I would love a recipe too. Linda, I was just thinking about hot cross buns last week -- wondering if I should just wait and buy some already made or if I should break down and make my own.

I usually buy a few. I haven't seen them in stores yet. Your version sounds very good, Linda.

I enjoy Hot Cross Buns and usually make a couple of different recipes each years. I buy extra citron during the holidays for the more traditional recipe. I also enjoy the dried cherry version.

I'll just post my favorites so you can decide for yourself...which you might want to try. I have made all of these recipes.

Hot Cross Buns:
1 cup (240 ml) milk

1 package (1/4 oz.) (7 grams) active dry yeast

1/2 teaspoon granulated white sugar

3 1/2 - 4 cups (455 - 520 grams) all purpose flour

1/4 cup (55 grams) light brown sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon salt

5 tablespoons (70 grams) unsalted butter, melted

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1/3 cup (80 ml) candied fruit and peel mix

1/3 cup (80 ml) currants (or raisins)

Glaze:

1/2 cup (60 grams) confectioners (powdered or icing) sugar

1 tablespoon milk or cream

Hot Cross Buns: In a small saucepan, or in the microwave, heat the milk until lukewarm (about 100 degrees F or 38 degrees C). Add the yeast and 1/2 teaspoon sugar and stir to combine. Set aside for about 10 minutes or until the yeast is foamy.

Meanwhile in the bowl of your electric mixer, with the paddle attachment, combine the flour, sugar, spices, and salt. Once the yeast is foamy, gradually add to the flour mixture and beat until the dry ingredients are moistened. Add the melted butter and egg and beat until incorporated. With the mixer on medium low speed, with the dough hook, gradually add the candied and dried fruit and continue to knead the dough until it is silky smooth and elastic. Add more flour if necessary.

Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, turning the dough once, so the top is lightly greased. Cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm spot to rise until it has almost doubled in size (about 1 1/2 - 2 hours).

When the dough has doubled in size, gently punch it down to release the air, and divide into 12 equal pieces. Form each piece into a small round ball and place on a parchment lined baking sheet (Place three buns to a row, four rows altogether. They should be spaced so they have enough room to double in size.) Make an egg wash of one beaten egg with 1 tablespoon milk, and brush the tops of the buns with the wash. Lightly spray a piece of plastic wrap with a nonstick cooking spray, and place lightly over the buns. Place in a warm spot until almost doubled in size (about 60 minutes).

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C). Brush the tops of the buns with the egg wash, and with clean kitchen shears (or a a sharp, lightly greased knife), cut a 'cross' in the top of each bun. Place the baking sheet in the preheated oven and bake for about 15 minutes, or until the buns are nicely browned and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Place on a wire rack to cool completely before glazing.

Glaze: Combine the confectioners sugar and milk and mix until smooth. Place the glaze in a paper cone or a small plastic bag. Cut the end of the cone or bag and pipe a 'cross' on the top of each bun.

Makes 12 buns.
http://www.joyofbaking.com/breakfast/HotCrossBuns.html#ixzz1oCQc7kPD

Traditional Hot Cross Buns (source unknown) serves 12 3 cups flour Note: I hold out about 1/2 C of this flour and add if dough seems too soft) 1 tsp. salt 1/2 tsp. all spice 1/2 tsp. nutmeg cinnamon 1/4 cup sugar 1/2 cup butter, melted 1 egg, beaten 3/4 cup raisins 1/3 cup candied citron fruit Yeast Mixture: 1 Tbs. dry yeast 1 Tbs. sugar 2/3 cup warm milk 1/2 cup warm water 1 cup flour Glaze: 2 Tbs. milk 2 Tbs. water 3 Tbs. sugar Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Mix all yeast ingredients in a bowl. Set aside and let it foam. Sift flour, salt, spice, and sugar in a second bowl. Add fruits and mix well. Mix butter, eggs and add to yeast mixture. Add yeast mixture to flour mixture. Knead dough on floured surface, 8\-10 minutes or until smooth and elastic. Divide into 12 equal pieces, shape into round buns. Place rolls close together in a baking pan. Cover and let rise at warm room temperature for 45 minutes. Use a sharp knife to cut an X\-shape on the dough surface. Bake in oven at 425 degrees F for 15\-20 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on rack. Make glaze by bringing ingredients to boil in a saucepan for 2 minutes. Brush glaze over buns thickly. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hot Cross Buns with Dried Sour Cherries www ( ?? ) Yield: 16 buns For Buns: 6 tablespoons granulated sugar 1 cup milk 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves Grated zest of one lemon 1/4 cup warm water 2 packages (1/2 ounce or 4 1/2 tsp) active dry yeast 1 whole egg plus 2 egg yolks 3 1/3 cups all\-purpose unbleached flour, plus more for kneading 1 teaspoon salt 1 cup dried sour cherries 1/2 cup chopped pistachios (I omit) Melted unsalted butter for pan and brushing 1 egg yolk mixed with 1 tablespoon milk (glaze) For Icing: 1 cup confectioners' (powdered) sugar 1 to 2 teaspoons milk, heated Buns: Combine 5 tablespoons of the sugar, the milk, butter, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and lemon zest in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir until the milk is hot and the butter is melted. Remove from the heat and pour into a large bowl. Let cool to room temperature. Meanwhile, combine the warm water with the remaining 1 tablespoon sugar in a small bowl. Sprinkle the yeast over the water and let stand until frothy, about 10 minutes. Whisk the whole egg, the egg yolks, and the yeast into the cooled milk. In another bowl, stir together the 3 1/3 cups flour and the salt. Add the yeast mixture, stirring until a sticky dough forms. Stir in the sour cherries and pistachios. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board or countertop and knead until smooth and elastic, 10 to 15 minutes. If the dough is too sticky, sprinkle with a little more flour. Transfer to a lightly buttered bowl and brush the surface with a little melted butter. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm, draft\-free place until doubled in bulk, about 2 hours. Punch down and knead briefly. Re\-cover and let rise a second time, about 30 minutes. Punch the dough down again and knead briefly. Divide into quarters and divide each quarter into 4 equal pieces. Roll each piece of dough into a smooth ball and place in a lightly buttered 9\-by\-13\-inch pan. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise a final time until doubled, about 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Brush the buns with the egg glaze. Bake until golden brown and the buns sound hollow when rapped on the bottom, 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool completely on a wire rack. Icing: Combine the confectioners' sugar and 1 teaspoon warm milk in a bowl. Stir until smooth, adding another 1 teaspoon milk if needed to achieve a smooth consistency. Spoon into a pastry bag or a lock\-top sandwich bag, seal, and snip off the tip of one corner. Squeeze the icing from the bag, piping a cross over each cooled bun. Serve the buns at room temperature. Nancy

Well - I wasn't craving them until I saw this thread.... now I will probaby have to make Nancy's first recipe listed (It sounds awesome to me) on Tuesday when I get home from work.

Sigh... I hate having to wait!

Alexa

Cherries and pistachios!!!
Not the hot cross buns of my childhood.....but could be the start of a new chapter!!!!

You can buy them in stores? I don't think I've ever seen them for sale, although I guess I've never really looked for them.

Nancy, that sour cherry version could be the one that makes me rethink my lifelong aversion to hot cross buns.

I do not like candied fruit at all, I've even candied my own fruit and didn't like it any better, so I've never made hot cross buns, all the recipes I've seen calls for the stuff.

Grandma used to make them every Easter. No one ate them voluntarily except Grandma and Dad, LOL, when we were kids we thought it was some kind of Lenten punishment and would have preferred fasting. (grin) If forced to consume them, we'd pick out all the pieces of fruit and try to hide it so we didn't have to eat it. It seemed a lot like fruitcake at Christmas...

Dried cherries, though, that's something different, I could do that!

Annie

While hot cross buns are very popular here and the shops start stocking them pretty much as soon as New Year is over (much to our disgust, that's way too early IMO), we only eat home made ones. Superstition is that if they are baked on Good Friday they bring good luck.

This is the one I've made every year for about 35 years:

Hot Cross Buns
makes 1 dozen

450g/1 lb plain flour
6 teaspoons dry yeast
1 teaspoon caster (superfine) sugar
300ml/10 fl oz milk
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon mixed spice/pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon salt
50g/2 oz caster (superfine) sugar
100g/ 4 oz dried currants
25g/ 1 oz mixed candied citrus peel, finely chopped
50g/ 2 oz butter, melted
1 beaten egg

About 5 heaped teaspoons of flour mixed with sufficient water to make a pipeable paste

Glaze: 25g/ 1 oz caster (superfine) sugar dissolved in 3 tablespoons of hot water

Mix the yeast with 100g / 4 oz of the flour, and the 1 teaspoon of sugar in a bowl. Warm the milk to blood heat and add to the flour/yeast mixture, stir and leave until frothy (about 30 minutes).

Sift the remaining flour with the salt, spices and the 50g/ 2 oz sugar. Pour the melted butter and beaten egg into the yeast batter, mix well, then add the spiced flour mixture and the fruits. Knead until elastic, about 10 minutes, then place in a greased warm bowl and cover. Leave in a warm draught-free place to rise (I find the inside of a car is terrific for this, even on a cold overcast day it's still pretty warm in there) until doubled in size, about 30 minutes.

Punch the dough down, knead a little more and divide into 12 pieces. Roll the pieces into balls and place on a greased sheet, cover and leave to rise (back to the car for me :-) ). Pipe the flour paste onto the top to form a cross, then bake at 190C/375F for 20-25 minutes, or until bottom sounds hollow when tapped. Remove to a rack and glaze with hot sugar-water mixture.

These freeze well if they last that long! As I only do these once a year I usually make several dozen and freeze what I don't give away so we can enjoy them for longer than just one day! Resist the urge to nibble at the dough unless you want to be burping spice flavour all afternoon :-)

You can leave out or substitute any or all of the dried fruits. I make a special batch without the candied peel for one friend who is allergic to citrus, and another fruitless batch for my DD who doesn't care for dried fruit.

I moved from the SF Bay Area to North Carolina seven years ago. In California they were available in bakeries and stores. Apparently here in the Bible Belt where allmost every street is 'something church' or 'chapel road', they have never heard of them. Citron is only sold before Christmas. I had to make do with chopped candied cherries and raisens.

I hate raisins, currants and candied fruit and peel. So I've never liked the traditional Hot Cross Buns. BUT, I must say, I love the idea of Nancy's recipe using cherries and pistachios.

Moe mentioned just the other day that his mom always made Hot Cross Buns on Ash Wednesday. Maybe I'll surprise him this year.

Ann