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 bag—no piping tip needed—or 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 warm—orange 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 110°F
- 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 cup (120g) confectioners’ sugar
- 3 Tablespoons (45ml) fresh or bottled orange juice (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 you’re 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 finger—if it slowly bounces back, your dough is ready to rise. You can also do a “windowpane test” 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 it’s 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 it– doesn’t 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: Cover shaped rolls with aluminum foil, plastic wrap, or a clean kitchen towel. Allow to rise until puffy, about 1 hour.
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C).
- Add the cross: 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 | Glass Mixing Bowl and Wooden Spoon or Rubber 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 icing—a cross and glaze all over.
This turned out delicious. Not hard at all and was a big hit
I gave up making hot cross buns 4 years ago: different recipe. Then i found this one … and tried again this week. But i use my bread machine on ‘dough’ setting for kneading and the first rise. I increased the amounts to match my usual size bakes (x1.57: bless you high school math teachers!). First note: dough did not rise in machine, so i formed the buns (15 and a half loaf), warmed the oven, and let them rise in oven with the light on. After 2 1/2 hours they had barely risen, so i gave up, turned on the oven, and baked them … 23 minutes. Wow! they pretty much tripled in size during the bake. I had scored the cross in their tops and they were all splitting along these score lines. It was 2 in the morning, but i had to taste a wee bit … then had to finish eating the bun i had started before i went to bed. Ate a slice of the mini loaf toasted the next day for breakfast, and i took a few to a church group meeting where they were a hit … even great cold! this recipe is a keeper!
Minor change: the cross i made was 1/2 flour and 1/2 icing sugar, with 2/3 water and 1/3 orange liqueur (but juice would work as well). Thank you.
Can I do a glaze cross instead of a flower cross?
Hi Lily, absolutely. See recipe Notes for details about an icing cross.
I can’t say it is “traditional,” but soaking the dried fruit in a nice dark rum adds great flavor to Hot Cross Buns. All the alcohol bakes away, so no worries!
My hot cross buns didn’t brown all that much. What can I do to give that healthy brown coloring?
Hi Ingrid, I would recommend just adding a few more minutes to the bake time. You could also try brushing with a little melted butter before baking. Hope they taste wonderful!
I love to make rolls and bread recipes. I’m excited to try this recipe as the ingredients are some of my favorite to put together in bread dough. Thank you for sharing. Incidentally I make bread dough so frequently that I typically don’t measure exactly all ingredients and add different ingredients to the dough often which always produces a wonderful dough for rolls cinna. On rolls and delicious loaves of bread.
I love this recipe. I am the designated baker in the house and bake for all the family events and snacks. I use instant yeast and add orange zest to the dough. I’ve been selling baked goods and I sell a dozen of these for $15. This recipe is great for all kinds of events and is very simple to follow.
I made these last year to great enthusiasm! Right now the house smells so wonderful as I’m making them again this year.
I like you recipe for Hot Cross Buns, but following it on my iPad makes me practically crazy. There are so many ads that scrolling is nearly impossible—so going between the ingredients list and the directions for mixing is so frustrating. I wish you would contain ingredients and instructions in a box so they are not separated by the plethora of ads on your pages.
My first rise took 2 and 3/4 hours! I’m not sure what caused them to rise so slowly, but after an hour and a half and the dough not budging I put a tea towel in addition to the foil over the bowl and heated the oven again before turning it off and leaving the door closed (the trick I learned from making your whole wheat pizza dough). Finally, the dough doubled in size and the rest went well. They smelled so good when baking, and tasted even yummier. I will definitely make these again. (I did replace 1/4 cup of the raisins with citron peel as I had some to use up.)
I am so glad I read your comment, I am having slow rise problems as well! Add some alfoil nlw to see if it helps!
Made these this morning. I didn’t have quite enough raisins, so I used half raisins and half dried cranberries. I also added 1/4 tsp of cardamom, because I think cardamom should be in more things. Amazing and delicious!
Made these for the first time ever today. So easy! And SO delicious!! I would def add orange zest to the dough next time, just a hint. But even without it, these came out perfectly! (Except my crosses haha)
I love your recipe. I making cross buns right now
Delicious buns and easy to make.
I made these today good Friday and it was wonderful I did add extra spices thank you Sally love from South America guyana
This is the second year in a row that I’ve made these, and they were equally delightful both times! I added a little cardamom to the dough, and a little zest and orange blossom water to the glaze.
Having these for Easter dinner, and tried the make ahead/freeze option (made the dough last week and froze until baking off today). Absolutely perfect instructions! The house smells glorious now, and I predict no hot cross buns will be left behind
Making these right now can’t wait to try them
So close to the traditional buns I grew up with. I almost thought you dropped the ball on this one with no orange zest in the bread. Adding oj to the glaze was different, but it works. I strongly suggest adding a tablespoon of zest into the bread along with the spices! The smell will drive you wild! Thank you for doing a flour/sugar/water cross and not the horrible icing that I see in US supermarkets (likely the reason they’re not poplar in the states).
I want very much to make this but it makes too many as just my husband and myself.looked at trying to halve the recipe but was stopped at the yeast amount no knowing how to adjust that. Any suggestions?
Hi Cyndi, for this recipe, it would be fine to halve the amount of yeast with no issue. (And halve the other ingredients, too, of course.)
Without the glaze, these buns freeze nicely in an air tight container or double bagged. Defrost in the wrappings to keep them from drying out. If desired, glaze the buns just before serving.
I don’t know what I did wrong but even after adding an additional half a cup of flour, tablespoon by tablespoon, the dough wasn’t coming together and was still sticking to the sides of the mixer. I ended up transferring it to the counter and kneading it by hand, having to add several more tablespoons of flour to keep it from sticking. They did bake up OK but likely would have been fluffier and more tender if this hadn’t happened. Yet I measured the flour correctly at the beginning and followed the recipe to a T. Not sure what happened.
I had exactly the same problem. I weighed everything to be precise as I believe baking should. I know my yeast and flours is fresh too. I landed up adding nearly 1/3 more flour. Am waiting now on first rise ….
Oh oh! These are too good! I followed the recipe, adding a bit of my home made citrus peel then made an apricot citrus almond glaze from dried apricot soaking water, a bit of marmalade, a touch of almond flavouring and some sugar. Sharing with my neighbours if I can keep from eating them all.
Sally I have tried and failed with 5 different recipes before finding this one!! So simple and such a fantastic result! Thank you so much!! These will be a family staple for sure!
So happy to hear this, Natasha!
My husband is the bread baker in our house and he said they were easy to make. He used half currants and half candied citrus, unsweetened almond milk and made a vanilla glaze. They are delicious and he’s already talking about making them again. This recipe is going into our 5 star file.
My grandson is allergic to eggs. He always feels left out when there are things he can’t have. Can you make these without eggs? How? More yeast?
Hi Vivien! We haven’t tested an egg alternative in this dough but you could try leaving them out and replacing with a bit more milk. Let us know if you give it a try!
Since in this recipes the eggs add richness but aren’t needed for binding, I wouldn’t add in an egg substitute (such as flax, chia, etc.). Those work great in quick breads where an egg would usually bind and add leavening, but yeasted doughs work out fine without egg. A whole egg is about 10% fat and 75% water, so I think you might look at replacing those through the ingredients your grandson can have. Half and half is pretty close in terms of the fat percentage, or as Sally suggested, you could using more milk, and I would up the butter slightly in that case to approximate the fat in the original recipe.
You could try with chia seed alternative in replacement of the eggs
My husband loves these. The recipe is so easy to follow and the taste is fabulous. I will make them over and over again. In 2 days he has them all gone.
I made these today with my 8 year-old granddaughter. Having only 2% milk and salted butter, that’s what we used, but I reduced the salt by half. Accommodating husband’s preferences for less sweet and spice, I also reduced the brown sugar to 1/3c., and spices by about half. Otherwise we followed the recipe just as it is. They are wonderful. Great opportunity to work with a young’un on various baking and measuring skills. Added bonus: as we waited for them to cool just a bit before diving in, I heard her humming the “Hot Cross Buns” tune.
P.S. We used golden raisins and some orange peel that I had candied and chopped into ~1/4” pieces (and in other news, a spoonful of the sweet, sour, bitter, orange-flavored liquid left after candying orange peel is delicious in a jigger of bourbon).
Could u add calories to your recipes
Hi Clii, We don’t usually include nutrition information as it can vary between different brands of the same ingredients. Plus, many recipes have ingredient substitutions or optional ingredients listed. However, there are many handy online calculators where you can plug in and customize your exact ingredients/brands. Readers have found this one especially helpful: https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076
A little early …but now it feels like Easter. Excellent recipe…as always step by step instructions are so helpful! Thank you for sharing.
I made these buns for the first time as I thought I would do a practice run before Easter. This is a wonderful recipe and the results were great. ( Ask my hubby as he is on his third one). I used buttermilk, only 1/2 tsp cinnamon and a combo of currents and dried cranberries, following suggestions made in your write-up. I will certainly make these again, but will use chopped citrus peel and currants. Thanks so much.
Less a comment, more a question. Do you have a version of this recipe using the tangzhong method?
Hi Jess, we haven’t, but let us know if you give anything a try!
Just make your tangzhong (it’s really a very small amount of milk and flour) and add it in as you make your dough recipe. I got hooked on this method and use it in my family’s old cinnamon roll recipe and many other recipes that help keep them soft and moist for extra days. Not that we keep any homemade bread for days in the house.