Hot Cross Buns just in time for Easter! They’re soft, lightly sweetened, and perfectly spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice. Once you taste this homemade recipe, you won’t go back to store-bought. And that’s a promise!
What are Hot Cross Buns
Yes, they are a wildly popular nursery rhyme (that you likely can’t get out of your head now…. IYKYK). Hot Cross Buns are yeast-raised buns traditionally enjoyed for Easter. They are rich with spices and full of dried fruit. Easter aside, they are delicious ANY day. They taste like a hybrid between a dinner roll and a cinnamon roll….Do I have your attention?!
How to Make Hot Cross Buns
I couldn’t help but notice that every hot cross bun that I’ve ever purchased is as hard as a rock. Was this intentional, I wondered? Clearly a fluffy, flaky soft bun is a superior way to go, no? Well do I have the recipe for YOU!
A recipe like this does require some elbow grease, but the final product makes it all worth it. There are few things as satisfying as making homemade buns like this. You should be SO proud of these Hot Cross Buns!
The main steps are:
- Make the bread dough.
- Knead the dough.
- Cover the dough and let it rise. Once it has doubled in size (about 30-45 minutes), punch it down. Cover and let rise another 30 minutes. Punch down again.
- Cut and shape into buns, then place on a baking sheet. Cover with a clean towel and let the buns rise until doubled.
- Pipe the crosses on top.
- Bake until golden brown.
- ENJOY
I used a piping bag fitted with a medium round tip to make the crosses. The first time I started out with a thicker dough but it was a nightmare to pipe, so I ended up using a slightly thinner version that still kept its shape but that you could pipe out in one seamless stream. I also tried doing the egg wash before placing them in the oven but it ruined the crosses, so as you can see below I recommend doing the egg wash part way through the baking process when the buns are stable enough to take out of the oven. You could also always consider topping these with icing!
Easter Recipes
It doesn’t get much better than this recipe for Easter! But I guarantee that they will be showing up all year round in our house! If you’re looking for more Easter recipes and DIY’s we’ve rounded up our favourites here! Or if you’re looking for another yummy treat My Granny’s Cinnamon Buns are to die for!
If you have the Fraiche Food, Full Hearts Cookbook, remember to head to page 27 for our Easter Menu!
Hot Cross Buns
Hot Cross Buns
Hot Cross Buns just in time for Easter! They're soft, dense, and perfectly spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice. Once you taste this homemade recipe, you won't go back to store-bought.
Ingredients
Buns
- 1/3 cup water or spiced dark rum
- 1 cup sultana raisins
- 1 ½ cups boiling water
- 1/2 cup honey
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ cups lukewarm water
- 3 teaspoon sugar
- 2 tablespoon active dry yeast
- 2 eggs, well beaten
- 7-8 cups all-purpose flour (5 cups then up to 3 cups for kneading)
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 1 1/2 teaspoons allspice
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
Cross Dough
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1/4 cup water approximately
Egg Wash
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon water
Instructions
Buns
-
Place the raisins in a small microwave-proof bowl, pour over the water or rum, and microwave for 1 minute. Stir and set aside to cool and soak for an hour (or longer).
-
Combine boiling water, honey, butter, and salt in a large bowl and cool.
-
In a liquid measuring cup, combine the lukewarm water and sugar until dissolved. Sprinkle the yeast on top and let it sit for 5-10 minutes, until it bubbles.
-
Once the water, honey, butter and salt mixture is cooled, add the eggs and 1 cup of flour. Stir well. Add the yeast mixture, and stir untill combined. Drain the raisins with a sieve and discard the liquid. Add the raisins along with 4 of the remaining cups of flour, and the cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg: stir until you can’t stir with a spoon (will get too difficult), adding more flour as needed.
-
Put the dough on a well-floured surface (counter) and using your hands, knead the dough for about 10 minutes. You will need to add more flour as you knead the dough to keep it from sticking to your hands and the counter. The dough will look smooth and ‘elastic’ when it is ready.
-
Put the dough in a well-greased large bowl, cover with a towel, and place in a warm draft-free place to rise. Once it has doubled in size (about 30-45 minutes), punch it down. Cover and let rise another 30 minutes. Punch down again.
-
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease a large baking sheet with oil, margarine or butter and line with parchment paper. You will need to grease an additional small 9" round pan or a loaf pan if you are making small buns. Divide the dough into approximately 3 ounce portions (a small handful), and shape into buns (balls) with your hands. Space the buns evenly in a grid on the pan, you should get approximately 24 buns in a large baking sheet (4 buns down by 6 or 7 buns across). Cover the pan with a towel and let rise until doubled.
The Cross
-
In a small bowl, mix all of the above ingredients together to form a thicker batter. Start with the 1/4 cup of water and add more until you have a batter that is the consistency of a thick pancake batter. It will need to hold its shape when piped but still be able to flow out of the piping bag.
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Fill a piping bag fitted with a medium round tip and pipe a cross, starting at one end of a row of buns and running along the centre of the entire row until you get to the end of the buns. Repeat on each row running length-ways, and do the same through the middle of the buns running the opposite direction to form a cross along the buns.
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Bake for 15 minutes or until they are starting to turn golden brown.
Egg Wash
-
Whisk together the egg and water in a small bowl and, using a pastry brush, lightly brush the tops of the buns with the egg wash with a pastry brush and return to the oven.
-
Bake for an additional 5-10 minutes or until the buns are golden brown.
These are delicious Tori ~ thank you! The rum soaked raisins are way better ~ good call!!! Happy Easter to everyone!
I used instant dry yeast. I find the dough sooooo sticky and had to add a lot of flour inorder to work with it. Hopefully it still turns out well!
Hi Jessica. Did you drain your raisins? I sometimes add extra flour too, making bread is a bit of an art where you add flour until it ‘feels right’. I hope they turned out for you!
Hi Tori! LOVE al your recipes! I drained my raisins, and had the same experience as Jessica. The dough was so sticky, it was almost impossible to work with, and it was difficult for me to determine the right amount of flour to add because I would require a lot of flour to get the dough to a normal consistency. 1/4 cup? 1/2 cup? 1 cup? I don’t know.
Hi I am so sorry to hear that! I have made this many times without the same issue I wonder if your raisins were more hydrated than mine? Indeed adding extra flour is the key I wish I could have been there to help! Warmest wishes~ Tori
Are you sure about the amount of water. 3 cups water to 6 cups flour seems like way too much. I added 1 1/2 cups and the dough was very wet. I had to add about another 1/2 to 3/4 cups of flour to make a dough
Hi Bruce, this is what I used when I made them, but I’ll see if I can make them again to test it out. Thanks! Tori
Hi Bruce as I read the recipe it looks like 1 1/2 c water is for the raisins and then the other 1 1/2 c is for the bread dough.
Hey Bruce! I just re worded a couple things to help make it clearer!
– 1 cup for raisins (that liquid is then discarded)
– 1 1/2 cups boiling water + 1 1/2 cups lukewarm water are used in the dough
– 1/4 cup water is used separately for the cross dough
You will need to keep adding more and more flour as needed.
Hope this helps and happy baking!
xx Tori
These look so delicious! Have you ever tried making them gluten free?
Thank you Sara! No I haven’t, great idea! Would love to know if you try!
These were incredibly yummy. Soaking the raisins in the spiced rum is brilliant.
Looks great! Have you made them using flax egg instead of eggs?
Hi Tori,
What’s your opinion on subbing chocolate chips for the raisins? My family hates dried fruit.
Thanks for always providing us with great recipes.
Bri
Hi Brianna, for sure you could do that if you wanted!
Would using all whole wheat flour be okay? It’s all I have!!
Yes I think that should be ok!
These turned out perfect! Thank you for another great recipe – Do you think the recipe could be cut in half?
Yes it could!! Or freeze the buns and save for a rainy day!
xx Tori
When I made the full recipe I used my Kitchen Aid Artisan mix master instead of kneading by hand (wrist issues) and it was a little too much dough for the machine. Turned out perfect though. I will try half next time. Thanks!
So excited to try this recipe today! What are your thoughts on adding some orange zest?
Love that idea!
My non-liking-hot-cross-bun-husband loves these! He must have eaten half a dozen all at once and after each one would exclaim how good they are! I served the rest to our small group (made two pans of half-sized buns) and sent several bags home with our company. I glazed them once cool with a vanilla/citrus icing instead of making the cross into the buns.
Beautiful recipe and love how big it is for company but would love smaller proportions for small gatherings.
Courtney!! Thank you so much for this incredible review. I LOVE that your husband is a fan! xoxo Tori
These are good. I think the instructions could be better. I would separate the quantity of flour used to make the dough from the flour you may add while kneading. I mixed up my flour before hand using half red fife, which is not cheap, only to find out I probably didn’t need to use that much..should say 5 cups plus up to 3 for kneading. I don’t use red fife to knead, so that is a waste. Also, instructions step 4 says to add the eggs and flour to the “first mixture”…that is easily interpreted as the raisins. I figured it out but pretty sure that’s what happened to another baker in the comments as his dough was too wet.
Thanks Lisa, I tweaked them a bit! Appreciate the feedback. Happy Easter!
I made these for Easter this year. It was my first time ever making hot cross buns, and they turned out amazing, and looked exactly like Tori’s photos. I followed the recipe closely – the step by step instructions made it so simple. Can’t wait to make these an annual tradition!
I am excited to try to make them this year! Could I make them a day or two ahead?
Hi Jacqueline! You could but they just won’t be as fresh! You can just microwave gently to reheat:)
Can maple syrup be substituted for the honey in this recipe. Thx.
Hi Suzanne I haven’t tried but in theory it shouldn’t be a problem. Enjoy!
These came out excellent! The family loves them
Yay! So happy to hear Dena! xx
Could you use bread flour for these?
Hi Lauren you sure can!
Hi Tori!
Excited to try. Are these best hand mixed/kneaded or am I able to use my new kitchen aid mixer?
I have the dough attachment. I’ve yet to attempt dough with it though.
Thanks
Hi Danielle you should absolutely be able to!
Never made hot cross buns before, they are an Easter must at my house.
These turned out so well, I can hardly wait for our daughters and their families come home tomorrow to celebrate Easter. They are going to love these. 🥰
I have made Hot Cross buns many times, using different recipes. THIS recipe is the keeper! Thank you!
Happy Easter!
The smell was incredible while kneading the dough. I kept kneading until it did not stick to counter or hands. Once it rose, pounded it down, the dough was sticky, so added flour and mixed it. Rise again still sticky. So again added flour. Well I was very surprised, so light and tasty. So did I not add enough flour the first time?