I have this dough set to rise right now, but as usual, I can't leave anything alone. Sometimes I'll use powdered milk in my bread recipes, and since I put in golden raisins and dried cranberries in this one, I decided to use a fresh orange.

I got my zester and added bits of orange to the fruits, then I microwaved the orange and squeezed the juice out. I used the orange juice plus the water from hydrating the cranberries and then additional tap water to fill out the cup of liquid.

I also added a couple of drops of orange extract for good measure and I've reserved some of the orange juice to make the glaze, too.

It smells wonderful, I have high hopes!

those look so perfect!

SUPERB

I'm going to try these! They look great.

My family really loved these. Thank so much for providing the receipe. 8-)

Hot CROSS buns, that is. I doubled the recipe, shaped them last night, and popped them in the fridge. Pulled them out this morning, let them finish rising and put them in the oven. Took about 20 minutes to cook thoroughly and I had to be a little chintzy with the icing (only had 3/4 cup instead of a full cup of powdered sugar), but they made for a very tasty, traditional breakfast.

Brought the rest to work (my family only ate 5) where they were a huge Good Friday hit.

Thanks Floyd!

Although we have sons and daughters, Floyd, they are no longer living with us, so we will be eating these ourselves (with no objection!) They look beautifully soft and enticing. Thank you for the recipe.

I am a huge fan of the hot cross buns from Jeffrey Hamelman's book, "Bread". Besides a really tasty, light bread, (and including candied citris peel, which I think is key), the crosses are quite a bit different. He uses paste made from just oil, water, and flour that goes on right before the buns go in the oven.

 The cool part is that when the buns rise from the oven spring, the crosses stay out, meaning that the buns rise around the crosses. That means that when the buns come out the crosses are now flush with the bun. It's very attractive, and is really easy to brush with simple syrup to give them that nice shine. Give it a shot.

Have just got our Hot Cross Buns to final proofing but used good quality small chocolate drops instead of currants and a speculaas spice mixture which included a little cardamom, also vanilla essence and cinnamon bark oil and an egg as extras. Even before baking the aroma is tantalising. The dough was soft but firm and easily rolled into-er- rolls by moving the palm of my right hand in a circular movement on a board while applying a little pressure.

Thank you for this recipe - I made a triple batch on Good Friday and a double batch on Easter Sunday, and they disappeared very quickly!

Made these today for our choir after our Good Friday Veneration Service and they were delicious!  I used dried cherries as the fruit, and they were perfect, though next time I think I will chop them just a tad since they were a bit large.  I really like the flavor of icing made with lemon juice.  I'm not sure why I didn't think of that before, but I would only use milk.  Now I'm thinking that next time I'll put just a tad bit of anise in the dough as well and a tiny drop in the icing.  Thanks for a great recipe that can be adapted so many ways!!

MK 

I have never baked anything in my life but I love Hot Cross Buns. I made this according to directions but something just ain't right, they dont look the same and mine taste kind of bad. I don't understand why because everything went so easy and the dough was nice and soft and rose up really nice. When I scrrambled the egg I couldnt quite spread it onto bun and defintely not with my brush so I mashed it up good and stuck it on top of each bun and carefully pushed it into the dough. Well the buns came out and instead all nice and golden brown, mine had brown spots, the only spots that browned were the scrambled egg bits and it tasted like a eggy sweet roll..very odd texture. I am going to try agian next week and maybe leave out the egg and just add butter?? Any suggestions?

Yes I scrambled them....I thought it was a bit wierd but I am not a cook nor baker. Thanks I am going to try it thatt way! The chunks of egg were really a turn off. Thank you!

I made these again....They were great, at least six of them...the other six I decided to make into cinnamon buns and added a 1/4 cup of cinnamon. They look like brown communion wafers, they never rose up? I guess for now I should just stick to the original recipe. They are 100% better than my egg chunked Hot Cross buns. I read the recipe and it did say scrambled but I think the word beaten is better for new people like me. Anyway..the squirrels and birds really liked the ones with the egg chunks, they didnt like the cinnamon ones( I think they actually Repelled them) so I guess they could be strung aroung my garden to scare them or donated to the local hockey team...they are as hard as a puck! I am now going to attempt a cake with Royal Icing. This should be fun, especially the merengue....I have never been able to get it to become stiff, I just get white bubbly liquid but I am going to try it with the cream of tartar. Thanks!

I live in Florida but right now I'm in Cheyenne and i'm not used cooking in such a dry climate.  I ended up adding another 1/4 cup milk and the rolls still came out dry.  I should have listened to my instincts and added even more milk but since I had never made them before I didn't want to stray too far from the recipe.  Back home I almost certainly would have had to add more flour because of the humidity.

We're sitting enjoying these warm on Good Friday. Thanks for the recipe. Despite being English I'd not made Hot Cross Buns before but these were delicious. I put on a dough cross, omitted the egg and just added an orange glaze after baking, all of which worked fine. The tops were beautifully brown and crusty, the inside soft and fragrant, which was all better than I hoped for really, given that I'm just getting into sweet bread recipes. Don't think I would have tried without seeing your recipe and appealing photos on the home page so appreciate you flagging them up!   Daisy_A

I couldn't help laughing out loud about the egg stuff.  And then, the cinnamon.  This blog is certainly a source of unintended humor.  Thanks for the laffs.

I just read the part about serving them warm (which makes sense, since they're HOT cross buns...or is it that the cross itself is hot in a symbolic sense?).

Anyway, I wonder if it's okay, then, to put the pan of pre-rolled buns into the oven overnight, so that I can just bring them up to temperature and bake tomorrow for lunch?  Will all of this cinnamon business have a greater effect on their rise if I do that?

Happy Easter, Everyone!

First time making Hot Cross Buns.  Didn't have all-purpose white flour so I used Eagle Mills Ultragrain.  Needed additional liquid.  Very Yum!  My family loved them!  Thank you for the recipe, Floyd.

We went to my in-laws for Easter.  Among the things we brought for dinner were hot cross rolls.  After we returned home that evening, my mother-in-law called my wife and asked her to tell me that the rolls were delicious.  Mom was a very good baker, but health issues keep her out of the kitchen.  Thank you for providing this recipe; it made an impression on Mom.   

I'd like to know how to make the mixture for dough crosses if anyone could share.  I love these and I think I will just have to make some YUM!!! Oh and crumbum you make me smile. I also am incapable of leaving ANYTHING alone and love how you add flavor by utilizing the juice and leftover liquid from the rasins!  My husband always gives me a hard time when I do things like that but why should I throw out FLAVOR!!!  :)

And kudos to you abfab for jumping in and trying something new!  Keep it up and you'll be a whiz in no time! Just keep asking questions, everyone here is really helpful.

I made these today.  I used mini choc chips in them and used a little sef rising flour.  They came out nice and soft.

Just made these buns, minus crosses...so good with butter. I also added lots of fine orange peel/zest.

Will try to attach photo....could not do it...exceeded size..will try again...

Thanks for the recipe....

Cynthia

Anyone got a good recipe for HCB using sourdough / wild yeast only?  Mine all appear to also use dried yeast - is it necessary due to the amount of butter, fruit etc?

thanks!

They look amazing! I will be travelling to see family over the Easter Weekend who have already put in a request for Hot Cross Buns ... Is it possible to make the dough and shape the buns ahead of time, place them in the fridge overnight and the next moring cart the uncooked buns home and cook them there?  Its a 8 hr drive .... Any thoughts?

These are delicious, and really so easy to mix up and work with.  I've finally found my "go to" hot cross bun recipe!  I put the grated rind of one orange in the dough with golden raisins, and used orange juice and orange rind in the glaze.