The whole family will love these soft and fluffy Mini Hot Cross Buns fresh from the oven! They are so hard to resist with their delicious fruitiness and yummy spices.
In the past I have never been a big fan of hot cross buns; or fruit buns of any description actually! I’m not sure why I didn’t like them, but as I’ve grown older, I’ve come to appreciate their fruitiness and the yummy spices. Mostly I love homemade hot cross buns. The store-bought ones are okay but homemade is so much better. There is nothing better than a soft and fluffy hot cross bun that is fresh out of the oven!
You might think that making hot cross buns is too much trouble but it’s not that hard really. Once you have everything mixed up it is quite easy!
For this recipe I have adapted my fruit loaf recipe from a few years back. I liked the taste, so I’ve adjusted the amount of dough so that instead of 2 fruit loaves you get 24 mini hot cross buns. And obviously, I also added crosses to the top of the buns. Most recipes make the crosses from a mixture of just flour and water. I found that resulted in very chewy (almost inedible) crosses, so I have come up with my own recipe for the crosses.
I couldn’t believe how good these buns looked the first time I made them! They look great when they come out of the oven, but with a light brush of sugar syrup they look fantastic. Some people brush theirs with an apricot jam glaze, but I find that the sugar syrup is enough. It does make them a bit sticky but it’s worth it for the mouthwatering shine.
I made mini hot cross buns because I count calories and watch my portion size. Each one of these buns is 124 calories. With these mini buns you can choose to just have one or you can also have two if you want to splurge! However, if you want large buns just shape your dough into 10 to 12 balls and you’ll get bigger buns!
These are delicious straight out of the oven (I find it really hard not go back for a third or fourth one!) and are also great the next day. They’re probably best consumed within a couple of days because they do dry out a bit over time. But they freeze really well so if you’re worried about them drying out just pop some in the freezer.
To thaw, just heat one for a few seconds in the microwave. When I thaw mine I just give them a couple of 15 second bursts in the microwave and they come out nice and soft and warm!
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Delicious Mini Hot Cross Buns
- Prep Time: 2hr 30 mins
- Cook Time: 25 mins
- Total Time: 2hr 55 mins
- Yield: 24
Description
The whole family will love these soft and fluffy Mini Hot Cross Buns fresh from the oven! They are so hard to resist with their delicious fruitiness and yummy spices.
Ingredients
Dough for Buns
3/4 cup + 1 tablespoon milk (200 ml)
2 heaped tablespoons caster sugar (40g)
1/2 tablespoon of dried yeast (approx. 10g)
3 cups plain flour (450g)
½ teaspoon of salt
1 ½ teaspoons of ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon of ground allspice
½ teaspoon of ground nutmeg
2 tablespoons of butter (40g)
1 1/3 cups mixed dried fruit of your choice (230g) *
2 eggs
oil/cooking spray for greasing
Paste for Crosses
¼ cup (40g) of flour
½ tablespoon of icing sugar
¼ teaspoon of olive oil
2 tablespoons of water
Sugar Syrup to Glaze After Bake
1 tablespoon of sugar
1 tablespoon of boiling water
Instructions
To make the buns:
Put the milk in a microwave safe bowl and heat on high in 10 second bursts until it is just warm.
Add the sugar and yeast to the milk and whisk to combine – cover this mixture with a tea towel and set aside for about 10 minutes or until it is frothy.
Sift the flour into a large bowl and then also add the salt, cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg – roughly mix.
Chop the butter roughly into squares and add this to the flour – use your fingers to rub the butter into the flour until there are no lumps of butter left.
To the flour mix add the mixed fruit, eggs and the frothy yeast/milk mixture and stir to combine.
Turn the mixture out onto a lightly floured surface and knead the dough for around 5 minutes – until it all comes together and is smooth and elastic.
Transfer the dough to a clean bowl that has been lightly greased, then roll the dough round in the bowl so the dough also becomes greasy – preventing it from sticking.
Cover the bowl with cling wrap and place in a warm place for around 45 minutes or until it has doubled in size.
Remove the cling wrap and punch the air out of the dough before turning it out onto a floured surface and lightly kneading.
Divide the dough into 24 pieces**, briefly kneading and shaping each piece into a ball.
Arrange the dough balls, seam side down, in a 20 cm x 30 cm (8 x 12 inch) baking tray which has been greased or lined (especially the bottom) with baking paper.
Lightly spray a piece of cling wrap with cooking oil and use it to gently cover the tray so the dough doesn’t dry out.
Allow the dough to rise again for about 30 mins or until the dough balls have just less than doubled in size.
While this second rise is taking place preheat oven to 200 °C (400 °F) and prepare the paste for the crosses.
To make paste for crosses:
Mix flour and icing sugar together.
Add water and oil and mix well.
Add mixture to a clean press seal bag.
Once the buns are ready to go into the oven remove the cling wrap from the tray and cut off a very small tip of one corner of the bag containing the cross paste.
Pipe crosses onto buns going slowly enough that you can hug the surface of each bun with the mixture.
Bake for 25 minutes or until buns have taken on a rich golden-brown colour.
Once baked combine the sugar and water for the glaze and brush over the buns while still hot.
Cool slightly and serve warm.
Notes
* I use a mixture of sultanas, raisins, and currents but you could also use premixed dried fruit containing mixed peel.
** I weight the dough, divide by 24, and use a set of scales to help me get the pieces approximately the same size.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 44g
- Calories: 124
- Sugar: 9g
- Sodium: 94mg
- Fat: 2.3g
- Saturated Fat: 1.2g
- Trans Fat: 0.1g
- Carbohydrates: 23g
- Fiber: 1g
- Protein: 3g
- Cholesterol: 20mg
Hi, I'm Kaylene, and I'm a keen gardener,budding baker and wannabe DIYer!
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