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Hot Cross Buns Recipe

  • Author: Polish Housewife
  • Prep Time: 2 hours
  • Cook Time: 45 min
  • Total Time: 2 hours 45 minutes
  • Yield: 16 buns 1x
  • Category: Bread
  • Cuisine: English

Description

A soft spiced bread roll with dried fruit and a glazed cross on top for Good Friday


Ingredients

Scale

for buns:

  • 1/2 cup mixed candied peel
  • 1/2 dried cranberries
  • 1/4 cup rum, brandy, or apple juice
  • 1 package dried yeast
  • 1 cup warm milk, 110 degrees F
  • 1 egg
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons butter, softened
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/8 teaspoon allspice
  • dash nutmeg
  • dash ginger
  • 331/2 cup flour
  • 1 egg yolk and 1 tablespoon oil for egg wash

for glaze:

  • 3/4 cup powdered sugar
  • 23 tablespoons milk
  • 1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Instructions

  1. Add candied peel, cranberries, and rum (or other liquid) to a covered bowl or small covered pan and heat until warm in microwave or on stove top, set aside to cool
  2. Dissolve yeast in warm milk for 3 – 5 min, mix in egg, butter, sugar, spices (feel free to make changes  to the spices I’ve used according to your tastes, a scant teaspoon in total), 1 1/2 cups flour
  3. Add the peel/cranberries and any liquid that wasn’t absorbed, and enough of the remaining flour to have a sticky dough, knead, continuing to add flour as needed for about 5 minutes
  4. Place in a greased bowl, turning to grease the top of the dough, cover with a clean dish towel until doubled in size, about 90 minutes
  5. Punch down the dough, divide into 16 equal portions, roll the dough balls until smooth, place on a parchment lined baking sheet, 2 inches apart. Cover with dish towel and let rise until doubled in size, about 45 minutes, preheat oven to 375 F
  6. Using a sharp knife or razor blade, gently cut a cross into the top of the dough, brush with egg wash, bake about 45 minutes, cool
  7. Combine glaze ingredients using enough liquid to have a thick glaze that runs just a little, spoon glaze into the cross you cut on the top of the buns

Notes

Some recipes filled the cut cross with shortcrust pastry of a milk of flour and milk before baking, but you know the American palate, let’s go with something sweet, so I’ve used a glaze