For hot cross buns:
- 1 ½ cups lukewarm Milk
- ½ cup Sugar
- 1 tbsp Active dry yeast
- 4 ½ cups All-purpose flour
- ½ tsp Salt
- ½ tsp Ground nutmeg
- 2 Eggs
- 4 tbsp (½ stick) Unsalted buttersoftened
- 1 cup Raisinssoaked in rum if preferred
For syrup glaze:
- ¼ cup Sugar
- ¼ cup Water
For cream cheese icing:
- ½ cup Icing sugar
- 2 tbsp Cream Cheese
- 1 tbsp Unsalted butterat room temperature
- 1 tsp Vanilla extract
- ½ tbsp Water
Hot Cross Buns
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:
Steps to make Hot Cross Buns
1 | Prepare yeast | 10 |
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. | ||
2 | Mix dry ingredients | 2 |
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. | ||
3 | Add the butter and eggs to the yeast mixture | 5 |
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. | ||
4 | Add the raisins | 1 |
Add 1 cup of raisins (drained if soaked in rum) and mix for another minute. | ||
5 | Place the dough in an oiled bowl | 2 |
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. | ||
6 | Prove the dough | 30 |
Leave the dough to rise until it has doubled in size. | ||
7 | Shape the buns | 35 |
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. | ||
8 | Heat the oven | 5 |
Preheat the oven to 375 °F. | ||
9 | Bake | 20 |
Bake the buns in the oven for about 20 minutes until they are golden brown on top. | ||
10 | Make syrup | 3 |
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. | ||
11 | Make icing | 2 |
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. | ||
12 | Decorate the buns | 3 |
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. | ||
13 | Serve | |
Serve and enjoy! | ||
Recipe Reviews
This took a really long time to make and mine came out slightly crunchy and burnt on the bottom, it was edible though so I did finish them.
Affordable, simple and cute, loving these cross buns, perfect little side dish.
Can't believe it was so easy to make something so delicious, very satisfied with this recipe.
So glad that this is easy to make, I tried it out today and there were no problems, the steps are so simple to follow and the bread turns out delicious.
Family loves these buns, they are super sweet and can be eaten with anything, really good recipe.
I made this and the chick deviled eggs for breakfast because they were both too adorable to resist, everyone enjoyed it.
Heaven shaped into a bun, brought this to church on Sunday and everyone was pleased, will be making this again.
I am super excited to try these out, they look very good and I love buns!
My kids really enjoyed these buns, super sweet tasting and perfect design for anyone who loves Easter :)
Easiest bun recipe I've ever read and made myself, thanks so much for sharing this.
Great recipe but too sweet in my opinion.
Easter is going to be a BLAST with all the awesome recipes on this site, instantly bookmarked it after seeing the meatloaf "cake" and Easter bunny bread, now this!
I added some fruit to mine on the inside and it was delicious, I recommend adding jam too.
Brought these buns for a picnic and they were gone before i even took my second bite,LOL!
I wanted to try something a bit different since I'm a chocolate/hazelnut fan and therefore I added some nutella in mine, I recommend it for sure, very good tasting.
Love love love! So yummy and really good with some strawberry jam!
Instead of a cross I made tiny little hearts and poka-dots on mine for my anniversary, we both loved it.
Baked mine with some chocolate chips and they were perfectly melted into the bread..so delicious.
Didn't use cream cheese for the icing because my hubby isn't a fan so I just bought some vanilla icing at the shop pre-made, was tasty.
Cutest little buns I've ever made! Will be making these adorable breads again for sure.
Well done! Verified!
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