Hot Cross Buns

[givemethegun]

As far as I know, they don't make, nor sell, Hot Cross Buns in the United States. What a damned shame (eta: I've been corrected, and how!). So I had to make my own this year - a first for me, as yeast and I are historically not best friends. Despite a lack of prettiness, symmetry, and a bit of a brown bum, I am rather tickled with the results;

Comments

[belcantin]

Usually, if I need lemon/orange rind, I'll buy some lemons and oranges and either grate or peel the bits that I need from them. It's easy and inexpensive :)

[givemethegun]

I absolutely should have, as I'm typically a from-scratch kinda girl. Sadly, I didn't, and it's my own damn fault.

[givemethegun]

Thank you!

[newleaf31]

They look delicious! As far as the "mixed peel" in the recipe goes, the only time I can ever find it is right before Christmas during fruitcake-making season. It IS talking about the candied kind, though, rather than zest (or at least, all the hot cross buns I've ever had contained candied citrus peel).

All the grocery stores in my area (central NJ) carry hot cross buns during Holy Week, and they were a big traditional treat when I was growing up in southern VA, too, so some areas of the U.S. do carry them... maybe they're an East Coast thing?

[givemethegun]

Thank you! And yes, these were 'candied' that I found online - I had no idea they were corn syrupy, but I'll live and learn.

I'm in Chicago, and haven't seen any here - in fact, I made these for my workmates, who hadn't even heard of them (points for me in their not being perfect). There is one Brit though, so we'll see what he says.

[givemethegun]

If only it were in Chicago! But they're actually not as difficult to make as I suspected, so I'm not nearly as sad about it as I might have been.

[a_boleyn]

Your hot cross buns look beautiful with the x decoration and all. I've made my own candied orange peel/rind. It's a bit time consuming but not very difficult to make and you can always dip the extra in chocolate to munch on. I'd probably buy candied peel though since I'm not that much of a purist.

[givemethegun]

Thank you so much! You're right, I should make it next time - I truly wasn't thinking.

[a_boleyn]

Your mind was on making the buns themselves so it's understandable that you didn't think of that one small detail especially if you're used to purchasing good quality peel. By the way, I didn't see any part of the recipe that you posted that referred to the decoration. Was that something you winged? :)

[givemethegun]

I had to look for it too - it's at the very top of the recipe, kinda like an afterthought. But you can also pipe the crosses, I've heard, so I may try that next time.