These Currant Hot Cross Buns with Icing feature a sweet yeast dough filled with flavorful spices, orange zest, dried currants, and a butter icing cross on top.
Easter is coming up and so are all the yummy foods to be enjoyed on this holiday! Turkey dinner, ham and scalloped potatoes, or roasted lamb there are so many tasty things to savor. My Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Brown Butter Frosting or Coconut Cream Tarts would be tasty desserts to serve after Easter dinner. But for Easter brunch, you need some yummy homemade frosted hot cross buns!
Hot cross buns are a traditional food enjoyed on Good Friday every Easter. I have always loved hot cross buns that have icing and do not have raisins or candied peel. However, it is quite difficult to come by such a bun as most sold in stores or bakeries have unpleasant add-ins, and worse: no icing! So, one must make their own hot cross buns in such a world, and here is my recipe.
Much like my Hot Cross Scones Recipe that was inspired by this recipe, these buns are deliciously free of undesired fruits and are topped with a delightful buttery icing. Of course, you can use raisins or candied peel in this recipe instead of the currants if that's what you like! But I like currants, like in my Currant Brown Sugar Tea Scones.
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⭐️ Why You Need to Make This Recipe
- Flavorful. A blend of spices, orange zest, and fruity dried currants bring flavor to a buttery yeasted dough.
- Soft & Buttery. The dough includes butter and eggs which creates a rich and dense yet soft texture. It's almost brioche-like. Like my Brioche Dinner Rolls.
- Topped with Icing. I'm always so disappointed when hot cross buns don't have crosses of icing but are made of plain dough instead. The simple icing for these buns is made of powdered sugar, salted butter, and milk and it is so yummy!
🧈 Ingredients
Here are the ingredients to make these frosted hot cross buns.
- Milk - I typically use whole milk for this recipe for its extra richness, but I think any kind of milk would work. You will need to warm the milk to around but no hotter than 110℉. Too hot will kill the yeast and the buns won't rise.
- Yeast - You will need active dry yeast to make this recipe. Also called traditional yeast.
- Orange Zest - A classic flavor component of hot cross buns. One large orange zested will get you around 1 tablespoon of zest.
- Spices - Cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg make delicious spiced hot cross buns.
- Salt - Salt is an incredibly important ingredient in yeast dough for flavor development; don't forget it! A dough without salt will be very bland and flavorless.
- Butter - I use salted butter in most of my baking, but add an additional ⅛ teaspoon of salt to the recipe if you use unsalted butter.
- Dried Currants - My favorite add-in for hot cross buns is currants but you could use raisins or dried candied peel instead. Or even use chocolate chips to make chocolate chip hot cross buns!
See the recipe card for the full list of ingredients with measurements.
📃 Instructions
Step 1: Stir together the warm milk (110℉) and 1 teaspoon of sugar. Stir in the active dry yeast and let sit for 10 minutes. The yeast should foam and bubble up as it blooms.
Step 2: Add the eggs, sugar, orange zest, spices, and salt. Whisk until combined.
Step 3: Add 3 cups of flour and begin mixing with the stand mixer using the dough hook attachment.
Step 4: Once the dough comes together, add the butter 1 tablespoon at a time, mixing between each addition until all incorporated.
Step 5: Knead the dough on a medium-low speed for around 5 minutes or until smooth, stretchy, and still slightly sticky. Add the currants and knead just until combined.
Step 6: Transfer to a well-oiled bowl and oil the top of the dough. Cover loosely and let rise for 1 hour or until doubled in size.
Step 7: Separate the dough into 16 equal pieces.
Step 8: Shape each piece into a bun by pulling the dough around to the bottom and pinching to seal. Arrange on a baking pan lined with parchment paper or in a greased 9x13-inch baking dish. Cover loosely and let rise for 30 minutes.
Step 9: Gently cut a cross shape into the top of each risen bun. Whisk together the egg and water to make the egg wash. Brush on each bun, being careful not to deflate the rise.
Step 10: Bake in a preheated oven for 10-12 minutes or until golden. Let the buns cool down while you whisk together the powdered sugar, melted butter, and enough milk to make a thicker icing. Transfer to a sandwich bag with the corner snipped off and pipe a cross onto each slightly cooled bun inside the cross cuts.
Serve while still warm with breakfast, brunch, or with a cup of tea or coffee.
💡 Top Tip
To reheat the hot cross buns, I love to toast them with butter. Because they are topped with icing, you cannot toast them in the toaster. Instead, I slice a bun in half, butter each cut side generously, and toast each cut side in a frying pan until golden.
Or only frost the ones you will eat fresh and reserve the icing for later. Then, toast the un-frosted buns in the toaster before topping with the reserved icing.
❓ Recipe FAQs
While this recipe uses dried currants; raisins, candied peel, or even chocolate chips can also be added to hot cross buns.
Hot cross buns are delicious enjoyed warm and fresh from the oven or after they have cooled off. Leftover hot cross buns toasted with butter is another great way to eat them!
Hot cross buns contain a few sybolisms of Easter including the cross representing the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, the spices representing the spices He was prepared for burial with, the orange peel representing the bitterness of His death in place of mankind, and the "rise" of the yeast dough representing Jesus rising from the dead!
Traditionally hot cross buns are eaten on Good Friday.
Store the fully cooled hot cross buns in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
🌸 More Easter Recipes
Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:
If you tried these Spiced Hot Cross Buns with Currants or any other recipe on my website, please leave a ⭐️ star rating and write a little note telling me how it went in the comments below. Thank you!!
📖 Recipe
Currant Hot Cross Buns with Icing
Equipment
- electric stand mixer
- measuring cups & spoons
- baking sheet
- parchment paper
Ingredients
For the Dough:
- ¾ cup warm milk (110℉)
- 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
- 2 ½ teaspoons active dry yeast * traditional yeast
- 2 eggs
- ¼ cup granulated white sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon orange zest *
- 3 - 3 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup salted butter * softened
- ¾ cup dried currants *
For the Egg Wash:
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon water
For the Icing:
- 3 tablespoons melted butter
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar (confectioners sugar)
- 1-2 tablespoons milk
Instructions
- Stir together the warm milk and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Stir in the yeast and let sit for 10 minutes, it should bubble and get frothy. Next, add the eggs, sugar, spices, salt, and orange zest and whisk until well combined. Add 3 cups of flour and mix on low with the dough hook attachment until the dough comes together. Add the butter in 1 tablespoon at a time, mixing in between each addition. Knead the dough for 5 minutes on medium-low speed, it should be smooth, stretchy, and still slightly sticky. Place in a greased bowl, cover loosely, and let rise for 1 hour.
- Punch down the dough to deflate after it has risen and cut it in half and then cut each half into 8 equal pieces, making 16 in total. Shape each piece of dough into a bun and place 1 ½ inches apart on a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper OR arrange in a greased 9X13-inch baking pan for soft-edged buns. Cover and let rise for another 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 400℉. Whisk together the egg and water to make an egg wash. When the buns are done rising, gently cut a cross into the top of each bun with a sharp knife, brush the tops with the egg wash, and bake for 10-14 minutes or until golden. While the buns are cooling down slightly, whisk together the melted butter, powdered sugar, and milk to combine. Fill a sandwich bag with the icing, snip off a small hole in the corner, and pipe into the cross cuts on the mostly cooled buns. These buns are great served while still warm. Enjoy!
Notes
- One large orange zested will get you around 1 tablespoon of zest
- Add an additional ⅛ teaspoon of salt to the recipe if you use unsalted butter
- You could use raisins, candied peel, or even chocolate chips instead of dried currants.
Jenn
I too used my bread maker and a 9x13 pan, the flavour and density of these buns is perfect! A definite addition to our Holy Week baking traditions.
Naomi
Awesome! I'm glad to hear you enjoyed this recipe!
Happy Easter!
Naomi
Mrs. J
I don't know if I've ever actually made hot cross buns before today! I threw everything in my bread maker (forgive me for bypassing the hand kneading!) and let it do the work. Almost forgot the raisins and orange peel, but the bread maker just kept doing its mixing thing while I grabbed a handful or two of raisins and quickly grated the orange peel over the pan. 😃 I set the timer for 12 minutes but should have been watching more closely since mine are definitely darker than yours. They taste great though--and probably aren't going to be around for breakfast on Resurrection Sunday. Another great recipe, Naomi.
Naomi
Sounds great!! I'm glad this recipe was a success for you!
Thank you for the 5-star review!!
Naomi
Casey W.
Hot cross buns are our tradition for the Thursday of Holy Week, and I was so pleased that even my husband enjoyed this recipe (he has not been a big fan of the ones I've made from other recipes). We love the spices in the dough! I wasn't quite sure when to add the milk/yeast mixture to the flour mixture, so I ended up adding it with the butter and eggs, and it seemed to work just fine. I used candied citrus peel instead of currents, and I also baked the buns in a 9x13" glass casserole dish (divided dough into 15 pieces) because I like having buns with soft edges. Great recipe, Naomi! I definitely plan on baking these again next Easter!
Naomi
I love that tradition! Yes, you are correct in adding the yeast/milk at that step. I apologize for missing that in the recipe, I will fix it now.
Glad to hear that you loved this recipe and I like the idea of baking them in a 9x13" pan, in fact, I'm making mine like that today!
Naomi