Hot Cross Buns! Hot Cross Buns! Thanks

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Hot cross buns! Hot cross buns!

One a penny, two a penny,

Hot cross buns!

If you have no daughters,

give them to your sons.

One a penny two a penny,

Hot cross buns!

Recall that nursery rhyme? Want the truth? I never tasted hot ‘crust’ buns until very recently. In fact when I was a child singing away the rhyme I thought it was ‘crust’ not cross and I thought the bun was our Nigerian buns which is more like a fried cake and not a bread.

Funny I tell you. I also recently found out it was synonymous with Easter. Hmmm. Well I decided to give it a go and I found it tasted similar to cinnamon rolls. Now anything ‘cinnamonny’ appeals to me. But i am not too crazy about the raisins but I put them anyway. But not so much of it. I also added some candied peel because I had some at home. Some recipes call for orange peel so you can use that if you don’t have the candied peel.

Now why the name hot cross buns? The cross on the bread is the reason for that and the popularity during Easter particularly in the Uk, I believe has everything to do with the cross of our Savior Jesus Christ. The hot part of the name is obviously because it is sold warm. My daughter said o mummy no wonder it’s called ‘hot’ cross buns it’s hoooot.

It is said that it’s usually hawked on the streets at the end of lent that is Good Friday. I guess that’s the background story.

Now to this British Easter spice bun. It’s pretty easy to make and yummy too. You need some cinnamon and all spice you can use nutmeg as well but I didn’t. The cinnamon and all spice was good enough for me so I went with those ?

Actually a good description for these buns would be the ‘Sugar and Spice and everything nice’ Does that phrase sound familiar?? Of course it does it’s from the power puff girls show. Oh well I had to borrow it because it describes these buns perfectly. The sugar would be the simple syrup glaze, the spice would be cinnamon and allspice +/- nutmeg then everything nice would have to be raisins and citrus peel lol. Ok ok Enough of this, Let’s get to this delicious hot cross buns already. Hope you get to try it out and let me know how it goes..

Love,

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Print Recipe

5 from 6 votes

Hot Cross Buns

This soft and delightful English Sweet Spice Bun would be a delight to share with family and friends around the table this Easter.

Prep Time15 mins

Cook Time20 mins

Rising Time1 hr 30 mins

Total Time35 mins

Course: Breakfast

Cuisine: English

Servings: 12

Calories: 314kcal

Author: Chichi Uguru

Ingredients

For the dough :

• 1 packet Active Dry Yeast
• 4 oz salted butter melted
• 1 cup warm milk
• 100 g sugar
• 500 g bread flour
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp allspice
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1 Tbsp candied citrus peel.

For the cross: ( flour Paste)

• 1 cup of flour
• 3/4 cup of water
• 2 Tbsp sugar

For the glaze;

• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup water

Instructions

The Dough:

• Bring a cup of water to boil add the raisins into the boiling water and allow boil for 2 minutes to hydrate them. Sieve with a colander and run under cold water to cool and set aside. Alternatively you can hydrate the raisins in the microwave bowl see note 1 below.
• Put about 2 Tbsp warm water in a small cup, add a teaspoon of sugar from the 100g then add the yeast and set aside
• Mix sugar, melted butter and eggs together and pour into the mixing bowl.
• Add the proofed yeast into the mixture, pour in the flour, cooled raisins and citrus peel and begin to mix with the dough hook of the stand mixer.
• Mix till everything comes together. When all have come together into a ball increase speed and mix for about 5 minutes that the kneading stage. The dough shouldn't be sticky. If it is, add a little flour.
• Grease a bowl then transfer the bell of dough to the greased bowl.
• Cover with cling film and a kitchen towel. Place in warm place for 1 hr until it doubles in size.
• When the dough has risen and doubled in size, punch it down,
• Then transfer to you work surface, if it's still sticky (which I doubt), dust it with a little flour and knead.
• Cut into 12 equal parts I had use a scale to divide them equally. You can eyeball it if you want.
• Form 12 balls and arrange them in a greased 9 by 13 pan 1 inch apart.
• Cover again and allow to rise for 20 mins.

The Flour paste

• Mix the flour and water till smooth. It will have a thick yet fluid consistency.
• Then transfer into a piping bag with a round top or use a ziplock bag and cut a little hole unit when you are ready to use the paste.

The glaze

• When the bread is baking, you can prepare the glaze it's just simple syrup.
• Bring water to boil then add the sugar allow to boil for about 2 minutes then turn off heat

The assembly:

• Preheat oven to 350 F
• When the dough balls have risen cut the tip of the ziplock that has the flower paste.
• Pipe a long line vertically and horizontally in the middle of the Buns.
• Transfer to the oven and bake for 20 - 25 mins.
• The buns would be hollow when you tap the button of the pan when it is ready. It may not be golden brown on top until the glaze is applied.
• Bring it out of the oven and apply the glaze (simple syrup) with a brush.

Notes

1. To hydrate the raisins in the microwave, put the raisins in a microwave safe bowl, add enough water to cover the raisins then microwave for about 2 minutes.
2. You can soak the fruits overnight if you don't want to boil or microwave them