Hot Cross Buns

Hot Cross Buns are an Easter (Good Friday) tradition, although it's never been one for me. However, when I continued to stumble across the recipe over the last week or so, and after realizing it is basically a cinnamon bun, I decided to give it a try.

I spent the day with my momma and we baked these. There is nothing quite like the smell of cinnamon dough baking away in the oven, is there? My dad kept coming in and asking if his cookies were done yet. (Not cookies, Dad -- hot cross buns!) He also said he wished we would make him a hot cross steak.

The buns turned out wonderfully - warm and soft and light. We bounced back and forth between William-Sonoma's recipe and Pioneer Woman's recipe. I think next time I may just do PW's altogether although both seem similarly good. PW has a neat trick of folding the dried fruit/cinnamon+sugar/zest in. I like that.

 

These buns are basically a sweetened yeast roll with spices, dried fruit, and zest (if you like). Ours were simple, using only raisins, cinnamon, allspice, and cardamon. I am an orange zesty kind of gal, but no one else really is, so we left that out. Next time, it's going in! I think it needed a punch of citrus. The defining factor of these buns are the icing crosses.

You can see that ours were definitely imperfect--but we didn't mind! We had a great time making them and enjoying them.

How about you? Do you have any Easter traditions you will be having or doing this week?