Recipe for Hot Cross Buns With Icing

Photo Credit

Maria Burmistrova/Shutterstock

Yield

10–12 buns

Hot Cross Buns With Icing

Traditionally, Hot Cross Buns are served on Good Friday prior to Easter. We think these sweet buns makes a wonderful breakfast bread to be served year-round, not just springtime!

Softly spicy, tender, and rich, homemade Hot Cross Buns are so much better than store-bought! Don’t forget the traditional icing cross on top.

To Christians, the cross represents Jesus Christ’s crucifixion, which is commemorated on “Good Friday,” two days prior to Easter. See how the date of Easter is calculated.

Ingredients

1 cup milk, scalded

1/2 cup sugar

8 tablespoons melted butter

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 yeast cake dissolved in 1/4 cup lukewarm water

1 egg, well beaten

3 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup dried currants (or, raisins)

1/4 cup shredded citron

pinch of ground cloves

1 egg, well beaten

confectioners' sugar and milk

Instructions

Combine the milk, sugar, butter, and salt. When lukewarm, add the yeast cake dissolved in water. Add the egg and mix well. Sift together the flour, cinnamon, and cloves, add the currants and citron, and mix thoroughly. Add to the wet ingredients and mix well. Cover and let rise in a warm place (75-85 degrees F) until doubled in bulk. Shape into round buns and place close together in a well buttered pan. Let rise again. Brush the top of each bun with beaten egg. Make a cross on each bun with a sharp knife. Bake in a hot oven (400 degrees F) for 20 minutes.

Remove from the oven and make crosses with a mixture of the confectioners’ sugar and milk.

Comments

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Since I come from an English family; most of whom still live in England, and I was raised on these every Easter, I will say that traditionally they are eaten from Good Friday through to Easter Sunday. Ash Wednesday marks the first day of Lent; and there is no sugar or risen goods eaten for forty days (hence Pancake Tuesday the day before). But this recipe has far too much spice in it; and we do not traditionally put icing crosses on the buns. Instead, a cross is cut into each bun gently before baking, and then checking it for rising about halfway through the baking time. After that, a mixture of either water and sugar or milk and sugar is brushed on the top to make a shiny and somewhat sweet taste, without over doing the sugar. There are many bakeries here in America though that have all kind of things in them; even lemon icing crosses on the tops. They might taste good, but are not authentic.

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Wonderful, basic traditional recipe but we've always known of Hot Cross Buns to be served at the beginning of Lent, on Ash Wednesday. That is when commercial bakeries premiere their hot cross buns in grocery stores and when local bakeries feature theirs as well. We are here in northern NJ in the NYC tristate area. Happy Easter to all !