With Easter approaching, I wanted to make a hot cross buns recipe. I had one picked out from a bonus recipe collection pamphlet I received as a thank you for a magazine gift subscription I bought. I found some time to make the buns one day last week. The recipe needed a bit of tweaking, but I was going to work on it and try it again. I started searching for other hot cross bun recipes online to come up with alternate directions to fix the things that didn’t work in the original recipe.

I learned a few things during my research. A hot cross bun is usually a spiced, sweet bun made with dried fruit, marked with a cross on the top, and traditionally eaten on Good Friday. The buns, marking the end of Lent, are full of symbolic meanings. The cross marked on the top of the bun represents the crucifixion of Jesus. The spices in the dough represent the spices used to embalm Christ at His burial. The first recipe I attempted didn’t have any spices in them. And the baking time was incorrect. While they tasted okay and we ate them, I decided I wanted something closer to a traditional hot cross bun recipe for today. So I tried a different recipe. Here’s the version we preferred.

Apricot & Raisin Hot Cross Buns (adapted from kingarthurflour.com)

Prep time: 25 to 35 minutes, Bake Time:  20 to 25 minutes, Total Time Required: about 4 hours, Yields: 12 buns

Ingredients:

For the Buns:

• 1/4 cup apple juice
• 1/2 cup dried apricots
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1 1/4 cups milk, room temperature
• 3 large eggs, 1 separated
• 6 tablespoons butter, room temperature
• 2 teaspoons instant yeast
• 1/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves or allspice
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 3/4 teaspoons salt
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

For the Icing:

• 1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon confectioners’ sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• pinch of salt
• 2 teaspoons milk, or enough to make a thick, pipeable icing

Instructions:

Mix the apple juice with the dried apricots and raisins in a medium bowl, cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and microwave it briefly, just till the fruit and liquid are very warm, about 2 minutes, on medium power.

Set the fruit aside to cool to room temperature. When it is cool enough to handle, chop the fruit coarsely, reserving any unabsorbed liquid. Add the bun ingredients to the pan of a bread machine in the order required by the manufacturer, reserving 1 egg white from the 3 eggs for later, and including the chopped fruit and the reserved liquid. Choose the dough setting for the machine.

When the dough is ready, lightly grease a 9″ x 13″ pan. Divide the dough into 12 equal-sized balls.

Arrange them in the prepared pan. Cover the pan, and let the buns rise for 1 hour, or until they’ve puffed up and are touching one another. Near the end of the rising period, preheat the oven to 375°F.

Brush the reserved egg white over the buns. Bake the buns for 20-25 minutes, until they are golden brown. Remove them from the oven, and transfer the pan to a rack to cool. When they are cool enough to handle, slide the buns out of the pan and onto the rack to cool completely. When they are completely cool, mix together the icing ingredients, and pipe a cross shape atop each bun.

Refrigerate any buns not being served right away.

These are a delicious start to Easter weekend!  ~Linda

Apricot & Raisin Hot Cross Buns (adapted from kingarthurflour.com)

Prep time: 25 to 35 minutes, Bake Time:  20-25 minutes,  Total Time Required: about 3 1/2 hours, Yields: 12 buns

Ingredients:

For the Buns:

• 1/4 cup apple juice
• 1/2 cup dried apricots
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1 1/4 cups milk, room temperature
• 3 large eggs, 1 separated
• 6 tablespoons butter, room temperature
• 2 teaspoons instant yeast
• 1/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves or allspice
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 3/4 teaspoons salt
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

For the Icing:

• 1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon confectioners’ sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• pinch of salt
• 2 teaspoons milk, or enough to make a thick, pipeable icing

Instructions:

Mix the apple juice with the dried apricots and raisins in a medium bowl, cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and microwave it briefly, just until the fruit and liquid are very warm, about 2 minutes on medium power. Set the fruit aside to cool to room temperature. When it is cool enough to handle, chop the fruit coarsely, reserving any unabsorbed liquid.

Add the bun ingredients to the pan of a bread machine in the order required by the manufacturer, reserving 1 egg white from the 3 eggs for later, and including the chopped fruit and the reserved liquid. Choose the dough setting for the machine.

When the dough is ready, lightly grease a 9″ x 13″ pan. Divide the dough into 12 equal-sized balls. Arrange them in the prepared pan. Cover the pan, and let the buns rise for 1 hour, or until they’ve puffed up and are touching one another. Near the end of the rising period, preheat the oven to 375°F.

Brush the reserved egg white over the buns. Bake the buns for 20-25 minutes, until they are golden brown. Remove them from the oven, and transfer the pan to a rack to cool. When they are cool enough to handle, slide the buns out of the pan and onto the rack to cool completely. When they are completely cool, mix together the icing ingredients, and pipe a cross shape atop each bun. Refrigerate any buns not being served right away.