Easter Baking Recipes – Eggless Hot Cross Buns
Hot Cross Buns are my absolute faves! I love eating them even when it’s not Easter 🙂
With a warm cup of tea, they are simply heavenly.
This hot cross buns recipe is eggless. It is not vegan as I used milk and butter, however, you could try substituting the milk for plant-based milk and the butter for oil. Using a neutral oil like sunflower oil should do just fine.
Makes 6 medium sized hot cross buns
INGREDIENTS:
Dry Ingredients
1 cup plain flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
1/2 tsp ginger powder
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp easy bake yeast
Wet Ingredients
1/3 cup milk
1 tbsp butter
Hot Cross Piping:
2 tbsp flour
3 – 4 tbsp milk
METHOD:
In a bowl, mix all the dry ingredients.
I used easy bake yeast in this recipe and therefore added this with the dry ingredients. There’s no need to activate it.
Ensure that you add easy bake yeast with the dry ingredients. Do not add it after adding milk.
Heat up your milk until it is lukewarm.
Add this to the dry mixture above and knead the dough. I kneaded the dough for atleast 10 minutes.
This is a very important step to activate the yeast and ensure that your hot cross buns are as spongy as possible.
Add butter to the dough and again knead for 5 minutes.
Finally, roll up the dough into a ball and oil the top to prevent a crust forming. Leave it to prove in a warm place for 1 – 2 hours.
While the dough for the hot cross buns is proving, prepare the sultanas.
Take a handful of sultanas and soak them in hot water for about 15 minutes so they plump up and become juicy.
Also, prepare the plain flour piping for the cross on the hot cross buns.
In a bowl, add about 2 tbsp plain flour. Add about 3 – 4 tbsp milk and mix to make a thick piping mix.
I never get this right, so I would advise you to add the plain flour and then add 1 tbsp milk at a time until you get the right consistency.
After about 1 – 2 hours, your dough will have risen to twice the size.
Remove the sultanas from the water and mix them into the dough.
Cut the dough into 6 pieces and roll them into 6 hot cross buns.
Oil a tray and place the buns on the tray.
Keep a space of about 3 cm between the buns so that they have space to expand.
Once again, leave the hot cross buns to prove for 1 hour.
Cover with a wet kitchen towel or cloth to keep the moisture in.
After 1 hour, preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Lightly brush some milk on to the top of the buns.
Pipe a cross onto the buns.
Bake in the oven at 180 degrees Celsius for about 20 minutes until the hot cross buns have turned golden brown.
Easter Baking Recipes – Eggless Hot Cross Buns
Hot cross buns made at home are simply the best.
Fresh, no preservatives, using the best ingredients – these may not be the healthiest but atleast they are better than store bought.
I hope you enjoy baking them and happy Easter!
