The mighty hot cross bun for Easter: Three ways

Easter’s just around the corner. While chocolate eggs, roast chicken and lamb might be filling your shopping lists, don’t forget about the ultimate Easter treat – hot cross buns.

They’ve got quite an interesting history too, one that dates back to 12^th-century Britain. An Anglican monk was believed to have first baked the buns, marking them with a cross to celebrate Good Friday. Later on, Queen Elizabeth I banned the sale of hot cross buns on every day apart from Good Friday and Christmas, as she deemed them too special to eat on other days. This encouraged people to start baking their own at home.

There’s really nothing better than this delightful fruity bun, in my humble opinion. Not too sweet, not too heavy; jewelled with sultanas and glazed so they glisten in the Spring sun, they’re the perfect antidote for when you’ve eaten too much chocolate and are looking for something a bit “lighter”.

Toasted and slathered with butter or just straight from the pack, the mighty hot cross bun can do both. If you fancy stepping up your Easter weekend cooking, why not try out these hot cross bun recipes. And don’t be afraid to mix things up. If you despise currants, swap them for chocolate chips or another dried fruit. Hate nutmeg? Sub in saffron or cardamom pods to turn that humble yeasted bun into a special showpiece. Get creative with these little guys; they’re surprisingly adaptable.

Bread Ahead’s hot cross buns

The first recipe is from the famous bakers at Bread Ahead in Borough Market. Their addition of fresh apple makes these buns moist and delicious, perfect if you want to omit sultanas.

Makes 12 buns

Ingredients

For the buns

• 250g strong white bread flour 

• 3g salt

• 40g caster sugar

• 6g mixed spice

• 3g nutmeg

• 30g unsalted butter

• 40g sultanas

• 25g mixed peel

• 30g peeled, cored and diced apple

• 8g fresh yeast (4 dried yeast)

• 140g full-fat milk

For the cross

• 100g strong white flour

• a pinch of caster sugar

• a pinch of fine sea salt

For the glaze

• 100g caster sugar 

• 50ml lemon juice

• 100g water 

Method

• Place all the dry ingredients in a bowl. Rub in the butter to form a sandy consistency. 

• Mix together the yeast and milk, add to the dry ingredients and fold until combined. 

• Turn out your dough on to the work surface and knead. Hold onto your dough with one hand and with the other hand stretch and fold it for around five minutes until the dough is nice and smooth. 

• Stretch out your dough into a pizza shape and add your fruit combination in the centre. Fold over your dough into a Cornish pasty shape, covering your fruit.

• Gently start to roll and fold your dough till the fruits are evenly distributed. Once distributed, place the dough in a bowl, cover with cling film and leave at room temperature for one hour or until it has doubled in size.

• Line a baking tray with baking paper. Place the mixture on a lightly floured surface and cut into 65g pieces. Roll each one into a smooth ball and place on the baking tray, leaving plenty of room as they will spread out. Cover with cling film and leave to double in size.

• While the buns are proving, make the cross mixture and the glaze. Mix together the flour, sugar, salt and 100g water until you have a smooth paste. Pour the mixture into a piping bag with a 4mm plain nozzle.

• Place the sugar, lemon juice and 100g water in a small pan. Bring to the boil and simmer until the temperature reaches 105°C, or for about five minutes.

• Preheat the oven to 180°C/Fan 160°C/Gas 4.

• Once the buns have proved, pipe a cross on the top of each one and bake for 14-15 minutes, until golden brown. Remove from the oven and place on a cooling rack. After 2 minutes, brush with the bun glaze.

• Serve warm and for extra indulgence, add lots of butter. 

Vegan Hot Cross Buns

Vegan baking can sometimes be quite complicated – it can involve ingredients you haven’t worked with or sometimes even heard of before. But this recipe from BBC Good Food is extremely accessible and produces brilliant vegan hot cross buns.

Ingredients

• 65g dairy-free margarine

• 50g caster sugar 

• 250ml lukewarm unsweetened almond milk, or other plant-based milk 

• 7g sachet dried fast-action yeast

• 400g strong white bread flour, plus extra for dusting

• ½ tsp fine sea salt

• 2 tsp ground mixed spice 

• 150g dried mixed fruit

• Sunflower oil, for greasing

To decorate

• 25g strong white bread flour

• 1½ tsp maple syrup

Method

• Heat the dairy-free margarine in a saucepan very gently until melted, stirring with a wooden spoon. Remove from the heat and stir in the sugar and milk; the milk should be lukewarm (if it remains quite cold, heat it gently but don’t allow it to overheat or the yeast won’t work). Sprinkle the yeast over the milk, stir and leave to stand for 2 minutes.

• Mix together the flour, salt and mixed spice in a large bowl. Make a well in the centre. Pour the warm milk into the flour mixture, stirring with a wooden spoon until the mixture forms a soft ball.

• Turn onto a very lightly floured surface and knead for 5 minutes to make a smooth, pliable dough. Knead the mixed fruit into the dough, a little at a time, for 2-3 minutes, or until evenly distributed. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with oiled cling film. Leave to rise in a warm place for 1½ hours, or until doubled in size and spongy to touch.

• Return the dough to the work surface and knock it back with your knuckles. Knead the dough lightly, then divide into 12 portions. Roll each portion into a ball, then pull the dough from around the sides to underneath each bun to give a neat shape.

• Place the buns around 1½cm/½in apart on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Flatten slightly with the palm of your hand. Cover lightly with oiled cling film and leave to prove for 45–60 minutes, or until well risen. The buns should be just touching each other. Preheat the oven to 200C/180C Fan/Gas 6 and remove the cling film from the buns.

• To make the cross decoration, mix the flour with 2 tablespoons of cold water to make a smooth paste. It should have a thick dribbling consistency, so you may need to add a few more drops of water, but don’t allow it to get too thin or the crosses won’t show up when the buns are baked. Spoon the paste into a small freezer bag and snip off one corner, or piping bag fitted with a round nozzle. Pipe lines of the flour paste on top of each row of the buns in one direction and then the other.

• Bake the buns in the centre of the oven for 20 minutes, or until risen and golden brown. Brush the warm buns with maple syrup and leave to cool a little before eating. Once cold, they can also be toasted under a grill.

Hot cross bun and butter pudding

For the ultimate indulgent Easter pud, combine two timeless classics: hot cross buns and bread and butter pudding. The original recipe, from Tesco, calls for marzipan but it works fine without if you’re not such a fan.

Ingredients

300ml double cream

600ml milk

4 eggs

100g golden caster sugar

1 ½ tsp vanilla essence

8 hot cross buns

40g soft butter

3tbsp chunky marmalade

Icing sugar for dusting

Method

• Heat oven to 170C/150C fan/gas 3. Warm the cream and milk in a pan over a gentle heat. Whisk the eggs, sugar and vanilla together with a fork in a large bowl, then gradually add the warm cream mixture.

• Halve the buns and spread with the butter. Arrange in a large shallow ovenproof dish (approx 25 x 32cm) and brush the tops with marmalade.

• Pour over the cream mixture and set aside to soak for 15 mins. Press the buns down into the custard mixture as they soften.

• Bake for 50 mins until set, then remove and allow to stand for 10 mins. Dust lightly with icing sugar and serve while still warm.

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