Hot Cross Buns Recipe

Hope you all had a great Easter celebration with family and friends! In Kerala traditionally we make IndariAppam on Maundy Thursday and have it for supper. Good Friday we spend 6-7 hours in church and  serve piping hot Kanji and payar at the end of mass.... And on Easter it’s always Appam and Chicken curry for breakfast, followed by a lavish lunch and dinner with non-veg delicacies made with chicken, beef, mutton and pork... Hot Cross buns are not even part of our tradition :)... But since I see a lot of Hot Cross Bun recipes all over the net during this time I too got tempted to try and made a batch of these.... I followed Poineer Women’s recipe and the buns came out super soft and delicious.....  

Hot Cross Buns

Preparation Time ~2 hrs

Cooking time ~ 20 mints

Serves – 18 -20

Ingredients:

2 cups Whole Milk

½ cup vegetable Oil

½ cup Sugar

2 ¼ tsp yeast

4 cups All-purpose Flour

½ cup (additional) Flour

½ teaspoon Baking Powder

½ teaspoon Baking Soda

2 teaspoons Salt

2 tsp grated orange zest

¼ cup Sugar

1 teaspoon Cinnamon

¼ tsp Cardamom (optional)

¼ tsp Nutmeg (optional)

¼ tsp Allspice (optional)

½ cup Raisins

Glaze

½ Egg white

Splash of Milk

Icing

½ Egg white

7 tbsp Powdered Sugar

Splash of Milk

Method:

• Combine 2 cups milk, vegetable oil, and ½ cup sugar in a saucepan. Stir and heat until very warm but not boiling. Turn off the heat and allow to cool until mixture is still warm, about 30 minutes.
• Sprinkle yeast over mixture. Add 4 cups of flour and stir to combine. Mixture will be very sticky. Cover with a towel and set aside for 1 hour.
• Add the remaining ½ cup flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and orange zest. Stir till combined.
• Combine ¼ cup sugar with cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg and allspice.
• Lightly flour surface. Press to slightly flatten dough. Sprinkle a couple tablespoons of the sugar/cinnamon mixture. Sprinkle on about a third of the raisins. Then fold the dough over on itself and flatten again so the dough is "plain" again. Repeat the sugar/raisin process, then fold the dough again. Repeat a third time until all the raisins are used.
• Pinch off ping pong or golf ball-size bunches of dough. With floured hands, quickly roll it into a ball, then turn the edges under themselves slightly. Place on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Cover and allow to rise in a warm place for 1 hour. 
• For the glaze mix egg white with milk and brush each roll with the glaze.
• Preheat oven to 400°F / 200°C and bake the buns for 20 minutes or until tops of buns have turned nice and golden brown.
• Remove from pan and allow to cool on a cooling rack.

Icing:

• Mix egg white with enough powdered sugar for icing to be very thick. Splash in milk as needed for consistency.
• Add icing to a small Ziploc bag and snip the corner. Make icing crosses on each roll, making sure they're completely cooled first.