“Hot cross buns!
Hot cross buns!
One a penny, two a penny,
Hot cross buns!”
This is the song that purveyors of the buns would sing to attract customers. It later was adopted as a nursery rhyme. (Source: Wikipedia.)
An English Lenten tradition
Hot cross buns are an English tradition. These slightly sweet bread rolls are typically lightly spiced and contain bits of dried or candied fruits such as citrus peels and raisins or currants. Bakers adorn the round buns with an “x” or cross on their tops, either made of a bit of the dough before baking or stripes of icing afterwards. Christians eat them on Good Friday, and more generally through Lent as an allowable treat during a time of fasting and self-denial. Non-Christians can enjoy them too, of course.
Hot Cross Buns recipes abound
There are many Hot Cross Buns recipes on the internet. Almost all have three components: the dough, the mix-ins, and the cross decoration on top that makes Hot Cross Buns what they are and not just Hot Buns. (Only they aren’t served hot, so what’s up with that?)
1. Dough
Dough: Most all hot cross bun recipes start with a white bread dough which is usually enriched with egg, extra oil or butter, and a little bit more sugar than plain white bread. If you prefer a whole wheat dough, you can substitute all or part of the white flour.
Typical ingredients
- White flour or a combination of white and whole wheat
- Sugar or honey
- Salt
- Yeast
- Egg
- Butter or oil
- Spice: cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, allspice, or a combination
2. Mix-ins
Mix-ins: If you aren’t fond of the bitter flavors found in some fruitcakes then avoid citron and peels. You might prefer a combination of raisins, golden raisins, currants, dried cranberries, chopped dried cherries, chopped dates, and/or chopped dried apricots. For best results, the pieces should be no larger than a raisin. You may like an even finer dice.
- Dried fruits, finely diced: a combination of raisins, golden raisins, currants, dates, dried apricots, dried cranberries, dried cherries.
After you knead the dough and let it rise, incorporate the dried fruits when you punch it down before the second rise. Or mix them in part way during the kneading process. You can save a small amount of non-fruited dough to make the decorative strips if you like. Form the dough into rolls and let rise.
3. Decoration (C’mon, go for the frosting.)
If you allow yourself a little more leeway for sugar consumption during this penitential season, then frosting is definitely the way to go. Make the icing with 10X confectioner’s powdered sugar mixed with either milk, cream, or heavy cream, and sometimes some softened butter, to make a pipeable frosting.
- Icing: 10X sugar, heavy cream or softened butter
Either use a pastry bag to pipe on the cross after the baked buns are cooled, or spoon the icing into a plastic food bag and cut a small nip out of one corner to push the icing through.
If you arrange your dozen buns, say, in three rows of four or four rows of three in a rectangular pan, then it is a simple matter to pipe three lengthwise stripes and four crosswise stripes. Separate the buns and each will have the appropriate cross pattern on top.
Hot Cross Buns Recipes
King Arthur Flour: https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/easy-hot-cross-buns-recipe
Food52: https://food52.com/recipes/27710-hot-cross-buns
Fascinating facts about Hot Cross Buns
Smithsonian Magazine: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/five-great-myths-about-hot-cross-buns-traditional-pre-easter-pastry-180951130/
