MetaChat - Hot Cross Buns

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10 April 2009

Hot Cross Buns I made some nommy Hot Cross Buns today! they were delish.→[More:]

I added chocolate as well as the currents, and halved the batch today - but made these ones yesterday. I added heaps of spices - more than the recipe, and still felt there could have been a bit more, so don't worry about adding too much.

Let me know how you go with them!

(p.s. the recipe is the link in the post.)

post by: jonathanstrange at: 21:43 | 19 comments

I always think they're so beautiful, but I've never eaten one.

posted by Miko 10 April | 21:46

WHAT?? Miko - they are DELICIOUS! you should make them... they are without doubt the best part about Easter - and the only thing I don't get cranky about appearing in stores in January.

posted by jonathanstrange 10 April | 21:50

I've been wondering about making some hot crossed buns from scratch. Jonathanstrange, am I right in thinking I could use any rich sweet dough and knead in fruit and spices?

The hot cross buns we get in the groceries around here are insipid: flabby dough, gummy fruity bits, and thick worms of sugary frosting for the crosses. Every year, my mother buys a batch, and every year, I try one hopefully. Blah.

posted by Elsa 10 April | 22:01

I've been meaning to do this ever since Panera started carrying them for the season and I got re-addicted. I'm out of eggs and have no currants, but I absolutely am making some of these next week when my parents are back in town. Chocolate is a delicious idea. Maybe dark chocolate and dried cherries...

posted by notquitemaryann 10 April | 22:10

I don't like eggy breads. :(

But I agree that hot cross buns are very pretty.

posted by mudpuppie 10 April | 22:18

NOM

posted by special-k 10 April | 22:19

I have never seen these before, but I think I remember them in a childhood song? Are they like cinnamon rolls?

posted by rhapsodie 10 April | 22:28

Elsa - sounds about right. The crosses are normally made out of flour and water, they shouldn't be sugary, the dough itself it slightly sweet, but not too sweet. More spicey. I like fruit peel in them too - but the store I went to yesterday didn't have any.

Pupps, you could leave out the egg? doesn't really taste too eggy, it's more a bready dough, but softer inside.

posted by jonathanstrange 10 April | 22:28

rhapsodie - sort of like fruity, spice filled cinnamon rolls. Almost like a fruit bun.

I had no idea that Hot Cross Buns weren't popular in America. Here they are an institution.

posted by jonathanstrange 10 April | 22:31

I've never had one, but they always look soooo delicious.

posted by casarkos 10 April | 23:17

Hot Cross Buns are indeed delicious, especially split, toasted and buttered.

Last Christmas I saw in Waitrose that they were selling 'Cranberry and Mincemeat Christmas Hot Cross Buns'. I said to the bakery manager "exactly what is it that Waitrose doesn't understand about the religious and cultural significance of hot cross buns?" and he had no idea what I was talking about.

When I was a child you could only get Hot Cross Buns at Easter and they were such a treat - like the first strawberries of the year in June, and satsumas at Christmas. Now there are no seasons and you can get everything all the time all year round. It's not the same.

Now, get off my damn lawn ...

posted by essexjan 11 April | 02:58

Yeah, I hate that the cultural significance of these things are disappearing. One of the best things about Easter was that it was the only time you could get hot cross buns. Like Christmas with fruit mince pies. I hate that you can get all this stuff any time now.

Get off my lawn too, you young whipper-snappers ...

posted by dg 11 April | 08:17

Yum. I was hoping you'd share your recipe! I know what I'm doing today.

posted by elizard 11 April | 10:37

Okay, possibly stupid question. Roughly how much is 40g of butter in, say tablespoons?

posted by elizard 11 April | 11:16

Elizard: Here.

posted by mudpuppie 11 April | 12:37

Huzzah! 2.81! Thank you, mudpuppie. Our converter would only convert from one weight measurement to another, which was not as helpful as you might think in this instance.

posted by elizard 11 April | 13:00

I've never had them, either. Not a big thing here in the US, I don't think. Although I do recall them from some childhood nursery rhyme.

posted by amro 11 April | 13:36

The rhyme is:

Hot Cross Buns
Hot Cross Buns
One a penny, two a penny
Hot Cross Buns.

(No, it doesn't make sense that they are one for a penny and two for a penny as well, but that's how it goes.)

posted by essexjan 11 April | 16:12

Holy dinah, those are good. We didn't have currants (they're surprisingly hard to find here), so I used the same volume of dried blueberries, chopped dried apricots, and raisins. Nom nom nom. Thanks for the recipe!

posted by elizard 11 April | 21:00

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