Eggless Easter Hot Cross Buns Recipe – Baking Recipes UK
Easter is almost here and one of my favourite things about Easter are not those Ultra BIG Easter Chocolate eggs, I mean does anyone eat them??? My favourite thing are hot cross buns 🙂
(I can even eat them when it’s not Easter, they are just so yummy)
I absolutely love love love hot cross buns and I usually buy them from the supermarket. However, when I picked up the pack of hot cross buns in the supermarket last weekend and read the ingredients, I counted atleast three preservatives. I put them right back on the shelf.
So, I learnt how to bake buns in the 2020 pandemic, just like everyone else, and I had made hot cross buns once before. They were edible.
I decided to make them a second time this year and they turned out alright.
This recipe does not have any eggs but it does use butter and milk. If you would like to make this recipe vegan, you can substitute the butter for vegan butter and the milk for plant-based milk (without a strong flavour).
I did not have the All spice mix that so many hot cross buns recipes tend to use. But what are spices? Spices could be any one of these things: cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger powder, cardamom, cloves etc. I simply used three spices: cinnamon, cardamom and ginger powder. The hot cross buns were spicy enough and tasted delicious! 🙂
This recipe makes 6 small hot cross buns.
INGREDIENTS
For Hot Cross Buns
2 tea cups plain flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
1/4 tsp cardamom powder
1/2 tsp ginger powder
1/2 tsp easy bake yeast
3/4 tea cup warm milk
1/3 cup brown granulated sugar
1 tbsp butter
Handful of Sultanas
For the Cross Piping
1-2 tbsp plain flour
1- 1.5 tbsp milk
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METHOD
- Add all the dry ingredients to a bowl and mix i.e. plain flour, cinnamon powder, cardamom powder, ginger powder, sugar and easy bake yeast.
With easy bake yeast, you do not need to activate it. Simply add it to your dry ingredients. Never add it when the mix is already wet. You must always add it before adding any milk / water.
If you are using normal yeast that needs to be activated, then you need to follow a different process. Warm up the milk until it is just hotter than lukewarm. Add 1/2 tsp sugar, 1/2 tsp yeast and mix. Leave it aside for 15 minutes and let the yeast activate. The yeast will bubble and spread across the milk. You can then add this to the dry ingredients. (There’s no need to add any more milk). (You can use the 1/2 tsp sugar from the 1/4 cup granulated sugar that I had mentioned in the ingredients)
2. After adding the dry ingredients, you need to add warm milk. So warm up the milk to lukewarm and add it to your hot cross bun dry mix.
3. You then need to knead the dough. This is a very important step to ensure that your dough rises and gets the sponge like texture. I usually knead for about 10 minutes. This is the perfect time to remove all your anger and stress on the dough. Beat it, slap it, knead it, box it, whatever you wanna do, everything goes 😀
4. Add the butter and mix it into the dough. Again, knead the dough for another 5 minutes.
5. Place your dough in a bowl. Place your bowl in a warm place for one hour and prove your dough. (I usually switch on the oven for a few minutes until it is warm, switch it off and then place the bowl in the oven)
6. Place your raisins/sultanas in hot water for about 15 minutes so that they become juicy.
7. Also prepare the plain flour cross mixture for making the cross on the buns. You’ll need about 1-2 tbsp plain flour and 1-1.5 tbsp milk. Mix these two ingredients into a smooth paste and keep aside. (My hot cross doesn’t look very neat because I made the mixture a bit watery)
8. After 1 hour, the dough will have risen and you will now add the sultanas into it and mix them into the dough.
9. Oil your baking tray. Make small buns and place them on the tray next to each other. Remember the buns need space to expand so let them touch each other but not too close.
10. Gently brush some milk on the top of the hot cross buns so that they brown in the oven.
11. Pipe a cross onto the buns using the plain flour mix.
12. Bake in the oven at 180 degrees Celsius for 20 minutes until golden brown.
Remove and enjoy warm!
I hope you enjoy making and eating these hot cross buns! Do let me know how they turn out 🙂
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