Approved Recipe: Hot Cross Buns

How to make Hot Cross Buns

Honestly, I'm not a huge fan of hot cross buns, but since Easter is right around the corner, I had to take up the opportunity to teach my girls about this delicious and simple Easter treat. This was my very first attempt so please don't be too harsh with scrutiny 😝! I added a few little extras to make it my own and now I'm hooked 😁 Hope you like!

Hot Cross Buns

Typically hot cross buns were baked and eaten on Good Friday, or at least that's what my mother told me. I have read that these buns carried the purpose of warding off evil spirits for the remainder of the year when made on this day. I also came across superstitious beliefs where the buns were believed to carry some sort of magical purpose. I am not too familiar with the actual reason for this, so please comment on my post if you know! I will greatly appreciate learning this 😊. 

I researched a few recipes, and developed this one to suit my tastes and style of baking, where I included orange zest and replaced the raisins with dried cranberries. The "cross" frosting was also changed to a delicious cream cheese version and I used a different glaze for the top of the buns before baking, but you can use an egg wash (1 egg mixed with 2 tablespoons milk) or milk alone. The egg wash will give a more glistening look.

Yield: 12 buns.

Ingredients:

For Frosting:

1/2 cup powdered sugar 
1 1/2 teaspoon liquid milk

1 tablespoon softened cream cheese (optional) 
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Buns: 

1/2 cup dried cranberries plus 1/2 cup boiling water
3 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup milk, plus 1/4 cup milk.
1/2 cup sugar, plus 1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/4 cup melted butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 packet instant yeast - equivalent to approximately 2 1/4 teaspoons
2 eggs
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon orange zest 
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

For Brushing the Buns:
2 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon maple syrup

Method:

• Combine cranberries with 1/2 cup boiling water and let sit for 10 minutes. Drain and set aside.

• In a bowl or measuring cup, add 1/4 cup warm milk, 1/2 teaspoon sugar and yeast. Stir and let sit at until bubbly (about 10 minutes).

When the yeast is first added to the milk, it will look like 'A' in the pic above.  After being mixed, it will look froth as in 'B'

  

After 10 minutes, it will look all bubbly . 

Lessens Learnt from my Research: Some of the recipes I 
researched asked for the raisins to be added after the dough
was already kneaded. This was a huge mistake in my books
since it was a nightmare trying to mix in the cranberries so 
late in the recipe. I decided to include them with the dry
ingredients and it was much better and easier to combine. 

• In a large mixing bowl, add the remaining 1/2 cup of warm milk, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/4 cup melted butter, 1/2 tsp salt, cinnamon, orange zest and eggs.  Whisk until combined.  Stir in the yeast mixture.

• Using a wooden spoon or danish dough whisk,  add 1/2 cup flour and cranberries. Continue adding flour in 1/2 cup portions, stirring each time. Knead the dough for about 10 minutes. Form the dough in a ball and let rise for 90 minutes. 

After 90 minutes, the dough should have doubled in size. 

Note: You can use your Kitchen Aid mixer with the dough hook attachment to do the kneading for you. Just cover your dough right there in your bowl and let rise. 

Dough cut in half

• After the dough has risen, cut into 12 equal parts and form into balls. I do this by first cutting into halves, then cutting each half into 6 equal pieces using my bench-scrape.  Place the formed balls in a buttered 9 x 13 inch baking pan.  Cover and let rise for another 30 minutes.

Above shows one half of the dough that has been cut into 6 pieces. That's my bench scrape at the back- I just love using this. It is also handy for picking up chopped ingredients and adding to a pot. 

Instead of buttering my pan, I use my silicone baking mats which allow clean up to be a breeze! Nothing sticks to my pan and doesn't require any buttering or spraying with oil. 

Rolled buns on my Silicone baking mat.

• Preheat the oven to 350˚F.  Make the maple glaze by mixing the milk and the maple syrup together. This is a very unusual glaze but if you don't want to use eggs and still get that brown colour, it will work! Here's a secret-I actually didn't have any more  eggs and that's why I ended up using this 😅! Brush each bun and bake for 15-20 minutes or until the tops are golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool in the pan.

My very cheap squeeze bottle
which you can get in any
variety store.

• Once the buns are warm, whisk together all ingredients for the frosting. You can add more milk if you want it thinner, or more powdered sugar if you want it thicker or sweeter. Transfer frosting to a squeeze bottle and pipe a cross shape over each of the bun. You can do this with a ziploc bag; just cut off the corner tip when ready to pipe.

 Eating these warm is just divine! 

That cream cheese frosting is heavenly!!