Hot Cross Buns Recipes

Steps:

• In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm milk. In a large bowl, combine eggs, butter, sugar, salt, spices, yeast mixture and 3 cups flour; beat on medium speed until smooth. Stir in currants, raisins and enough remaining flour to form a soft dough (dough will be sticky)., Turn onto a floured surface; knead until dough is smooth and elastic, 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease the top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour., Punch down dough. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; divide and shape into 30 balls. Place 2 in. apart on greased baking sheets. Cover with kitchen towels; let rise in a warm place until doubled, 30-45 minutes. Preheat oven to 375°., Using a sharp knife, cut a cross on top of each bun. In a small bowl, whisk egg yolk and water; brush over tops. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool slightly., For icing, in a small bowl, mix confectioners' sugar and enough milk to reach desired consistency. Pipe a cross on top of each bun. Serve warm.

Steps:

• Generously butter a large bowl. In a small saucepan set over medium heat, heat 1 cup milk until it is warm to the touch.
• Pour warm milk into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the dough hook. With mixer on low, add yeast, granulated sugar, 2 teaspoons salt, melted butter, cinnamon, nutmeg, and beaten eggs.
• With mixer on low, add flour, 1 cup at a time, until a soft, slightly sticky dough forms around the dough hook, about 3 minutes. Continue kneading, scraping down hook and sides of bowl as necessary until smooth, about 4 minutes longer. Add currants, and knead until combined, about 30 seconds.
• Turn dough out onto a heavily floured surface. Knead by hand to evenly distribute currants, about 1 minute.
• Shape dough into a ball, and place in the buttered bowl; turn ball to coat with butter, and cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap. Let dough rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour 20 minutes. For a richer flavor, let dough rise in a refrigerator overnight.
• Generously butter an 11-by-17-inch baking sheet. Turn dough out onto lightly floured work surface, and knead briefly to redistribute the yeast. Divide dough into 24 equal pieces, about 2 ounces each. Shape pieces into tight balls, and place on baking sheet, spaced 1/2 inch apart. Cover with plastic wrap, and let rise in a warm place until touching and doubled in bulk, 45 minutes to 1 hour.
• Heat oven to 375 degrees, with rack positioned in center. To make egg wash, whisk together egg white, 1 tablespoon water, and pinch of salt in a small bowl; brush tops of buns with egg wash. Using very sharp scissors or a buttered slicing knife, slice a cross into the top of each bun. Transfer pan to oven, and bake until golden brown, about 25 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack to cool.
• Make glaze: In a medium bowl, whisk together 1 tablespoon milk, confectioners sugar, and lemon juice. Pipe or spoon glaze in cross shape over buns, and serve.

Steps:

• For the buns: Combine the milk, canola oil and 1/2 cup of the granulated sugar in a saucepan. Stir and heat until very warm but not boiling. Turn off the heat and allow to cool until the mixture is still warm but not hot, about 30 minutes.
• Sprinkle the yeast over the mixture. Add 4 cups of the flour and stir to combine; the mixture will be very sticky. Cover with a towel and set aside for 1 hour.
• Add the baking powder, baking soda, salt and remaining 1/2 cup flour to the dough. Stir until combined.
• Combine the remaining 1/4 cup granulated sugar in a small bowl with the cinnamon and whatever other spices you want to use.
• Lightly flour a work surface and turn out the dough onto it. Press to slightly flatten the dough. Sprinkle a third of the sugar/cinnamon mixture over it. Sprinkle on about a third of the raisins. Then fold the dough over on itself and flatten again so the dough is "plain" again. Repeat the sugar/raisin process, then fold the dough again. Repeat a third time.
• Line a baking sheet with a silicone liner or parchment paper. Pinch off Ping-Pong- or golf ball-size bunches of dough. With floured hands, quickly roll them into balls, then turn the edges under themselves slightly. Place on the prepared baking sheet. Cover and allow to rise in a warm place for at least 30 minutes....an hour plus is better.
• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
• For the glaze: Mix the egg white with a splash of milk. Brush onto the balls of dough.
• Bake until the tops of the buns have turned nice and golden brown, 20 minutes give or take. Allow to cool on a cooling rack.
• For the icing: Mix the egg white with enough powdered sugar for the icing to be very thick. Splash in the milk as needed for consistency.
• When the buns are completely cool, add the icing to a small ziptop bag and snip the corner. Make icing crosses on each bun.
• Happy Easter!

Steps:

• Heat milk in a small saucepan to 110 degrees F (43 degrees C); pour milk into a bowl. Whisk 1/2 cup flour and yeast into milk; cover with plastic wrap and let stand until bubbly, about 15 minutes.
• Place 1 2/3 cups flour, 1/3 cup white sugar, salt, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and nutmeg into the bowl of a stand mixer with paddle attachment; turn mixer on for a few seconds on low speed to combine. Place butter into flour mixture; mix on low speed until incorporated, about 2 minutes.
• Place yeast mixture and egg into flour mixture; mix on low speed for 2 minutes. Stop mixer and allow to rest for 10 minutes; mix on medium speed until smooth and elastic, about 2 minutes. At slowest speed, mix currants and citron into dough until evenly distributed, about 1 minute.
• Butter the inside of a large bowl; place dough in bowl, turn to butter dough on all sides. Cover bowl with plastic wrap; let dough rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
• Line a baking sheet with parchment. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Pat dough into a rough square, and cut into 12 equal pieces. Form each piece into a round bun; place on prepared baking sheet. Press a cross into each bun with the back of a knife; cover buns with a damp cloth and allow to rise until doubled in size, about 45 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
• Bake buns in the preheated oven until deep golden brown, about 15 minutes.
• Bring 2 tablespoons white sugar with 1 tablespoon water to a boil in a small saucepan. Remove buns from oven; lift parchment and transfer buns to a wire rack. Brush immediately with sugar glaze; allow buns to cool completely, about 20 minutes.
• Stir confectioners' sugar and remaining 2 teaspoons water together in a small bowl; heat icing mixture in microwave until smooth and warm to the touch, about 10 seconds. Place icing in a sandwich bag, snip off one corner of the bag, and pipe in a cross over fully cooled buns; allow icing to dry for 30 minutes.

Steps:

• Put warm water, butter, skim milk powder, 1/4 cup sugar, salt, egg, egg white, flour, and yeast in bread maker and start on dough program.
• When 5 minutes of kneading are left, add currants and cinnamon. Leave in machine till double.
• Punch down on floured surface, cover, and let rest 10 minutes.
• Shape into 12 balls and place in a greased 9 x 12 inch pan. Cover and let rise in a warm place till double, about 35-40 minutes.
• Mix egg yolk and 2 tablespoons water. Brush on balls.
• Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 20 minutes. Remove from pan immediately and cool on wire rack.
• To make crosses: mix together confectioners' sugar, vanilla, and milk. Place glaze in a piping bag or a sandwich bag with the corner snipped off; pipe a cross onto each roll.

Steps:

• Combine the water and milk in a medium saucepan and warm over low heat until about 100 degrees F (but no more than 110 degrees). Remove from heat and sprinkle the yeast and a pinch of sugar and flour over the surface of the liquid. Set aside without stirring, until foamy and rising up the sides of the pan, about 30 minutes.
• Whisk the butter, egg yolk and vanilla into the yeast mixture.
• Whisk the flour, the remaining sugar, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon and ginger in a large bowl. Make a well in the center of the flour and stir in the yeast mixture with a wooden spoon to make a thick, shaggy, and slightly sticky dough. Stir in currants. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knead until soft and elastic, about 8 minutes. Shape into a ball.
• Brush the inside of a large bowl with butter. Put dough in bowl, turning to coat lightly with butter. Cover with plastic wrap. Let rise at room temperature until doubled in size, about 1 hour 30 minutes. (If you have a marker, trace a circle the size of the dough on the plastic, and note the time to help you keep track.)
• To form the rolls: Butter a 9 by 14-inch baking pan. Turn the dough out of the bowl and pat into a rectangle about 16 by 8 inches. Divide the dough into 12 equal portions, about 2 ounces each, with a pizza wheel or bench scraper. (If you don't have a scale, divide the dough in half lengthwise, then in half crosswise. Cut each of those four sections into 3 equal-sized rolls.)
• Tuck the edges of the dough under to make round rolls and place them seam-side down in the prepared pan, leaving a little space in between each roll. Cover the pan with buttered plastic wrap and set aside in a warm place until the rolls rise almost to the rim of the pan and have more than doubled in size, about 45 minutes.
• Meanwhile, position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 375 degrees F.
• Remove the plastic wrap and brush the tops of the buns with beaten egg. Bake rolls until golden brown and puffy, and an instant read thermometer inserted into the center of the rolls registers 190 degrees F, about 25 minutes.
• For the glaze: Stir together confectioners' sugar, milk, lemon zest and vanilla until smooth. Transfer icing to a zip bag or pastry bag, and make a small cut in the corner of the bag. Ice buns in a thick cross shape over the top of the warm buns.

Steps:

• Mix the yeast with 4 tablespoons of the warm milk in a small bowl and set aside about 5 minutes.
• Meanwhile, cream 4 tablespoons of the butter and brown sugar and beat in the eggs. When yeast mixture becomes frothy, stir it in, along with the spices, salt and remaining warm milk. Beat in the flour a cup at a time until a soft ball of dough can be gathered together. Dough can be mixed by machine if desired.
• Place dough on a floured work surface and lightly knead in the currants, adding more flour as necessary to keep dough from sticking. Kneading should take no more than a few minutes.
• Using some of the remaining butter, grease a bowl. Place the dough in the bowl and turn to butter all sides. Cover and set aside to rise until doubled, about 1 1/2 hours.
• Butter two baking sheets with the remaining butter.
• Punch the dough down, divide it in half, then divide each piece in half again. Divide each portion of dough into six equal pieces and shape each into a ball.
• Place balls of dough on baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches between them. Set aside, covered lightly with waxed paper, to rise until they have doubled in size, 45 minutes to an hour.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• Carefully slash a cross into the top of each bun, using a very sharp razor blade and cutting through the skin of the dough at least one-quarter inch deep. Or snip a small cross in the top with sharp scissors. Try not to compress the bun as you cut.
• Bake buns about 20 minutes, until they are lightly browned. Just before they come out of the oven, bring milk and sugar mixture to a boil. As soon as buns are done, brush them with milk and sugar glaze.
• Allow the buns to cool for 30 minutes, then serve while still warm.
• If desired, or if you have not cut the cross into the tops of the buns, the cross can be applied with icing. The buns must be completely cooled before the icing is applied. Mix the confectioners' sugar with the cold milk and lemon juice and, using the handle of a spoon or a chopstick, spread the icing to form a cross on top or to fill the cross-shaped cut.

Steps:

• In a mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in water.
• Add milk, sugar, butter, vanilla, salt, nutmeg and 3 cups of flour; beat until smooth.
• Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each.
• Stir in the currants, raisins and enough remaining flour to form a soft dough.
• Turn onto a floured board; knead until smooth and elastic, 6-8 minutes.
• Place in a greased bowl; turn once to grease top.
• Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
• Punch dough down; shape into 30 balls.
• Place on greased baking sheets.
• Cut a cross on top of each roll with a sharp knife.
• Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes.
• Beat water and egg yolk; brush over rolls.
• Bake at 375 degrees for 12-15 minutes.
• Cool on wire racks.
• For icing, combine sugar, milk and vanilla until smooth; drizzle over rolls.

Steps:

• If you have a stand mixer, combine the flours, water, milk, yeast, salt, and sugar in the bowl and fit the dough hook. Add the egg and butter and mix to a sticky dough.
• Add the dried fruit, orange zest, and spices and knead on low speed until silky and smooth. (You can do this by hand, but it will be sticky to handle.) Cover the dough and let rise in a warm place for about 1 hour, until doubled in size.
• Deflate the risen dough and divide into 8 equal pieces. Shape into rounds and dust with flour. Place on a floured board, cover with plastic wrap or linen, and let proof for about 30 minutes, until roughly doubled in size.
• Preheat the oven to 400°F. To make the crosses, whisk together the flour and water until smooth, then transfer to a pastry bag and snip off the end to make a fine hole (or use a plastic food bag with a corner snipped off, as I do). Transfer the risen buns to a baking sheet and pipe a cross on top of each one, then bake for 15 to 20 minutes.
• Meanwhile, melt the jam with the water in a pan. Brush over the buns to glaze as you take them from the oven. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Serve warm, cold, or toasted.