The SOFTEST Hot Cross Buns Recipe

Never made hot cross buns? Now’s the time! Some links in this article are affiliate links that earn me a commission if you purchase through them.

Growing up, we all played Hot Cross Buns on our recorders, but I had no idea they were actually a thing. Fast forward to later in life when I discovered this Easter tradition: I was hooked.

These soft and fluffy sweet rolls with just a touch of icing don’t only make a perfect Easter brunch dish, they taste pretty darn good, too. Even better, they are surprisingly not that hard to make.

If you’re anything like me, you buy dried fruit for a recipe or to snack on, then end up with a tiny handful left. This recipe takes care of all that – use whatever dried fruit you have on hand.

This time, I used dried cherries, raisins, currants, and dried apples. It works with just about anything, though if they’re larger than raisin size, chop them up first.

While traditionally you eat them on Good Friday, I love to add them as part of my Easter brunch, too.

You definitely want to eat these the same day you make them. As with all homemade baked breads, they taste best and are softest the first day.

Check out more of my favorite brunch recipes at the end of this article.

Why Use Fresh Spices?

For the best taste, use fresh spices. They lose their flavor fairly quickly after six months.

For many, I grind or grate them myself from whole when I want to use them (cloves and nutmeg, especially). It’s actually cheaper to buy whole spices, too, not even counting the fact that you don’t have to throw away the tasteless ones you don’t use fast enough.

I use a small coffee grinder for the cloves and allspice. For nutmeg, I use my zester to grate it directly into the bowl. (Note that the coffee grinder is only for spices – otherwise it would flavor the coffee grounds, too!)

Can I Make Hot Cross Buns Ahead of Time?

Hot cross buns are definitely best the day you make them. However, you can prep some of it ahead of time.

Like many doughs, you can freeze the dough before you let it rise, just like I do with my homemade pizza dough. Let it thaw in your fridge, then follow the instructions for it to rise – giving it some extra time to get to room temperature.

You can also make the dough the night before and put it in the fridge the night before once you form it into the rolls in the pan. Cover the pan loosely with plastic, leaving a little opening for the yeast to breathe, and let it rise in the fridge overnight.

Do I have to use alcohol?

This recipe calls for rum, but you can absolutely substitute. I like to use apple juice if I don’t use rum, as it best mimics the flavor.

The rum gets mixed with the dried fruit to hydrate it some so that the fruit is softer and easier to chew. You do add it to the dough before you let it rise, but it gets baked, so there’s really not a concern about kids ingesting alcohol from the 1/4 cup that’s in this recipe.

However, if you don’t ingest alcohol for any reason, feel free to substitute. The same goes if you want to make this and realize you don’t have any on hand.

Why Does Milk Need to Be Room Temperature?

The milk is the primary liquid for the bread. Yeast activates in liquid (like water or milk), but it’s sluggish at cool temperatures.

While your hot cross buns will eventually rise if you use milk straight from the fridge, it will take much longer. That said, you don’t want milk too hot. Once you get over 120 degrees, you risk killing the yeast entirely.

I make sure to gently heat my milk (in the same pan I use for the dried fruit later) just until it barely feels warm, then I add it to my mixing bowl and work on the fruit. That works best for me, but find the solution to have room temperature milk so your hot cross buns rise the way you want them to.

How to Make Hot Cross Buns

Grease a 9×13 pan, like the kind you use to make brownies.

Chop any dried fruit larger than a raisin. Mix all the fruit together in a small pot and add the rum.

Heat the pan to a simmer for five minutes. You just want gentle steam coming from the pot, not boiling.

Remove the pan from the heat and set aside to come to room temperature.

Add the room temperature milk to a mixing bowl along with the yeast, eggs, brown sugar, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, nutmeg, salt, and baking powder. Mix well until the eggs are fully incorporated.

Add two cups of the flour and mix thoroughly. Then add the room temperature butter, and again mix until it’s absorbed to the dough.

Add the remaining flour, and knead for five to ten minutes. You want the dough to be elastic, but it will remain sticky.

This is a recipe where I really like to use my stand mixer, as it’s too tempting to continue to add flour if you knead this sticky dough by hand. Trust me when I say that you don’t want to add extra flour, as that will make your hot cross buns less soft and fluffy in the end.

Once your dough is well kneaded, add the fruit and any of the rum that didn’t get absorbed by the dried fruit. Mix again to incorporate it and distribute it throughout the dough.

If you plan to freeze it, freeze it at this point in a tightly sealed bag with no extra air. Otherwise, continue with the remaining steps.

Cover the bowl with a damp kitchen towel, and let the dough rise for an hour. This is a heavy dough, and it doesn’t rise as much as a standard bread dough, so don’t be concerned that it doesn’t double.

Use a bench scraper or other tool to divide your dough in half, then in half again, and finally into three equal sections so you have twelve total pieces that should be the same weight. I actually use my digital scale to get them as close to even as possible, but you don’t have to.

Carefully shape them roughly into balls. I find that if I grease my hands just a little bit, this works much more easily.

Place the buns into your greased pan, and cover it again with that barely damp towel. Let them rise for another hour.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

Whisk together your extra egg white with a tablespoon of water or milk. Use a pastry brush to gently coat the risen hot cross buns with the mixture, which gives them a shine and a soft finish.

Bake your hot cross buns at 375 degrees for 20 minutes, until lightly browned. Remove them from the oven and let cool.

I prefer to carefully remove them from the pan and let them cool on a wire cooling rack, but if you set the pan on a wire rack or somewhere air circulates well to cool it quickly, that works, too.

Wait for your hot cross buns to cool completely – the oxymoron, I know – then make the icing. Mix together the powdered sugar, vanilla, salt, and milk with a fork to make a thick almost paste. 

Pro tip: Place your zip top bag or pastry bag over a cup and turn the top inside out over the outside of the cup. The provides a sturdy and wide opening to easily get all your icing into your piping bag without it spilling.

Snip off just a small corner of your piping bag, and pipe a cross onto each hot cross bun. Serve immediately, or at the very least that day.

If you have any leftovers, store them in a single layer in a tightly sealed container for up to two days. You can microwave one for 10-15 seconds to help make it softer and feel fresher after the first day.

Have you ever tried homemade hot cross buns?

More favorite brunch recipe ideas:

• Mocha scones
• No yeast cinnamon rolls
• Egg muffins
• Loaded mashed potato pancakes
• Cinnamon sugar donuts
• Monkey bread
• Mini apple puff pancakes
• Nicoise omelet
• Individual blueberry coffee cakes

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