April 11, 2009

Happy Sunday!

Hot cross buns,
Hot cross buns,
One ha' penny,
Two ha' penny,
Hot cross buns.
If you have no daughters,
Give them to your sons,
One ha' penny,
Two ha' penny,
Hot Cross Buns

Lemon Currant Hot Cross Buns (From LCBO Food and Wine Magazine, Spring 2009)

Dough:
2 cups 2% milk, at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1 Tbsp. dry instant yeast
1 1/2 tsp. finely grated lemon zest
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1 1/4 cups dried currants

Hot Glaze:
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 Tbsp. water

Icing:
3/4 cup icing sugar, sifted
1 Tbsp. lemon juice

1. For the dough, stir milk, sugar, yeast, lemon zest and vanilla in the base of a tabletop mixer or by hand and let sit 5 minutes. Add flour, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon and currants and blend. Using a dough hook attachment, knead until elastic, but dough still sticks to the bottom of the bowl. (If mixing by hand, stir until stiff, then turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until elastic but still sticky.) Place in a large, lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and set in a warm, draft-free place for 1 1/2 hours.
2. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and cut into 12 equal sized pieces. Roll each piece of dough into a ball and place in a greased 9x13-inch cake pan. Cover pan loosely with plastic wrap and let rise 45 minutes.
3. Preheat oven to 350° F. (180c)
4. Bake buns for 40 - 45 minutes, until a rich golden colour. While buns are baking, prepare hot glaze.
5. For hot glaze, stir sugar, lemon juice and water in a small pot over medium heat until sugar has dissolved. When buns come out of the oven, poke holes with a bamboo skewer and brush buns with glaze repeatedly, allowing glaze to soak in to buns. Let buns cool in pan.
6. For icing, beat icing sugar and lemon juice until thick and pipe a cross onto each bun. Store buns in pan until ready to serve. The buns are best served on the day they are baked but can be baked ahead and frozen.


11 comments:

Snooky doodle said...

oh these look delicious! Wish to try them they look so so good :)

Sara said...

I have actually never had hot cross buns before, can you believe that?! These look delicious. Happy Easter!

Mel @ bouchonfor2.com said...

*drool!* thanks for the recipe. I've never made them before but now I just might.

I'm glad I found your blog :) You gave me something new to follow. I look forward to future posts!

Manggy said...

Wow, now that's a classic! But my country's too far from British influence to have made those-- but now I must try one! :)

Coco Bean said...

yum, they look wonderful! I love the LCBO mag. but of course we don't get it up here in Montreal so I beg my Torontonian parents to save it for me. great job!

Elle said...

Perfect for spring and they look sooo yummy!

Maria said...

I have never made hot cross buns, I need to! They look fantastic!

Katie said...

Oh yum - they look fantastic. Love the lemon addition. Would go so well with the fruit and spicies.

Julie said...

They're so glossy and pretty! I made some last year with currants...and I think I used cardamom. Must do them again!

MyKitchenInHalfCups said...

Those look like plenty happy Hot Cross Buns!

Deborah said...

One of these days I'm going to make these buns... Maybe next Easter!