This is a recipe for hot cross buns from my godmother, Jean, who passed it on to my mom, who has passed it on to me. Every year at Easter time my mom makes these buns and we would usually eat the entire batch in one day. They’re just so good you can’t stop eating them!

Printable Recipe

1 pkg of yeast (2 and 1/4 teaspoons)
1 tsp sugar
1/2 cup lukewarm water
3/4 cup of milk
1/4 cup white sugar
3 tbsp butter
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cloves
3 cups flour (plus another 2-3 cups to add later)
1 egg beaten
1/2 cup raisins
1/4 cup citrus peel

Mix 1 pkg of yeast, 1 tsp of sugar and 1/2 cup of lukewarm water in measuring cup and set aside. Place milk in bowl and microwave on high for 1 1/2 minutes (it has to be hot enough to melt butter and dissolve sugar). Add butter and sugar until butter melted. In separate bowl mix together salt, spices, flour, raisins and peel. Once milk mixture is lukewarm to touch, mix in yeast and beaten egg. Add flour/spice mixture to wet ingredients and mix with a spoon. Slowly add extra flour 1/4 to 1/2 cup at a time until the batter becomes too thick to mix. Flour your counter top and place dough on flour. Knead the dough adding extra flour as necessary until it no longer sticks to you hands. Knead the dough for 10 minutes in total to ensure that the buns will be tender.

Place dough in a bowl. Cover with a clean tea cloth and set aside for one hour. ( I put it in the oven and turn the light on. This way it is out of draughts and the warmth of the light helps the rising process.)

Punch the dough down. Form buns with approximately 1/3 cup portions of dough.(Remember they double in size so make them smaller or larger as you wish). Place on a greased cookie sheet giving room for them to expand. ( you should be able to get the whole batch on one large cookie sheet) Cut an X in the top of each bun with a sharp knife if you wish to do so.

Set aside and let rise one hour. Bake in oven at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 min.

Once cool, mix 1/2 cup icing sugar with 1 tbsp of butter and 1 tbsp of milk. Place icing in a ziploc bag and cut a tiny hole in the corner. Squeeze icing onto buns to form a cross. Yum!

This was my first time making these on my own without my mom around and I was surprised that it wasn’t as hard as it looks from the recipe. I’m sure you could make these by using a bread machine on the dough setting, but there’s something therapeutic about kneading dough yourself. It’s a great stress-reliever.
You should have seen Cole’s face when he came home to find these buns waiting for him on the kitchen counter. He was so excited and told me they were ‘very special.’ Bennett also loved them, but he kept eating the tops off with the icing and leaving the rest. Tony enjoyed them too and ate several of them. As it was with my family as a kid, these buns were all gone by the next morning.

Linking to Comfy Cuisine’s Easter Blog Hop