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I am planning on making Nigella's Hot Cross Buns for Easter, but I am having issues finding cardamom pods to infuse the milk with. I was able to find ground cardamom and was wondering how much powder I should use instead of the pods?
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Nigella's Hot Cross Buns (from FEAST) are gently spiced with cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger. The whole clove and cardamom pods are left to infuse in warm milk, then the milk is strained and used to make the dough. As the recipe only uses two cardamom pods the flavour is quite subtle, so you would only need to use a pinch of ground cardamom and you can add this when you add the other ground spices. If you like cardamom then you can use more, to suit your own taste, or you could omit it completely.
Hot Cross Buns are made with a sweet, enriched bread dough and traditionally eaten on Good Friday (this year on 14th April 2017). However they are also good for breakfast, or toasted for tea, at any time of the year. If you have extra yeast to use up then you may also like to try Nigella's Norwegian Cinnamon Buns, where the spices are mixed into a sweet, buttery filling for the rolls.
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