Who can resist a fruit filled hot cross bun, straight out of the oven with a good lathering of butter or margerine? Hot Cross Buns should not be feared. They're easy to make, perfect to make a double batch and freeze, share with friends and family or pack in a lunch box for a great lunch time treat.
Making homemade dishes offers many benefits over store-bought or restaurant-prepared options. One reason to try to make these amazing fruit filled hot cross buns is that you can see what ingredients are in them.
A second reason is the relaxing benefit of kneading the hot cross bun dough and watching the proofing process.
The third and final benefit of homemade fruit filled hot cross bun recipes is that they can be less expensive than buying prepared ones. It's possible that you can make more hot cross buns for the price that you would pay at the supermarket or bakery for a packet. When you cook your own food, you can save money by looking for cheaper ingredients that are on sale.
I have linked a video for this recipe if you would like to watch.
✅ Quick Tips: Read the recipe in its entirety before you start cooking. This will help you understand the ingredients, steps, and timing involved, and allow you to prepare any necessary equipment or ingredients beforehand.
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These amazing fruit filled hot cross buns will be a crowd favourite that you will want to make all year round, as they're too good to wait for Easter.
Juicy fruit filled hot cross buns, the flavour explodes in your mouth. Add butter to the hot cross buns to bring out more of the flavour.
In a medium bowl, add dried yeast and caster sugar to warm milk and whisk. Set aside for 5 - 10 minutes to activate the yeast.
In a large bowl, Sift the plain flour, salt, mixed spice. Add to the bowl, caster sugar, sultanas, currants and vanilla essence or extract.
Now that the yeast mixture is ready, add the whisked egg and melted butter to the yeast mixture. Whisk to combine.
Add Wet Ingredients (yeast mixture) to the Dry Ingredients (flour and spice mix), mix well and Knead for 15 minutes.
Place the dough in a bowl. Add oil to the dough, and spread it evenly. Cover the dough with a tea towel or plastic wrap. Place in a warm spot in your kitchen and let the dough double in size. This should take around 1 hour.
While we wait for the proofing to happen, Mix Plain Flour and Water to a ribbon consistency and put it in a piping bag to use later.
After the hot cross bun dough has risen, knock it back by punching the dough back to its original size before proofing. Place the dough on a bench and cut it into 12 even portions.
Once portioned, roll the dough in a circular motion until it resembles a bun shape. Repeat this for each bun. Place each bun on a baking paper lined tray, cover with a tea towel or plastic wrap and set aside for 10 minutes.
Preheat oven to 180° Celcius
Remove the tea towel or plastic wrap from the buns. Snip the tip off the piping bag and pipe the cross mixture over the buns to form the hot cross bun.
Bake in the preheated oven for 20 - 30 minutes. Each oven cooks differently so keep an eye on your hot cross buns. To test that they're ready, poke one with a toothpick; if the toothpick comes out clean, then your buns are ready. If the toothpick is damp with the bun mixture, cook for longer.
While the hot cross buns are cooking, heat the Apricot Jam for 15 seconds in the microwave. Carefully add the water to the jam and stir. Strain the jam mixture.
Once the hot cross buns are cooked, brush the buns with the apricot jam mixture to give the buns a nice shine.
Enjoy
