 1

Pour orange juice into a small pot, bring it to a gentle simmer than switch the heat off. Stir in raisins, set aside to soften.

Step 2

In a bowl of a standing mixer, combine flour, salt, instant yeast, spices and orange zest. Mix them on the low speed, using a dough hook attachment. You can also do this by hand by the dough is very sticky and not easy to handle.

Step 3

Place pitted dates in a blender along with 1 cup / 240 ml of liquid (use orange juice you softened raisins in plus water if you don't have enough), add vanilla extract and olive oil. Blend until smooth - use a spatula to make sure the dates are blended really well.

Step 4

Add date puree to the dry ingredients and mix on low speed initially. If the dough is too dry more water (1-2 tbsp) if needed.

Step 5

Knead on the lowest speed (KitchenAid 1 and until the dough is elastic and smooth and a bit tacky. It should take about 10 minutes, rest the dough for a minute to relax the gluten if it's not coming together. Use a spatula to ensure that the dough at the bottom of the bowl is kneaded too.

Step 6

Once the dough is elastic (it is meant to be sticky) and comes away from the sides of the bowl, stop the mixer and add squeezed out raisins and chopped apricots. Knead on low speed just to combine.

Step 7

Transfer the dough to a lightly greased mixing bowl, cover with a piece of cling film and let it raise in a warm place until it's puffy and airy and when you gently poke with your finger it springs back slowly and not all the way (not fully - that means it's underproofed). You can also put it into the fridge overnight for a slow rise. If it's not rising, place it in a switched off oven with a tray of hot water at the bottom to help.

Step 8

Empty the dough out onto your work surface and push the air out with your fingertips. Use a dusting of flour if needed but not too much, damp hands will help with stickiness.

Step 9

Split the dough into twelve equal parts - best to use kitchen scales here. Shape each portion of the dough into a money bag shape and then rolling each (seam down) with your cupped head against a clean (not floured) countertop to create a tight ball.

Step 10

Lay shaped buns on a paper lined baking tray in a 3x4 grid. Space them out approximately 1.5 cm / 0.6" apart so that they have space to expand during proofing. Cover with cling film and leave another 60 minutes for another proofing.

Step 11

Pre-heat the oven to 200° C / 390° F. Mix flour and a little water (about 60 ml / ¼ cup) in a small bowl until you have a flour paste that runs off your spoon but only just, you don't want it too runny as the crosses won't stay on the buns.

Step 12

Once the buns have proofed, put the flour paste in a piping bag and pipe crosses on top of of the buns in continuous lines.

Step 13

Bake for 15-17 minutes, until the buns are golden. If you don't mind a tiny bit of added sugar, you can glaze them with maple syrup, golden syrup, apricot jam or stem ginger syrup (that's what I used).