Learn how to make our rendition of hot cross buns using this deliciously spiced yeast dough. Brown sugar, raisins or currants, butter, and vanilla add exceptional flavor and each dense bun is marked with a traditional cross. Orange icing is a tasty finishing touch to this Easter recipe!
What are Hot Cross Buns?
A nursery rhyme, of course! And the first song we usually learn on the recorder. But what are the hot cross buns we eat? Hot cross buns are rich with history dating back to the 12th century. They’re yeasted sweet buns filled with spices and various fruits such as currants, raisins, and/or candied citrus. They’re decorated with a white cross representing the crucifix, either marked right into the dough or etched on top with icing. Hot cross buns are a traditional Easter food, typically eaten on Good Friday.
We’ve been making these for years and I would love to share our family’s version here today. If you’re looking for a more traditional hot cross bun recipe using a little less sugar, candied peel, and lemon, we’ve always loved Mary Berry’s hot cross bun recipe.
What Do These Hot Cross Buns Taste Like?
These hot cross buns are a cross between a dinner roll and cinnamon roll. They’re soft, yet dense with a deliciously spiced flavor from cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice. You can play with the spices, even adding a little cardamom too. The buns are sweetened mostly with brown sugar, then topped with a glossy orange icing. For extra flavor, sometimes we throw a little orange zest or candied orange peel into the dough. This recipe uses raisins. We always enjoyed hot cross buns with currants, a type of raisin, but I couldn’t find them anywhere this year.
You’ll love these hot cross buns if you enjoy:
- Sweet orange icing
- Raisins
- Cinnamon spices
- Brown sugar
- Buttery bread
Video Tutorial: How to Make Hot Cross Buns
This recipe begins just like dinner rolls. Hot cross buns require basic baking ingredients like flour, yeast, butter, eggs, sugar, and milk. Less milk, more butter and more eggs produces a slightly denser roll compared to the dinner rolls. These are more of a dessert/breakfast roll. Here are the basic steps:
- Make the bread dough.
- Knead the dough for 5 minutes. Reference my How to Knead Dough video tutorial if you need extra help with this step.
- Cover the dough and let it rise. The dough rises in about 1-2 hours.
- Punch down the dough to release the air, then shape into rolls.
- Let the rolls rise for about 1 hour.
- Pipe the crosses on top.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.
- Top with orange icing.
For extra plump and moist raisins, soak them in hot water for 5-10 minutes before using. You could also use dried cranberries.
After the dough rises in the bowl (above), punch it down to release the air. Divide into 15 portions, then roll into balls as shown in the video above. Take a piece and stretch the top of the dough while pinching and sealing the bottom. Make sure the rolls are smooth on top and sealed on the bottom. This is the same way you shape honey butter rolls and sage dinner rolls.
Cover the shaped rolls, then let them rise for 1 more hour.
Crosses on Hot Cross Buns
There’s a couple ways to make crosses on hot cross buns:
- Flour Cross: Pipe a “paste” of flour and water on top of each bun BEFORE baking. This is the most traditional application of the cross and the method I usually choose. It gets a *little* hard after baking, but it’s still perfectly chewy.
- Icing Cross: Pipe a thick cross made from icing on each bun AFTER baking.
Use a piping bagโno piping tip neededโor a zipped-top bag. Snip the corner off. If making the flour cross, make sure the corner opening is small because you want a thin line.
Orange Icing
The lush orange icing is the best finishing touch and it’s even better if you brush it on the buns right out of the oven. It’s sticky, sweet, and warmโorange and cinnamon spices are just meant to be.
Hot cross buns are an excellent addition to any Easter gathering menu. See more Easter brunch recipes and Easter dessert recipes.
More Easter Recipes
- Coconut Cream Pie
- Biscuit Breakfast Casserole & Easy Breakfast Casserole
- Coconut Cake
- Easter Egg Buttercream Candies
- Carrot Cake
- Easter Cookies
- Lemon Meringue Pie
- Easter Cake
- Easter Cupcakes
- Jelly Bean Sugar Cookies
Hot Cross Buns
- Prep Time: 3 hours, 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 22 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours, 45 minutes
- Yield: 14-16 buns
- Category: Bread
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: English
Description
Learn how to make flavorful hot cross buns using this deliciously spiced yeast dough. Each bun is marked with a traditional cross, baked until golden, then topped with orange icing. See recipe notes for icing cross alternative, as well as freezing and make-ahead instructions.
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup (180ml) whole milk, warmed to about 110ยฐF
- 2 and 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast or instant yeast (1 standard packet)
- 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup (100g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 5 Tablespoons (71g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature and cut into 5 pieces
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 and 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon (see note)
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
- 3 and 1/2 cups (438g) all-purpose flour or bread flour (spooned & leveled)*
- 1 cup (140g) raisins or currants*
Flour Cross
- 1/2 cup (63g) all-purpose flour or bread flour
- 6–8 Tablespoons (90-120ml) water
Orange Icing
- 1 cupย (120g)ย confectionersโ sugar
- 3 Tablespoons (45ml) fresh or bottled orange juiceย (or use milk and a splash of vanilla extract for plain icing)
Instructions
- Prepare the dough: Whisk the milk, yeast, and granulated sugar together in the bowl of your stand mixer. Cover and allow mixture to sit for about 5 minutes or until foamy on top. *If you do not own a mixer, you can do this in a large mixing bowl and in the next step, mix the dough together with a large wooden spoon or silicone spatula. It will take a bit of arm muscle. A hand mixer works, but the sticky dough repeatedly gets stuck in the beaters. Mixing by hand with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula is a better choice.*
- Add the brown sugar, butter, vanilla extract, eggs, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and 1 cup (125g) flour. Using the dough hook or paddle attachment, mix on low speed for 30 seconds, scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula, then add the remaining flour and the raisins. Beat on low speed until the dough comes together and pulls away from the sides of the bowl, about 2 minutes. Dough should be a little sticky and soft. If it’s too sticky and not pulling away from the sides of the bowl, mix in additional flour 1 Tablespoon at a time.
- Knead the dough: Keep the dough in the mixer and beat for an additional 5 full minutes, or knead by hand on a lightly floured surface for 5 full minutes. (If youโre new to bread-baking, my How to Knead Dough video tutorial can help here.) If the dough becomes too sticky during the kneading process, sprinkle 1 teaspoon of flour at a time on the dough or on the work surface/in the bowl to make a soft, slightly tacky dough. Do not add more flour than you need because you do not want a dry dough. After kneading, the dough should still feel a little soft. Poke it with your fingerโif it slowly bounces back, your dough is ready to rise. You can also do a โwindowpane testโ to see if your dough has been kneaded long enough: tear off a small (roughly golfball-size) piece of dough and gently stretch it out until itโs thin enough for light to pass through it. Hold it up to a window or light. Does light pass through the stretched dough without the dough tearing first? If so, your dough has been kneaded long enough and is ready to rise. If not, keep kneading until it passes the windowpane test.
- 1st Rise: Lightly grease a large bowl with oil or nonstick spray. Place the dough in the bowl, turning it to coat all sides in the oil. Cover the bowl with aluminum foil, plastic wrap, or a clean kitchen towel. Allow the dough to rise in a relatively warm environment for 1-2 hours or until double in size. (I always let it rise on the counter. Takes about 2 hours. For a tiny reduction in rise time, see my answer to Where Should Dough Rise? in my Baking with Yeast Guide.)
- Grease a 9×13-inch baking pan or two 9-inch square or round baking pans. You can also bake the rolls in a cast iron skillet or on a lined baking sheet.
- Shape the rolls: When the dough is ready, punch it down to release the air. Divide the dough into 14-16 equal pieces. (Just eyeball itโ doesnโt need to be perfect!) Shape each piece into a smooth ball, pinching it on the bottom to seal. I do this entirely in my hands and you can watch in the video above. Arrange in prepared baking pan.
- 2nd Rise:ย Cover shaped rolls with aluminum foil, plastic wrap, or a clean kitchen towel. Allow to rise until puffy, about 1 hour.
- Preheat oven to 350ยฐF (177ยฐC).
- Add the cross:ย Whisk the cross ingredients together, starting with 6 Tablespoons of water. You want a thick paste that will pipe easily. Add remaining water if needed. Spoon paste into a piping bag or zipped-top bag. (No need to use a piping tip if using a piping bag.) Snip off a small piece at the corner. Pipe a line down the center of each row of buns, then repeat in the other direction to create crosses.
- Bake the rolls: Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown on top, rotating the pan halfway through. If you notice the tops browning too quickly, loosely tent the pan with aluminum foil. Remove from the oven and allow rolls to cool for a few minutes as you prepare the icing.
- Make the icing: Whisk the icing ingredients together, then drizzle or brush on warm rolls. Serve immediately.
- Cover leftover rolls tightly and store at room temperature for 1-2 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: Prepare recipe through step 6. Place shaped buns in a greased baking pan, cover tightly, and freeze for up to 3 months. Once frozen, the dough balls won’t stick together anymore and you can place them in a freezer bag if needed. On the day you serve them, arrange the dough balls in a greased baking pan, cover tightly, then let them thaw and rise at room temperature for about 4-5 hours. Continue with step 8. You can also freeze the baked hot cross buns. Allow them to cool completely, then freeze without icing for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator or at room temperature, then reheat as desired and add icing.
- Overnight Instructions: Prepare the recipe through step 6. Cover the shaped buns tightly and refrigerate for up to about 15 hours. At least 3 hours before you need them the next day, remove the buns from the refrigerator, keep covered, and allow to rise on the counter for about 1-2 hours before baking. (Skip step 7.) Alternatively, you can let the dough have its 1st rise in the refrigerator overnight. Cover the dough tightly and place in the refrigerator for up to 12 hours. Remove from the refrigerator and allow the dough to fully rise for 2 more hours. Continue with step 5.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Electric Stand Mixer or Glass Mixing Bowl and Wooden Spoon / Silicone Spatula | 9×13-inch Baking Pan, two 9-inch Square Baking Pans, two 9-inch Round Baking Pans, Cast Iron Skillet, or Baking Sheet | Piping Bag (Disposable or Reusable)
- Optional Add-Ins: Instead of (or in addition to) raisins, try using dried cranberries, chopped pecans or walnuts, chopped candied citrus, or chopped dried apricots. Keep total add ins to about 1 and 3/4 cups total. Feel free to add the zest from 1 lemon or orange to the dough when you add the butter. Add 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves or cardamom, if desired. Feel free to adjust the spices to your liking. You can plump up the raisins, currants, or dried cranberries if desired. Soak in hot water for 5-10 minutes, drain, then pat dry before adding to dough.
- Whole Milk: Lower fat or nondairy milks work in a pinch. The rolls will lose a little flavor and richness. I highly recommend whole milk or even buttermilk.
- Cinnamon: Cinnamon can prohibit doughs from rising. We use 1 and 1/4 teaspoons in this dough to produce dense buns. If you want a fluffier roll-type hot cross bun, feel free to reduce the cinnamon down to 1/2 teaspoon or leave it out completely.
- Yeast: Use instant yeast or active dry yeast. Rise times will be slightly longer using active dry yeast. Reference my Baking with Yeast Guide for answers to common yeast FAQs.
- Flour: You can use all-purpose flour or bread flour. All-purpose flour is convenient for most, but bread flour produces chewier hot cross buns. Either flour is fine and there are no other changes to the recipe if you use one or the other.
- Icing Cross: If you prefer to make a cross from icing and pipe it onto the buns after baking, skip step 9 and skip the orange icing glaze on top. However, you can use the orange icing recipe to make the icing cross. Reduce orange juice to 1 Tablespoon to yield a very thick icing. Replace with milk and add a splash of vanilla extract, if desired. Feel free to also make the orange glaze for topping if you want double icingโa cross and glaze all over.
Reader Comments and Reviews
How long would you bake this as a full loaf of bread, instead of buns? What temp? Any other adjustments? Thanks for the advice! I’ve made these several times but curious about converting to a loaf.
Hi Michelle, you could try halving the recipe for a 9ร5 inch loaf pan. We havenโt tested it though! We’d love to know how it works out if you give it a try.
I used bread flour instead of all purpose, but they came out too dense. I have made better hot cross buns than these in the past.
I only used 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon and added 1/2 teaspoon of cardamom and the zest of an orange, while omitting the raisins. I bulk fermented overnight after kneading, took the dough out in the morning, let it get to room temp for about 30 mins then shaped and allowed to rise for another 90 mins before baking. They came out perfectly! The are so flavorful and surprisingly light and fluffy in texture. Absolutely love these!
These were delicious! My dough was sticky, I added two extra tablespoons of flour, left it in the mixer for a while and then kneaded by hand, it eventually came together. I shaped them and left them in the fridge overnight, took them out in the morning for two hours and then baked. Highly recommend baking the same day youโre going to eat them, they were so soft. Still good the next day.
Delicious and turned out perfectly! I wish it was a tad bit moist-er but that is probably a me issue
The crosses didn’t turn out for me. Halfway trough baking when I checked on them they turned clear, so I piped them on again and by the time they were done they had turned clear again. So I piped on frosting after they’d cooled over them and I’ll just do that instead next time because the flour paste crosses underneath were hard.
Iโve made many Sallyโs Baking Addiction recipe over the years and always had stellar resultsโthis is the first recipe to let me down! The dough was so stodgy and dense that it hardly seemed to rise at all (I made another yeasted bread at the same time as the hot cross buns so I know the yeast was good; it also foamed early on in this recipe). I followed the recipe to the letter but my buns never got beautifully dark like a classic hot cross bun, even with an extra 15 minutes in the oven (!), and the flour paste turned the same pale gold shade as the buns and lost all of our pretty shapes on top. We didnโt get the lovely dark-white contrast of the design. I wondered if maybe there was supposed to be a step brushing the buns with egg wash? I almost did it but thought it might interfere with the flour paste. Super disappointing!
Hi Kate, I’m sorry to hear that you were disappointed with this recipe. If the buns came out dense, it could be that the dough wasn’t kneaded enough before rising. How long did you let the dough rise? It should nearly double in size… for us this usually takes about 2 hours but it may take longer depending on the temperature of your kitchen. Thank you for giving this recipe a try!
These turned out wonderful! So tasty, fluffy, and soft!
I made the dough in the breadmaker using about 1/3 cup extra flour (doughs always seem to be stickier in the breadmaker). I used about 1 tsp of cinnamon and even at 2.5 hours on the first rise and 90 minutes on the 2nd rise, they’d only risen about half of what I’d expected (new yeast).
They baked in about 27 minutes to a nice brown with the right internal temperature (I checked!).
I made myself a note to only make about 1/3 of the orange glaze because that’s about all I used.
Every year I vow not to make hot cross buns and every year I give in and they fail me. This recipe puts an end to that cycle. Full of flavor and a great texture, I will be baking HCBs for years to come!
When do you add the raisins?
In the middle of step 2: Using the dough hook or paddle attachment, mix on low speed for 30 seconds, scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula, then add the remaining flour and the raisins.
This recipe is appalling! Either your quantity for flour is incorrect or you didnโt convert it to grams properly. The dough was so ridiculously wet the only thing it was good for was messing up my kitchen. Waste of time and money spent on ingredients.
Thank you very delicious
If Iโm making the crosses with icing, would you recommend letting the hot cross buns rest a little longer to ensure that the icing doesnโt melt onto them?
Hi Savannah, you can let the buns slightly cool before adding the cross. Enjoy!
Thank you! These were so delicious! I made my dough in the bread maker and did an overnight riseโฆ I made a bit extra of the orange icing, using blood oranges, and made the crosses with that. Thank you for the recipe!
For a delicious dairy free version, follow the recipe except substitute olive oil for butter and water for milk. Keep the amounts the same as in the recipe.
How can I make this gluten free?
Hi Jean, we havenโt tested this recipe with gluten free flour, so weโre unsure of the results. Let us know if you do!
Amazing recipe – have been making over and over the last week or so.
However I need HELP.
Just made the recipe with chocolate chips (have done it before, can confirm, it works and it is awesome) but for some reason this time my chocolate chips have gone all melty during the first rise. Iโve only turned it onto the counter at the moment. Can I save this without the chocolate chips just melting into the dough?
Hi Stacey, it sounds like perhaps the dough or room temperature was warmer than usual, or perhaps did you change brands of chocolate chips? Chocolate chips typically contain stabilizers to prevent them from melting fully or losing their shape, so it’s a bit odd that they would melt in the dough before baking, particularly since you’ve made them this way before!