This easy recipe does not include raisins or other dried fruit. White chocolate chips and orange zest are added to the sweet, subtly spiced dough instead.
Table of Contents
🗝️ Key takeaways
- White chocolate takes the place of the dried fruit in classic hot cross buns.
- Traditionally served on Good Friday but they're so good you'll love them any time of the year.
- Be sure to check out the instructions for freezing the unbaked dough.
These hot cross buns are sweet as Easter candy and fluffy as a bunny tail!
They are ultra-light, sweet and spicy buns with a fragile sugar crust on the top that teases you with a crisp shell that melts away in seconds on your tongue.
Cloves, nutmeg, cardamom, and cinnamon make the whole house smell amazing while they are baking.
As you eat them you get random blasts of white chocolate. They are not as sweet as a cinnamon roll but way more interesting than a piece of toast. Slightly warmed with a slather of orange marmalade?
Heaven.
🧾 Ingredients
- All-purpose or bread flour
- Active dry yeast, may substitute instant yeast
- Sugar
- Brown sugar
- Milk
- Eggs
- Butter
- Vanilla
- Cinnamon
- Orange
- Ground cloves
- Nutmeg
- Cardamom
- White chocolate chips
Instructions
This is just a visual overview of the instructions. You'll find the full instructions in the green recipe card below.
- Add active dry yeast to warm water. (110F)
- Let it get foamy - about 5 to 10 minutes.
- Add ingredients as directed to make a soft dough.
- Knead in the white chocolate chips.
- Let rise until double.
- Punch down.
- Form into balls.
- Let rise on the baking sheet.
- Bake for 10 minutes, remove from the oven, and add the cross. Continue to bake until golden brown and cooked through, about 15 more minutes.
No raisins or dried fruit here
Here's the deal. While I love raisins and other dried fruit out of the box I rarely like it in any sort of baked thing. The texture changes and it just bothers me. I don't like them in any kind of sweet roll!
Traditional hot cross buns are generally a minefield of rum soaked dried fruit and, while I am not necessarily against rum for breakfast, the whole package together is just not something that most of my family would enjoy.
Keeping that in mind, I decided to throw caution to the wind, remove whatever nutritional value might be lurking in the buns, and substitute the dried fruits with white chocolate chips.
Pure evil, right?
🥫 How to store leftovers
Hot cross buns will keep about two days in the pantry in an airtight container. You can also use plastic wrap to cover them, just make sure they are covered tightly.
For longer storage, you can freeze them for up to 3 months, either baked or unbaked.
How to freeze unbaked hot cross buns
- Follow the instructions through shaping.
- After shaping the rolls, place them on a baking sheet and freeze them until they are frozen solid.
- Once they are frozen, place them in a freezer container for up to 3 months.
- When you are ready to bake them, put them on a baking sheet, cover them with plastic wrap, let them thaw overnight in the refrigerator, and bake as directed.
Expert tip:
If you are pushed for time you can cover the unbaked, shaped rolls loosely with greased plastic wrap and let them rise in the refrigerator overnight.
💭 Things to know
- It's best to keep the dough of these Easter buns a little cooler than normal or the white chocolate will melt into the dough.
- You can also let the dough rise overnight in the refrigerator.
- If you're using all-purpose flour, you can add a tablespoon or two of gluten to help the buns rise more.
- You can use rapid rise or instant yeast, but if you do, go ahead and skip the proofing process. Add it in with your dry ingredients.
- A kitchen scale is the easiest way to make sure the dough is divided into equal pieces
- Rise time can vary depending on how warm or cool your kitchen is. Cold kitchen? Check out How to Make Bread Rise Faster
👩🍳 FAQs
While they are best eaten warm, you probably don't want to put these in the toaster because of the white chocolate. You could slice them and put them under the broiler for a few seconds.
Although I honestly like them anytime, hot cross buns are traditionally eaten on Good Friday, marking the end of Lent. They're made with dairy products, and, in some religions, dairy products are not eaten during the weeks before Easter.
📚 More Easter recipes
Who doesn't like fresh, straight-from-the-oven sweet rolls for breakfast or brunch? Here are some of my favorite recipes - I hope you like them as much as I do.
- Easter Bunny Rolls are super cute for Easter Brunch. Delicate orange sweet rolls shaped like bunnies.
- Italian Easter Bread is a traditional holiday sweet bread that's baked in a wreath shape with colored Easter eggs to decorate it.
- Cinnamon Crowns are a combination of a cinnamon roll and a cream cheese danish. They are basically impossible not to gorge yourself on.
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📞 The last word
If you are a bread baker you've probably got everything for this homemade hot cross buns recipe right in your pantry! Definitely don't wait to make them!
And... now that you have brunch taken care of head over and check out these great Easter Dessert ideas!
If you click on the number of servings in the recipe card you can adjust the measurements up or down for the exact number of servings you need.
If you love this recipe please comment below and give it 5 stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
📖 Recipe
Hot Cross Buns with Orange and White Chocolate
Print Pin Recipe Save Recipe Rate RecipeIngredients
Rolls
- ¼ cup water, 110F
- 1 tablespoon yeast
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 4 cups all-purpose flour, or bread flour - you may need a bit more
- 1 cup milk, warm milk, 110F
- 3 large eggs, room temperature, separate one egg white out
- 6 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ¼ cup brown sugar, packed
- 2 tablespoons orange zest, The orange peel with none of the white part. You can use a special zester, a microplane, or a grater.
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon cloves
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg, grated
- ⅛ teaspoon cardamom
- 1 cup white chocolate chips
Glaze
- reserved egg white
- 1 tablespoon cream
- sugar crystals, for sprinkling
Flour MIxture Crosses
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup water
Instructions
- Add the yeast and 1 teaspoon sugar to ¼ cup warm water (110F) and set aside for 5 minutes.
- Lightly grease a baking sheet
- Add the yeast mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon flour. Mix well with the whisk attachment.
- Attach the dough hook.
- Mix the milk, butter, eggs, egg yolk, vanilla, cinnamon, cardamom, salt, nutmeg, cloves, orange zest, and brown sugar and add to the yeast mixture in the mixer bowl with the mixer on low.
- Add 1 cup of the flour and continue to blend.
- Continue adding flour, a little at a time, until you have a soft, sticky dough.
- Add the white chocolate chips.
- Knead about 3 minutes. For best results I like to knead the white chocolate chips in by hand.
- Form into a ball, place in a greased pan. Turn to grease the top and cover with a tea towel.
- Let the dough rise for 1 hour (or until double), covered.
- Punch down. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and divide the dough into 16 balls.
- Arrange them in the prepared pan.
- Cover the pan, and let the buns rise in a warm place for 30 to 45 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 375°F.
- Bake the buns for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven carefully.
- Whisk together the reserved egg white and cream, and gently brush it over the buns.
- Pipe a cross with the flour mixture on the buns.
- Sprinkle with sugar if desired.
- Return to the oven and bake the rolls for 15 to 20 more minutes, until they're golden brown.
- Remove from the oven and let them cool on a wire rack. Dust with Confectioner's sugar.
Flour Mixture
- Blend the water and flour to a smooth, thick paste. Add it to a decorating or piping bag and use a small, round tip to create crosses on the buns.
Notes
- It's best to keep this dough a little cooler than normal or the white chocolate will melt into the dough.
- You can also let the dough rise overnight in the refrigerator and shape it in the morning.
- You can use a tablespoon or two of gluten to help the buns rise more if you're using all-purpose flour.
- Follow the instructions through shaping.
- After shaping the rolls place them on a baking sheet and put them in the freezer until they are frozen solid.
- Once they are frozen place them in a freezer container for up to 3 months.
- When you are ready to bake them you'll put them on a baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap and let thaw overnight in the refrigerator then bake as directed.
Nutrition Facts
Nutrition information is estimated as a courtesy. If using for medical purposes, please verify information using your own nutritional calculator. Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
This recipe has been tested several times. If you choose to use other ingredients, or change the technique in some way, the results may not be the same.
First published April 9, 2014. Last updated March 24, 2024 for readability and more helpful information.
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✍🏻 A note from Marye...
I know y'all don't always like the stories bloggers tell so when I have one I try to put it at the very bottom so you can read or skip as you like.
History
Hot Cross Buns are a traditional Easter Sweet Roll that are marked with a cross, made from frosting or a flour slurry. The bun, filled with dried fruit, was originally baked in honor of Eastre, Goddess of Spring.
During the Middle Ages, all bread was marked with a cross. Bakers felt that the holy marking would keep the devil from causing the bread to mold or burn.
In the 1600s, under pressure from Puritans, this practice was discontinued except on certain holy days. In fact, the only time baked goods could be marked with a cross was Good Friday.
Easter in the 1960s
Growing up in the 1960s meant that Easter was a very big deal. It meant stiff, new patent leather shoes, scratchy petticoats, and fluffy dresses with big bows in the back that poked you if you slumped back into the pew at church.
It meant white gloves and lacy hats with elastic that dug into the tender skin under your chin.
But after a few hours of that unbearable torture, there were eggs to find and baskets filled with chocolate bunnies, jelly beans, and Clove gum. There was a table, practically bowed under the weight of ham, biscuits, mashed potatoes, gravy, coconut cake, and lemon pie.
And generally a dose of Pepto Bismol before bed. What are your Easter memories?
Vicky Fraser says
do you have a recipie for chelsea buns that doesnt include dried fruit as my daughter hates dried fruit but has to make chelsea buns art school. She loves cinnamon so wondering if i could us eteh same recipie as for hot cross buns?
Marye Audet says
I htink you probably could use the same recipe
Michel Boucher says
What king of yest are we to use in the recipe?
Marye Audet says
I use Red Star Active Dry Yeast. It should be available at your grocer
Kiano says
I had no idea hot crossed buns were an Easter thing. I used to pick up a 4 pack of them at the grocery store all the time while living in London.