I love a good hot cross bun but I hate feeling sick afterwards from all the sugar and gluten, so this is a paleo-friendly, low-sugar variation. And you know what? They may not be fluffy like your regular hot cross buns but boy-oh-boy do they taste good. One does the trick – they're pretty dense. Happy healthy Easter eating!

Healthy paleo hot cross buns

Ingredients

200 g (2 cups) almond meal

85 g (2/3 cup) tapioca flour

85 g (2/3 cup) arrowroot flour

1 teaspoon gluten-free baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

pinch of salt flakes

80 g (1/2 cup) raisins

zest of 1 orange (optional)

3 eggs

125 ml (1/2 cup) coconut oil, melted

90 g (1/4 cup) honey (or maple syrup or coconut nectar) butter, coconut nectar, honey and ground cinnamon, to serve

Piping mix for crosses

60 ml (1/4 cup) coconut oil melted

2 tablespoons maple syrup (or honey or coconut nectar)

2 tablespoons coconut flour

1 egg white

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C.

2. Grease a 6-hole muffin tray with coconut oil.

3. In a bowl, mix together all the dry ingredients. Add the raisins and orange zest (if using), eggs, coconut oil and honey and mix to form a batter. Mix the batter together really well, making sure there are no lumpy bits, then spoon it into the prepared muffin tray.

4. To make the cross mixture, in a separate bowl mix together the coconut oil, maple syrup, coconut fl our and egg white. Pour this mixture into a piping bag (or a plastic zip-lock bag with one corner snipped off) then pipe a cross on top of each bun.

5. Pop the tray into the oven and bake for 20 minutes until the buns are risen and slightly golden. Enjoy the buns with some organic butter. Or if you're feeling really indulgent, toast them and top with organic butter, coconut nectar or honey and a pinch of cinnamon. Warning – they're dangerously addictive!

Makes 6 hot cross buns

Extract from The Happy Cookbook by Lola Berry, published by Plum, $34.99.