Is there a food that screams Easter more than Hot Cross Buns? Hot Cross Buns are a delicious seasonal treat which taste absolutely fantastic slathered with butter. Make a batch of these buns this year and watch them disappear before they’ve even cooled down!
Start by making the hot cross bun dough. The traditional dough is flavored with nutmeg and rum soaked raisins. As the buns are cooking, make a syrup from sugar and water and a cream cheese icing from icing sugar, cream cheese, butter, vanilla extract and water. Brush the buns with syrup while they are still hot from the oven. When the buns have cooled, pipe cream cheese icing over the top.
To make Hot Cross Buns, you will need the following ingredients:
Whisk 1 ½ cups of lukewarm milk with ½ a cup of sugar and 1 tablespoon of yeast together in a small bowl. Let it rest for about 10 minutes until the yeast starts to activate and bubbles begin to form.
Place 4 cups of flour, ½ a teaspoon of salt and ½ a teaspoon nutmeg in the bowl of a mixer and stir until combined.
Add 4 tablespoons of butter and 2 eggs to the yeast mixture and stir well to combine. Pour the mixture over the dry ingredients and mix for about 5 minutes using the dough hook attachment.
Add 1 cup of raisins (drained if soaked in rum) and mix for another minute.
Pour a tablespoon of oil in a large bowl and place the dough in the bowl. Roll the dough around until it’s evenly coated with oil. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap.
Leave the dough to rise until it has doubled in size.
Transfer the dough to a clean and floured work surface. Knock the air out of the dough and divide it into 15 equal sized buns. Place the buns in a baking pan lined with parchment paper. Cover with a damp towel and leave to rise for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 375 °F.
Bake the buns in the oven for about 20 minutes until they are golden brown on top.
Mix ¼ cup of water with ¼ cup of sugar in a small saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil slowly over low heat. Boil continuously for at least another minute until the syrup thickens.
In a medium sized bowl, mix ½ a cup of icing sugar with 2 tablespoons of cream cheese, 1 tablespoon of butter, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and ½ a tablespoon of water. Pour the icing into a piping bag. Chill in the refrigerator until you are ready to use.
Brush the buns with the sugar syrup when they are still warm. Leave to cool completely before piping the cream cheese icing over the top to make a cross shape.
Serve and enjoy!
These Hot Cross Buns are an Easter classic. I guarantee a batch of these will be devoured before they even have time to cool down. Try them this Easter and make sure you come back to leave a review telling me how you get on.
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