Name: Easy Hot Cross Buns Recipe
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 20 min

Hot Cross Buns

Lightly toasted with butter, or whatever may take your fancy, this homemade hot cross buns recipe is guaranteed to impress your friends and family. It will even have you donning your apron again to make another batch! Find out how to make hot cross buns below.

At a Glance

Servings:

12 People

Difficulty:

Easy

Prep Time:

20 min

Cooking Time:

20 min

How to make Hot Cross Buns

Give them to your daughters, give them to your sons, you know how the nursery rhyme goes. This hot cross buns recipe is a real treat to bake, and is even better when you’re sat in front of your creation ready to get stuck in.

What you'll need:

65g caster sugar
500g strong white bread flour
8g fast action yeast (or dried active yeast)
50g unsalted butter
225ml whole milk
½tsp salt
1tsp ground cinnamon
Ground ginger (to taste)
Ground nutmeg (to taste)
2 medium eggs
200g raisins

For chocolate hot cross buns:

50g cocoa powder
100g chocolate chips (to replace raisins)

Method:

Pour your milk into a pan and warm it until it’s steaming.
Mix your spices and baking ingredients – the flour, cinnamon, salt, ginger, sugar, nutmeg and yeast –into a bowl.
Add butter to the mix and rub between your fingers until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
Add the warmed milk, raisins and eggs, and combine with the mixture.
Knead the mixture until it is smooth and springy to the touch, with an elasticity to it. This should take five to ten minutes.
Transfer the dough into a bowl that has been lightly oiled and cover with cling film, leaving it to rise for an hour or two until it has doubled in size.
Once the dough has risen, remove from the bowl and knead it on a floured surface.
Split the dough evenly into 12 balls and place on a lined tray, with at least a centimetre gap between them.
Lightly oil some cling film and cover the buns, leaving the dough to rise again while your oven preheats to 200°C, or 180°C if you’re using a fan oven.
Once the oven is ready, whisk together some flour and 30ml of water and pipe it onto the buns to form the traditional crosses.
Bake in the oven for 20 minutes.
Leave to cool fully, and then dig in! Top Tip: You can glaze the result of this homemade hot cross buns recipe with honey or jam to give them a real sticky, shiny look.

For the chocolate hot cross bun recipe:

Sift cocoa powder into the bowl mixture along with your spices.
During the kneading process, roughly stretch and flatten the dough before sprinkling chocolate chips over, then knead for a few more minutes until smooth.