When I was little, my mom always made hot cross buns on Good Friday.  Hot Cross Buns are a sweet yeast bun with a cross on top – traditionally served on Good Friday.  They are flavored with cinnamon and nutmeg and will sometimes have currants or raisins.  Sometimes they have frosting or glaze.  There are a lot of interesting historical facts about them on Wikipedia.

I make these each year and give them to friends.  This year we switched to Einkorn flour (this is my new go-toflour) and coconut sugar.  The Einkorn flour makes a very sticky dough.  Don’t let that fool you.  Stick to the measurements in the recipe, and even err on the side of having dough that’s too sticky.  You don’t want dry buns.  Since I adjusted my ingredients this year – I found that my baked buns stuck a little to my silpat.  I’m not sure if it was the egg wash or the sticky dough, but I just used a spatula to lift them off with no problem.  They turned out soft and moist.

I think they are best with cream cheese frosting.  For a great recipe CLICK HERE – for one batch of these buns I would cut this recipe in half.

To start, you melt the butter on the stove and then add the milk.  Heat until almost scalded and let cool to about 110º.  Add to the bowl of a stand mixer and mix on low.  Add yeast, sugar, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg – and then the eggs.

Then, add the flour, one cup at a time until a (very) sticky dough forms.  It might look almost too sticky, but you’ll know it’s right when you can easily pull it away from the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula or bowl scraper.

Turn out into a greased bowl and cover.  Let rise in a warm spot for an hour or until doubled.

Turn out onto a floured counter and knead to redistribute yeast.  Form a ball and then cut into 24 equal pieces.  (I cut into 4 large sections, then cut each of those sections in half, then each of those halves into thirds).

Shape each lump of dough into a ball and place on a baking sheet.

Cover and let rise until doubles (about 45 minutes).

Brush each bun with egg wash, and then use scissors to snip a cross shape into each bun.

Put into a 375º oven for 25 minutes or until the tops just begin to brown and a knife tapped on the top of the buns makes a hollow sound.

Let cool, then pipe cream cheese frosting crosses on top.  Enjoy!  Be sure to share!

<3

Shannon

(this recipe is modified from another recipe – original recipe is HERE)

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