Bringing you these easy Hot Cross Buns just in time for Easter! These soft, sweet, lightly spiced buns studded with raisins and cranberries are a treat for everyone!
Served traditionally on Good Friday, Hot Cross Buns have been on my mind for ages. I decided to finally make them last year and fell in love with this lovely sweet bread. But somehow I never got around to sharing them with you all. So here I am, with this easy recipe that's eggless and vegan too!
Typically Hot Cross Buns are studded with juicy plump raisins and currants. Since I didn't have any currants on hand, I mixed in cranberries in the dough. I love their sweet-tart taste in this bread. It went perfectly well with the golden raisins. They are beautifully aromatic with cinnamon and nutmeg. I added a dash of clove powder too, along with a hefty dose of lemon zest...I wish you could've smelled my kitchen!!
Hot Cross Buns are marked by a "cross" on top. Its typically made with a paste made with flour and water, piped before they are baked. After they are baked, you can pipe another cross using cream cheese frosting, lemon icing, or white chocolate. They can also be glazed with (warmed and strained) apricot jam or honey. I skipped this step as I wanted to keep these buns lightly sweetened.
Hot Cross Buns are best eaten warm, plain or slathered with butter. They are so good toasted too. These buns are wonderful served for brunch or like our case, an evening snack for the teen!
I hope these easy Hot Cross Buns make it to your Easter table this weekend. Do give them a try, I promise you'll be hooked in the first bite!
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Hot Cross Buns
Ingredients
- 125 gms All purpose flour
- 125 gms Wholewheat flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon powder
- 1/4 tsp Nutmeg powder
- 1/4 tsp Clove powder
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 2 tsp Dried active yeast
- 3/4 cup Water, lukewarm You may need more
- 3 Tbsp oil
- 1/4 cup Raisins, halved
- 1/4 cup Dried Cranberries, halved
Flour Paste
- 2 tbsp Flour
- 2 tbsp Water
Instructions
- Combine water and yeast in a cup along with a pinch of sugar. Keep aside for 5-7 minutes till frothy.
- In a large bowl, mix both the flours, salt, sugar, lemon zest, cinnamon powder, nutmeg powder, and clove powder.
- Now add the yeast mixture and oil to the dry ingredients and mix well. Knead well on a floured surface till the dough starts coming together. Now mix in the dried fruits. Knead for another 5-10 minutes till the dough is smooth and elastic.
- Transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl, cover with cling wrap and let rise at room temperature until doubled in size. This will take about 1.5 hours. It's quite hot here these days, so the proofing doesn't take very long.
- Keep a baking tray ready, lined with baking/parchment paper. Take the dough out on a floured surface, lightly punch it down. Divide the dough into 9 equal sized pieces.
- Roll each piece into a ball and place on the tray. Make sure there is space between them to rise. Cover lightly with a tea towel and place in a draft-free warm place to let the double in size.
- Preheat your oven to 200C. Make a thick paste with the flour and water. Transfer to a piping bag, snip off the end and pipe a cross on each of the buns.
- Bake for about 20 minutes, till the buns are golden brown. Transfer them to a cooling rack and serve them warm. Enjoy!
alaiya says
My first time making these and turned out great! Thanks a bunch
Natasha Minocha says
They're really so fun to make! I'm so happy to hear you liked them, Alaiya. Thanks for stopping by xx
pooja kapur says
beautiful bread bun recipe, turned out great. I did not use lemon zest, will try that next time
Natasha Minocha says
Hi Pooja, so happy to hear it turned out well for you! Thanks for stopping by xx
Fowzia says
Will surely try the recipe. How do u get the shiny glaze on the buns?
Natasha Minocha says
Thank you very much! You can brush the buns with melted butter or cream or egg wash before baking. 🙂
Ravina says
Hi Natasha, I tried this recipe for the first time and my buns came out hard. I had instant yeast at home which I soaked in warm water. I also used dried cranberries instead of raisins. I made a mistake where on my second proof I moved the buns from the parchment papers tray to a baking pan. Also maybe I baked it for a bit too long. The inside was soft and nice but the crust was a bit hard. Could you pls advise what I may have done wrong? Thanks so much.
Natasha Minocha says
Hi Ravina, thank you for trying out this recipe. I really appreciate it. So maybe the buns did get baked longer than required. They do get done quite quickly. In case of a hard crust, one trick that works sometimes is either brushing the bread with melted butter as soon as it comes out of the oven or covering it with a slightly damp cloth napkin.
Hope this helped! 🙂