Hot Cross Buns with Creamy Spiced Glaze
Easter is upon us, and I’m so excited to share a classic recipe with you. Beautiful, fluffy, golden hot cross buns, made with a butter-and-egg enriched brioche, studded with cranberries and raisins, and sprinkled throughout with fresh orange zest. This hot cross bun recipe is my favorite so far. It’s from the book Bouchon Bakery and I’ve revised it to make it more clear and convenient for the everyday cook. Lastly, these lightly sweetened buns are not complete without their crowning glory-a luxurious, creamy glaze spiced with cinnamon and, one of my personal faves, cardamon. The buns don’t have any spices but the glaze makes up for that and also makes them perfectly sweet. This glaze (or frosting?) is part of what makes these hot cross buns shine. Basically, do not skip.
So we decided that the buns that you see here were a bit too large. Were they still good? Yes they were. However, it wasn’t the best, ya know? When these hot cross buns are smaller, not only are they cuter, but you can get that glaze with every bite, which is what you want because these buns aren’t overly sweet. That’s how I have it in the recipe, but the changes happened AFTER I had photographed and edited all my original pictures. It’s blog life. We’re going with it:) Just keep in mind that the buns will be a bit smaller that the ones in the pics, ok?
Hot Cross Buns with Creamy Spiced Glaze
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup milk
- 2 Tbsp active dry yeast
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 cups softened butter cut into 1/2 in pieces
- 1 1/2 cups eggs
- 1/2 Tbsp salt
- 5-6 cups all-purpose flour approx.
- Zest from one orange
- 1 1/2 cups raisins
- 1 cup dried cranberries
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 egg + 1/2 Tbsp water for egg wash
Glaze:
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1/2 cup heavy cream also milk to reach desired consistency
- pinch of salt
- 1/2 tsp cardamon
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
Instructions
- Measure 1/2 cup sugar. Warm 1/2 cup milk in microwave until warm, NOT hot or it will kill the yeast. Test it with your wrist-if it feels a comfortable warm, it's good to use. Temperatures above 115 degrees will kill the yeast. Remove 1 Tbsp sugar and stir into milk. Add yeast, stir, and cover with plastic wrap. Let yeast proof for 7 min.
- Add yeast mixture into bowl. Add eggs and sugar and mix with paddle attachment. With mixer going, add butter pieces until incorporated. Mix in orange zest.
- Switch to dough hook. Add salt and 4 1/2 cups flour. Knead until dough comes together. Now you want to begin to add flour, kneading well between each addition, until the sides of the bowl clear, but the dough doesn't have to loosen from the bottom. It's important to not just keep adding flour non-stop, but instead, after each addition, really give the dough time to knead and incorporate.
- Once the dough no longer sticks to the sides of the bowl and it's a bit sticky to the touch, let it knead for 7 min. Once it's done, it should have loosened from the bottom of the bowl and have a smooth, tacky-but a bit sticky-feel.
- Pour 2 cups boiling water over dried fruit and let plump for 5 min. Drain well and mix in vanilla extract. Stretch and fold the fruit into the dough on the countertop with your hands.
- Place dough into a greased bowl and let rise for 45 min. Then stretch and fold dough to come to a complete circle. Let rise another 45 min.
- Prep 4 9x13 in pans (or 2 baking sheets) with parchment paper.
- Empty dough unto countertop and cut into long strips, then divide each strip into balls of dough weighing 50 g (1.8 oz) Roll into smooth balls and place into pans. For 9x13 pans, do 3x4 pattern.
- Cover pans with cloth/plastic wrap and let buns rise 1 hr 15 min. Preheat oven to 350 degrees convection, or 375 regular. Whisk together egg wash and brush liberally on buns.
- Bake buns anywhere from 15-20 min until golden on top and the bottom. Do not overbake.
- Whisk together glaze ingredients and add milk until a nice drizzling consistency is reached. Transfer to piping bag, snip off the end, and pipe a continuous strip of icing on each row of buns, going in the same direction. Then repeat going in the opposite direction to form a cross pattern. You can alternately ice each bun individually so you can store them better.
Thanks Denae! I’ve wanted to make these and I trust your recipes💓